NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



"pURUriHKD'HY WII.I.IAIM MCIIOI.*, ROGKKS' BUILDINGS, C0\GUF:SS STHKIO'l', (I'OURTH DOOR FROM STA'IK PTUF.KT.) 



/OL. II. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1824. 



No. .31, 



KOR THE -NEW EiNUI.ANI) FABMI'.R. 



;m\rks o\ pfatral puwixts relating; 

 to rural ?xonomy. 



[Continued from ;)(i<;f. '2'2j.] 



l-EACH TRF.KS. 



8. There are, no doubt, m;iny ways by whicli 



ach'trees may bo in a degree if not entirely 



,ed from tlie worms, which devour tlieir roots. 



respects the utility of aslies, ray experience 



itifies me in spealiing with a considerable i\e- 



58 of confidence. There is now slandiug- on 



' Father's premises, a peach tree, bearing 



laf is called, familiarly, the late Rare-Ripe, 



(ruil, by the way, much less known and culti- 



[ed, than from it-vworth it ought to be,) cer- 



lily more than fitly years old, and which noiv 



irs tolerably well ; the root always haviag 



aained in a great degree sound, and succ€s- 



jly sending up shoots to supply those that t!e- 



ed through age. Digging round this tree, 



;ch has usually been done every year in ihe 



ng, I have often taken a quantity of gtm, 



ch would surprise one, who had no exptri- 



je in the thing; and which, had it not been 



oved, would have afforded shelter to a great 



ber of worms, to prey upon the bark, and 



upon the wood of the tree. After remov- 



the gum, the practice has been to put a 



itity of ashes round the tree, say a peck or 



e, and then cover it over with fresh earth. 



this way this tree has beCTi preserved, 



Jing through half a century, with sorcc a 



re, a rich abundance of very pleasant fruit, 



now bids fair to continue thrifty for many 



s to come. I might mention olher. of a 



age. which wpuld also serve as ovid»'~--o 



ie utility oT this practice. But this wiW., 



aps, be enough to induce those who love 



fruit, and are willing to be at pains to have 



try the experiment. The labor is small 



■.he expense next to nothing. 



would here mention one thing, suggested by 



wn observation. I do it to be informed 



her it is confirmed by the experience of 



And this is, that fruit trees, including 



e varieties generally known by that name, 



y can be preserved till they are about fif- 



or sixteen years old, are much less liable 



urious accidents after that than before. — 



iter they have arrived to that age, may 



pected, with a considerable degree of con- 



::e, to live and produce fruit for many years. 



SERVATiCNS BY THE EDITOR. — We believe 



he foregoing remarks will prove useful, 



ily on account of the information which 



contain, but by turning the attention of 



ators to a disorder in peach trees, which 



h not uncommon, seems not to be general- 



ierstood. The following extract from an 



e in the last edition of l)r, Willich's Dq- 



; Encyclopedia, (which was written, we 



e, by Dr. Mease, of Philadelphia) de- 



5 the disease to which we allude. 



each trees are liable to three casnalties: 



The fly that deposits eggs near the root, 

 lere forms a worm. 



. The bursting of the bark by severe 

 in net winters. 



" ;V The splitting of the limbs at the fork of 

 the tree. 



" The Ily which is blue, (but not a wasp,) 

 begins its attack about the middle of July, and' 

 continues its depredations until the middle of 

 ■September. It wounds the tender part of the 

 bark, and gencraUij at the surface of the ground, 

 there depositing eggs, which hatch into worms, 

 that prey upon the mucilage, and tender part 

 of the bark, until the communication between 

 the root and the branches is cut off, causing the 

 death of the tree. To guard against this, raise 

 » little hillock in the month of June, round the 

 tree, about a foot high, so as completely to 

 cover that part of the bark kept moist and 

 tender :»i the surface of the ground. This 

 hillock will not stand so long at one height, 

 as to tender the bark above, as the rain will 

 radually wash it down level with the surface, 

 and must be raised again every summer. 



' To take out the worm, the roots must be 

 uncovered, and the spot looked for where the 

 um oozes out, following the cavity round with 

 the point of a knife, until you come to the sol- 

 id wood, and lay the whole open : the worm 

 will be found with a while body and black 

 head; which must be destroyed, and the holes 

 carefully filled up with cow manure, rendered 

 adhesive with sand or lime and ashes, as 

 directed by Forsyth. 



" Soap suds, heated after a family wash, and 

 )oured on the roots of the trees, about the 

 middle of August, have been used with success 

 in destroying the eggs or the young worm. 



