324 



NEW ENGLAM) FARMER. 



July 



sides between the two points named. On 

 ascendi.ig he usu- 

 ally selects the 

 same point where 

 the egg was hatch- 



„ „ „ ed, and bores a 



Full grown Borer. ^^^^ ^^^^j^ ^j^^^^j^ 



under it. The only injury he does after this 

 is to bore a single passage way i.i the wood of 

 the tree from six to nine ^^00^. 

 inches in length. At the f^ _,^ 

 top of this he changes to \ 

 a miller, ready to leave 

 his winter quarters when 

 summer approaches. 



After trying a great 

 number of experiments I 

 have found the best and 

 most convenient way to Perfect State. 

 protect an orchard from the depredations of 

 the borer, is to make a small mould of fine 

 gravel or coarse sand around the trunk cf each 

 tree sometime in May. The object of this is 

 to cover all roots and uneven places on the 

 trunk of the tree near the ground, and to 

 keep as dry as possible the places where the 

 eggs must be deposited. In order to hatch, 

 an egg seems to require some degree of mois- 

 ture. I have never seen an egg hatch where 

 dry sand came in direct contact with a smooth 

 surface. 



In September of each year the mounds 

 should be removed, and the trees examined. 

 An experienced hand will examine three hun- 

 dred trees per day. When an orchard is once 

 cleared of borers, it requires but very little 

 labor to keep (hem out. If the business is 

 understood, one examination each year during 

 September or October is sufficient. I have 

 found by bitter experience that neither lime 

 nor ashes will keep the borers from the trees 

 on my land, and 1 have long since come to the 

 conclusion that nothing should lay in contact 

 with the trunks of my trees except frei^h earth. 



E. Hersey. 



Singham, Mass., May, 1869. 



Remarks. — We have usually found a 

 mound of cuttings or excrements marking the 

 entrance of the newly hatched worm, from 

 half to three-fourths of an inch in height, 

 and not much larger round than a common 

 darning-needle. The recommendations for 

 plugging up the holes of the borer, in which 

 we have little faith, we have understood as in- 

 tended to apply to their entrances into the 

 wood, which is marked by larg r and coarser 

 cuttings, and not to the nice little round hole 

 a few inches from the ground where they make 

 their exit. We have often fished them out 

 from their passage ways with a bit of barbed 

 wire. We believe our correspondent is right 



in his statement thai the borer first eats down 

 and roundabout, and that he does most of his 

 injury to the tree before he enters upon the 

 excavation of his Hoosac tunnel, which ter- 

 minates in the round hold from which he 

 emerges. To stop up that would indeed be 

 closing the stable after the steed was stolen. 



Work of a Borer in the trunk of an Apple Tree. 

 Still they sometimes so weaken the trunk that 

 the tree is broken down by the wind, or falls 

 of its own weight. The extent to which their 

 perforations are sometimes carried is illus- 

 trated by the above cut of a section of the 

 trunk of a tree infested by borers. We have 

 preserved several other similar specimens. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 HYDRAULIC CEMEMT. 



My occupation being laying cement water 

 |ipe, I have been much interested by the in- 

 quiries and articles upon the subject that have 

 lately appeared in the Farmer. Having 

 made this business a study and specialty for 

 several years, I submit a few remarks upon the 

 subject. 



Hydraulic cement is made of a compound 

 limestone, which usually contains the loliow- 

 ing impurities : carbonate of lime, carbonate 

 of magnesia, silica, alumina, oxide of iron, 

 and a small amount of alkali. To these im- 

 purities is due its property of hardening under 

 water. As this stone will not slake like pure 

 limestone it is reduced to a powder by grinding. 



This stone is found in the valleys of the 

 chain of mountains which traverse the eastern 

 part of the State of New York, and also in 

 other parts of the United States. The fact of 

 its being first discoverer 1 in the town of Rosen- 

 dale gave it the name of ilosendale Cement. 



This sedimentary rock is divided into many 

 layers. h\ Ulster Coiuity, N. Y., where most, 

 of the stone of which the cement fur our 



