1869. 



XEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



323 



a pi'ofession, and to comprehend the facts and 

 discoveries which are made by them, we think 

 much practical good will result. lii speaking of 

 the chemical principles and operation of nianmes 

 Dr. Nichols says, in his "Chemistry of the Farm 

 and the Sea:" — "It is not necessary that farmers 

 should be practical chemists to be successful in the 

 employment of fertilizing agencies. A few simple 

 principles furnished by chemistry, if well under- 

 stood, and earnestly adopted, will eymhle ariy one 

 to appropriate to his benefit all the important facts 

 unfolded by science in respect to maninial applica- 

 tions," and we may add in respect to any other 

 subject. Though we may not be able to unfold 

 these facts ourselves; may not be able to take all 

 the steps or understand all the processes of a sci- 

 entific investigation or experiment, may we not 

 hope to qualify ourselves to understand and turn 

 to our own advantage the results of the investiga- 

 tions and experiments of the most thoroughly sci- 

 entific ? 



GAY LITTLE DANDELION. 



Gay little Dindelion 



Lights up the meads, 

 Swiotrs ou her tlender foot, 



Telk-th her b ad*, 

 Lixts to the robin's note 



P. urel f .0 n ahove; 

 Wite litle Dandelion 



Asks not for love. 



Pale little Dandelion 



In her whit ; shn.ud, 

 Hearf ih the angel bretze 



Call from th>; cloud. 

 Tiny plumPH flattering 



Make no d»'lay ; 

 Lit 1 ■ wing d Dandelion 



Soareth away. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 APPLE-TREE BOaEKS. * 



It is not without some degree of reluctance 

 that I take up my pen to give the readers of 

 the Farmer what 1 beiit ve to be some facts 

 relating to the Apple Tree Borer — Saperda 

 hivittati. The large number of communica- 

 tions which are yeaily written to editors of 

 agricultuial papers on this subject is an evi- 

 dence that it is one of importance, and the 

 great variety of recommendations they contain 

 convinces me that the habits of this pest of the 

 orchard are as yet comparatively unknown. 

 A laige numlier of writers recommend plug- 

 ging up the holes with various substances to 

 kill the borer. The best writers in the coun- 

 try on fruit trees <tnd on insects suggest, if 

 they do not recommend the same remedy. 



For nearly forty years I have not only been 

 a close observer of the habits of the borer, 

 but with the ex eption of the last few years, 

 I have with my own hands been engaged in 

 active warfare against his depredations. This 

 experience teaches me that when the borer 

 has made a hole in a tree that can be stopped 

 up, his work of destruction has ceased. 



Let me describe ! ow he operates on my or- 

 chard. The eggs, from three to five in num- 

 ber, are deposited on the trunk or root of the 

 tree about <'ven with the surface of the soil. 

 The miller in selecting a proper place to de- 

 po^il her eggs, will, if pos.-ible, find an in- 

 d'ntation caused by an old wound, if the 

 wound is partially healed. The eggs will be 

 deposited on the upper side in such manner 

 as to protect them from an) liquids which may 

 run down the trunk of the tree. If a root is 

 permitted to grow so far above the suiface of 

 tbe ground as to allow the miller to find her 

 way to the under side, she is sure to deposit 

 her eggs there, and thus secure a place of 

 safety for her young. 



The eggs are deposited during the summer 

 months, most of them during July. As soon 

 as the eggs are hatched the worms commence 

 to eat their way doicn, making at first very 

 sma 1 holes hardly visible to the unassisted 

 eye. As they eat at first only the soft bark 

 which lies near t e wood of the tree, nothing 

 is visible to the most experienced observer 

 except very small black specks where they 

 entered. 



A careless observer examines his trees, and 

 seeing nothing, passes on, believing them all 

 right, while the work of destruction goes 

 bravely on ; while a careful observer, who 

 understands their habits, will sometime in 

 September remove a ft!W inches of the soil, 

 and with a good sized, sharp-pointed knife 

 slightly scrape the bark of the tree in such 

 places as he f-uspects that eggs may have been 

 deposited. On discovering the black specks 

 where the worms have entered, with the point 

 of his knife he removes the outside bark and 

 follows the passage which each worm has made 

 until he finds and kills them all. 



In September they are usually found from 

 two to five inches below the point they en- 

 tered. Theie is not usually more than two or 

 three eggs tbat hatch at one point, but if the 

 tree be large there are frequently several 

 clusters deposited on different sides of it. 



If carefully removed the first season, the 

 tree receives no perceptible injury ; but if, as 

 is usually the case, the borer is permitted to 

 remain another year, he winters about five 

 inches below where he entered. During the 

 next spring and summer he eats his way back 

 and forih between where th • eggs were de- 

 posited and where he wintered. As he grows 

 larger he eats not only the bark but also por- 

 tions of the wood of the tree ; and the last 

 time he ascends he feeds entirely on the wood, 

 leaving the bark projecting over the side of 

 his passage way. 



In September of the second year it is very 

 uncertain where he can be found. Sometimes 

 he is at the very lowest point he has ever 

 reached, while at other times he has eaten his 

 way back to a'.iout where the eggs were de- 

 posited ; or he may be eating his way on the 