According to Mr. Ellis, of New Jersey, the 

 injury arising from the worm may be prevent- 

 c.l in the following way : 



'' In the spring, when the blossoms are out, 

 clear away the dirt so as to expose the root of 

 the tree, to the depth of three inches; surround 

 the tree with straw about three feet long, ap- 

 plied lengthwise, so that it may have a cover- 

 ing, one inch thick, which extends to the bot- 

 tom of the hole, the butt end of the straw rest- 

 ing upon the ground at the bottom ; — bind this 

 straw round the tree with three bands, one 

 near the top, one at the middle, and the third 

 at the surface of the earth ; then fill up the 

 hole at the root with earth, and press it closely 

 round the straw. When the white frosts ap- 

 pear, the straw should be removed, and the tree 

 remain uncovfiVed till the blossoms put out in 

 the spring. 



" By this process, the fly is prevented from 

 depositing its egg within three feet of the root, 

 and although it may place the egg above that 

 distance, the worm travels so slow that it can- 

 not reach the ground before frost, and there- 

 fore it is killed before it is able to injure the tree. 



" The truth of the principle is proved by the 

 following fact. I practised this method with a 

 large number of peach trees, and they flourish- 

 ed remarkably well, without any appearance of 

 injury from the worm, for several years, when 

 1 was induced to discontinue the straw with 

 about twenty of them. Alt those xahich are with- 

 out the straw have declined, -while the others, which 

 have had the straw continue as vigorous at ever." — 

 Thus far Mr. E. 



" To guard against frost, plant llic trees 

 where the water will run o(T, and procure the 

 sweetest and richest fruit, as the interior quali- 

 ties arc more injured by cold. 



"The splitting of the tree at the forks is 

 guarded against by preserving as many upright 

 brandies as can be spared, liy breaking ofl' in 

 bearing years, more than half Ihe quantity of 

 fruit wirile small, and by pruning almost the 

 whole of every brancli beyond where the fniit 

 is set, leaving only a few buds on each, of the 

 succeeding year's fruit. The size of the fruit 

 are by these means rendered larger, more 

 beautiful, and of a higher flavor, and the 

 growth of the tree is rendered more vigorous." 



The worm above described is, we believe, 

 the same which is sometimes called the Borer, 

 which we have heretofore mentioned, and giv- 

 en directions for destroying, and guarding against 

 the mischief it occasions.* We think it proba- 

 ble that the quantity of gum, mentioned by our 

 correspondent is the effect of injury previously , 

 suffered by the tree, in consequence of the 

 punctures of this insect ; and that instead of 

 afTording " shelter to worms" it merely indi- 

 cates the holes which they have bored, and 

 points to the places in which they are harbored. 

 The reasons of our belief are t'ounded on the 

 following among other facts, which go to cor- 

 roborate those, which have been already stated 

 in this article. 



The Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, 

 vol. V. p. 360, &c. contains much useful infor- 

 mation on this subject, of which we will give a 

 sketch. John Prince, Esq. states that he had 

 losf a n -mher of apple trees, and supposed Ihe 

 cause to be " a small, white, ringed w«<m, a- 

 bout three quarters of an inch long, with a dark 

 colored head, (I believe the same that attacks 

 the peach tr'^e.) attacking them at and just be- 

 low the surface of the ground." They were 

 got rid of " by digging round the trees, and 

 clearing away the earth to the rootsj and then, 

 with a sharp pointed knife, a chizel, or gouge, 

 (and a small wire to probe, if they are deep io 

 the tree) they were easily destroyed. After 

 taking out all that could be found, the wounds 

 were covered over with grafting clay, and a 

 large proportion of dry wood ashes mixed, and 

 the earth then returned to the tree." " One 

 capable man will dig round and turn the sods, 

 two or three feet from the tree, (and which is 

 also extremely beneficial to young trees in grass 

 ground,) and examine at least thirty trees in 

 one day ; and in garden, or ploughed ground, 

 one hundred. 

 A Committee appointed to examine this subject, 

 consisting of Samuel G. Perkins, Esq. and John 

 Prince, Esq. observe that " the seasons when this 

 opera lion,[of destroying those insects] is perform- 

 ed with most effect are the spring and fall; and 

 if in the spring, before the month of June, as 

 the perfect insects escape before that time. In 

 apple and mountain ash trees, the existence of 

 the animal in the tree may generally be known 

 by the mossy appearance on the bark, and it 

 may be traced by removing a little earth from 



* See N. E. Farmer, vol. i, page 317. 



