2 



i\EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



nlil men ami old women in the neighbourhood 

 nre consulted, and nostrums without nuniljor 

 are prescrihed and administered; but if a noble 

 tree, bearinj* from year to yc-'-iV, the most deli- 

 cious and melting Auit, be taken sick— no heed 

 is taken ofit no et^'ort made to save its lite — its 

 premature decay is rcgardod with indifference, 

 it is left to die without inquiring into the cause, 

 or an attempt to rescue it. Hence it is, that in 

 many parts of Maryland, and south ofit, it may 

 almost be said, of orchards of good fruit that few 

 are planted and none flourish. 



We will only for the present give the follow- 

 ing extract from a valued correspondent in ^'ir- 

 ginia, who, after speaking in terms of thankful- 

 ness for, and commendation of Mr.Thomas's com- 

 munication on peach trues, makes the following 

 suggestions, which go to show how desirable is 

 the best practical information as io apples ajid 

 pears. 



" Having for many years of my life giver my 

 attention to that branch of the subject of dnnos- 

 lic and rural economy, embracing the manage- 

 ment of fruit trees, I was particularly gralit;ed 

 to lind that Mr. T. had discovered the cause of 

 a malady which had entirely eluded all riy 

 researches. And if in the discovery of tie 

 cause, he has also found a remedy for the dis- 

 ease, he can hardly be aware of the extent of 

 the benefaction which his discovery will bestov, 

 not only upon ' the lovers and cultivators of fnc 

 fruit/ but upon the numerous class of orchardists 

 throughout the country. The disease alludedto, 

 has been hitherto conlined to the pear tree?, aul 

 this spring has made its appearance in the ajiple 

 orchards of this part of this state. In my 'jwn 

 orchards it^has been confined to the blasting of a 

 .small propor^S'on of the smaller limbs of ?. few 

 'rees, but 1 am informed, in another part of the 

 •■ounty, it has nearly destroyed a ivhole orchard 

 'if youag apple trees. 1 hope, therefore, Mr. 

 Thomas will communicate as soon as possible, 

 his discoveries upon this subject so deeply in- 

 teresting to the lovers and cultivators of line 

 fruit."'— £J. Am. Far.] 



C.iUSES OF THE PREMATURE .iND .SUDDEN 

 DEC.iY OF PEAR A.\D Ai'PLE TREES. 

 Balti%ore, G;h Mo. 10, 1824. 

 Respectee Friend, — In a former letter* 1 com- 

 municated some facts relative to the insect 

 which assails with such fatal effect the roots of 

 llie peach tree, and at the same time pointed 

 out a simple, but eflicacioos method of resisting 

 its attacks. I shall now in as brief a manner as 

 I can consistently with the subject on which 

 1 am about to treat, disclose the result of my 

 researches into the causes of the premature 

 and sudden decay of pear and apple trees. 

 What is called the blast in pear trees has been 

 a plienomenon wholly inexplicable to some, 

 while a great mnjority of persons have adopted 

 t'le absurd notion that it was the effect of 

 electricity. Discarding o[)inions unsupported 

 by proof, 1 had, several years since, determined 

 to conamencc a thorough investigation into the 

 subject as soon as 1 should have siiflicient lei- 

 sure for the purpose. This did not occur 

 until the last summer ; in the meantime iioivev- 

 er, 1 had adopted the expedient of aniputating 

 the blighted limbs as soon as they appeared, 

 considering the disease in some measure an- 



* \Vc will sice the letter here alluded to in our next. 



alogous to gangrene in animal bodies. This 

 had a good effect, but still some of my trees 

 perished and other? suffered so severely, that I 

 was induced to cut them otT almost even with 

 the surface of the earth. At length I became 

 confirmed in the opinion that the coi(.se existed 

 in the roots, and this conjecture became com- 

 pletely verified in the first tree that I examined, 

 which was in the 7th month last (July). This 

 tree had, like several others, siiildentij declined 

 from ;i healthy and highly luxuriant condition, 

 and while loaded with fruit. On carefully re- 

 moving the earth from about the root nothing 

 indicated the presence of worms; there was how- 

 ever.a slight difference here and there in the bark; 

 this difference was in fact, so trival that on any 

 other occasion, 1 should not have noticed it. 

 These isolated spots though nearly resembling 

 bark, were in fact artificial, the insect havin-;- 

 in this manner ingeniously replaced in part 

 what it had removed and sealed up the entrance 

 of the cavity which it had excavated in the tree. 

 This factitious substance being removed 1 per- 

 ceived that the object of my pursuit had, con 

 trary to the custom of the peach worm, taken an 

 u|iward direction ; liaving ascended about a foot 

 from the ground it was assuming the winged 

 state and was on the point of taking its flight. 



