BANDING — DESTROYING BORERS . 61 



cloth serves the purpose very well. Handy covers are made by cutting 

 a barrel hoop into two pieces, crossing these at a right angle, tacking 

 the ends to a second hoop, and covering this frame with cloth. Such 

 frames may be packed away for storage, one within another, taking 

 up little room. 



Wire screening may be shaped into cones, which are used in the same 

 way as the cloth-covered frames, and have a similar advantage of 

 packing away in small space. If galvanized wire is used and properly 

 stored when not needed, it will not rust for several years; but the first 

 cost is rather heavy as compared with cheesecloth frames. 



Destroying Borers 



Cutting out borers with a knife is a remedy that seems drastic, but 

 it may be the only means of putting a stop to an injury that would 

 otherwise prove fatal. 



Frequently, it is possible to kill the borer by probing the burrow with 

 a soft copper wire. If the end of the wire is nicked, so as to give it a 

 few rough barbs, it will bring the borer or a piece of him out with it, 

 and the operator may thus know whether he has succeeded in reaching 

 the culprit. 



If cutting is necessary, a sharp knife should be used and the course of 

 the burrow carefully followed. In this way no more real damage will 

 be done to the tree than has already been done by the borer itself. It 

 is well to paint the wound afterward with a mixture of lead and linseed 

 oil — not with ready-mixed paint, which is apt to contain injurious 

 oils added as driers. 



Removal of Dead or Dying Limbs 



There are certain species of small borers that attack especially trees 

 that have been weakened. Once started, they continue to breed in 

 such places, rapidly killing the tree and spreading from it to others in the 

 neighborhood that do not happen to be growing as vigorously as might 

 be. By prompt removal of the infested limbs or trees the pests may 

 be eliminated and other trees near by saved from attack. This, in 

 fact, is the only feasible means of control in the case of some insects, 



