134 ^^^^ Apfle-Tree Borer. 



THE APPLE-TREE BORER. 



By J. M. B., Quasqueton, Iowa. 



If there is any plague of insects, next to the potato bug, which has 

 haunted my sleeping hours, and should rank me a saint in my waking 

 ones, for not breaking the third commandment, it is the apple-tree 

 borer. For ten years I set out fruit trees, combined any amount of 

 eternal vigilance, cold steel, and knee pads, only to see them, one after 

 another, succumb to the little pests, with their trunks looking as if they 

 had received a double dose of malignant small-pox. Not content with 

 attacking the base of the trees, they would go as high as the lower 

 branches, and drill themselves into the crotches. 



I was in despair ; and when I had written to some great light of hor- 

 ticulture of my trouble, and was coolly informed " that the fruit grower 

 in every new country was subjected to such little inconveniences," per- 

 haps I was something else. I was about to give up vanquished, and 

 after committing my orchard to the flames, retire with all the honors 

 of war, — glory nowhere, — when I was advised to try the following 

 method, which for the past two years has proved, with me, a decided 

 success. In the spring, just before vegetation starts, level the ground, 

 and pack it firmly around the foot of the tree, in a circle of from two to 

 four feet in diameter, according to the size of the tree. Take unleached 

 ashes and air-slaked lime equal parts, well mixed, and apply to the 

 circle thus made, covering the ground well over two or three inches in 

 depth. Then take strong soapsuds, or better, a solution of half a 

 pound sal soda to one gallon water, and wash the trunk and base of 

 the lower limbs thoroughl3\ Repeat this operation in the fall of the 

 year, just before freezing weather, — ashes, lime, washing, and all, — 

 and if any one, who is as badly troubled as I have been, and has never 

 seen this simple recipe, will try it, all I have to say is, that if his expe- 

 rience equals mine, he will send me the largest apple, post-paid, his 

 rejuvenated trees bear, and Uncle Samuel will allow in the mail-bags. 



All my trees, that were not damaged before I tried this plan, are as 

 fine and thrifty as any I ever saw, and I have not as yet found the 

 mark of a borer upon them. 