As soon as I had made this discovery, I pro- 

 ceeded to examine such of my trees (about a do- 

 zen in number) as had previously perished, the 

 result xvas that every one of these had been kil- 

 led by worms ! In one instance a single worm had 

 destroyed a fine Si. Germain pear tree of near- 

 ly six inches diameter. The graft had been 

 inserted into the slock near the surface, to 

 which point the worm had ascended ; here it 

 look a tongiliuiinal direction, cutting a deep 

 groove quite round the tree, by which all tlie 

 sap vessels were completely divided, and the 

 communication cut off between the lower and 

 upper parts of the tree. 



in the surviving trees that had suffered in a 

 greater or less degree, the extent of the blight 

 was found to correspond with the injury received 

 at the root. In one tree for instance, one half 

 of the limbs perished, while the other half sus- 

 tained a load of fine perfect fruit. On examina- 

 tion it was found that the ivorms had destroyed 

 all the alburnum on one side near the root — on 

 another tree one limb only perished, while the 

 rest looked uncommonly healthy and bore per- 

 fect and delicious fruit^two worms only had en- 

 tered this tree. In a word, one ot the causes, at 

 least ol the premature and sudden decay of 

 pear trees was rendered indubitably evident. 



Having removed the worms from such of my 

 trees as contained (hem, and secured them 

 from the approaehes of these insects, it occur- 

 red to me that a similar cause might exist in 

 the apple trees; this conjecture was also upon 

 inspection verified, for I found that nearly all 

 my trees contained worms, resembling in everv 

 respect those found in the pear trees, from 

 which 1 infer that they attack indiscriminately 

 both the pear and apple trees, which Is not 

 surprising, considering their very near resem- 

 blance to each other. Here was a satisfactory 

 solution of the difficulty which had perplexed 

 our cultivators respecting the cause of the pre- 

 mature decay of their apple trees, and of the 

 defectiveness of the fruit. Although the ap- 

 ple tree when injured by worms does not de- 

 cline precisely like the pear tree, yet the in- 



Ijury sustained at the root, and the decay of the 

 'upper part, correspond in a similar manner. 

 I The colour of the insect which produces ihe 

 'jiear and apple worm is feruginous — it has four 

 violet blue wings, and is somewhat larger ihan 

 the common wasp, to which it bears a consid- 

 erable resemblance. They deposit their eggs 

 just beneath the surface, as soon us the ivealh- 

 er is sulficienlly warm in the spring to invite 

 them from their retreats ; and at various pe- 

 riods from the beginning of the 6lh month 

 (June) to the end of the 9th month (September). 



The larvae at first confine their operations 

 entirely to the cortex, but as soon as they ac- 

 quire sufhcient size, they penetrate the albur- 

 num and mostly ascend in a straight line with 

 the sap vessels, to the height of about twelve 

 inches; here they enlarge Ihe cavity and 

 make an opening* through the bark about the 

 diameter of a common pea, which they close 

 again with a substance that can be easily re- 

 moved : assuming the winged state, they then 

 issue from their imprisonment through the 

 aperture before described. In a h'.w instances 

 Ihey return for this jiurpose to their original 

 place of entrance, but this is not common, and 

 only occurs when they take a longitudinal di- 

 rection, in which case a fevv worms will kill a 

 tree in one season. 



It is very difficult to detect these worms un- 

 til they have acquired nearly one third of their 

 growth, no gum issuing as in the peach tree 

 to serve as a clue to them : — after a person has 

 however, acquired some experience, he will 

 become more expert. The operator must 

 shave Ihe epidermis or outer bark, with a 

 prunirg knife of {v.\e steel, and if he observes 

 a sliglit trace or channel containing a substance 

 Irke fine saw dust, he must follow it carefully 

 and he will find a gradual enlargement as he 

 proceeds. It the worms have passed from the 

 corlcx into the alburnum, they may be extract- 

 ed without further injury to the tree, by intro- 

 ducing a piece of softened iron wire, about the 

 thickness of a middle sized knitting pin, the 

 end of which should he turned on one side so- 

 as to form a slight projection, or what is still 

 tetter a small barbed fishing hook may be 

 foftened in the fire, then straightened and 

 bound with fine thread or silk upon one end of 

 Ihe iron wire. 



As soon as the worms are removed apply the 

 composition and malt as recommended in the 

 treatment of peach tiees,t taking care to press 



* These holes are generally about a foot from the 

 ground, and can be easily disctrncd in such trees as 

 [live been visited tiy worms within two years — paral- 

 1(1 with them internally, there are considerable cavi- 

 tijs wliicli remain in some trees for several years. 



i As the malts are liable to di cay where they come 

 ii contact with the soil, and as that is the most vulne- 

 rabl<- point, I have recently adopted the expedient of 

 revering thein with a coat of tar. This is an impor- 

 tant improvement, as it not only renders them more- 

 durable but repulses the whole insect tribe — a barrel 

 ofit costs only one dollar and fifty cents, and will snf- 

 lice for 5 or G hundred trees for several years— a man 

 when the weather is warm can apply it to upwards of 

 one liiindred trees in a day — a common white wash 

 brush is the most suitable for the purpose,and it may be 

 applied in the Gth and 3lh months) June and Sepleni- 

 ber.) As a further security I now bind a folded strip 

 of brown paper, apout 2 Of 3 fingers wide, around the 

 upper edge o.f the matt, first smearing the part with the 

 compost. By this process the adhesion is rendered 

 more complete, and all access that way cffecUially- 

 prevented. 



