MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 721 



of nnleached ashes around the foot of the tree. Some may- 

 be deterred from this operation, from the mistaken idea of the 

 time which it might require. In this case, however, as in that 

 of many other minute gardening operations, the requisite time 

 is much less than is generally supposed. Mr. Perkins told me 

 that he examined three hundred quince trees in search of 

 the borer, (which is precisely the same insect as the apple 

 borer,) in a single morning ; and the late Mr. Prince states 

 that, in tilled land, one man could take out the borers from 

 one hundred apple-trees in the course of a day. It has been 

 observed that this insect is much less common in clayey than 

 loamy orchards, probably on account of the greater difficulty 

 which he finds in working through the stiff clay. 



The most dreaded enemy, however, of our apple orchards is 

 the canker-worm. Wherever he attacks in great force, he 

 strips the tree entirely of its leaves, and where his ravages are 

 continued, as they often are, two or three years in succession, 

 kills the tree itself. He likewise attacks our most magnificent 

 forest tree, the American elm, and many noble specimens of 

 this plant in our vicinity have fallen victims to this enemy 

 within the last ten years. Happily, its ravages are periodical 

 and not constant, and it appears to travel very slowly from one 

 district to another. Like the borer, it seems somewhat averse 

 to a clayey soil. No remedy against this destructive insect 

 has yet been found which can be pronounced at once effectual 

 and economical. The great object, as every one knows, is to 

 prevent the insect, in the autumn or early spring, from ascend- 

 ing the tree, where it goes up to lay its eggs. The insect has 

 a strong propensity to climb, and can walk easily over any 

 surface, unless it be either viscid, (sticky,) or shifting, like 

 loose sand. It will crawl, for instance, over a chestnut bm-, as 

 easily as over a chip. 



To stop its progress, lead gutters round the trunk of the tree 

 filled with oil have been recommended with great confidence. 

 These, however, if made of the usual size of an inch in width, 

 are quite ineffectual. The insects which first climb are caught 

 in the oil, and serve as a bridge over which their followers can 

 walk dryshod. Gutters, to be effectual, should be over two 

 inches in width, and this would greatly increase the expense, 

 and if applied to any large number of trees, the amount would 

 91 



