PEARS, PEACHES, QUINCES, ETC. 167 



Insects Injuring the Peach. 



Only two insects are seriously injurious to the peach, 

 the peach borer and the San Jose scale. The first is, in 

 its fully developed stage, a small wasp-like moth with 

 transparent wings. It lays its egg on the trunk near the 

 ground and its young, the larvae or borers, feed upon the 

 inner bark and sapwood, but not penetrating deeply 

 into the wood as does the apple borer and many of its 

 class. 



Its presence may be known by masses of gum near the 

 ground that come out from the injured places. If the 

 borer is present there will be fresh chips mixed with the 

 gum. This gum is drawn away, a little of the bark cut 

 off, and the fat white larva is easily found and de- 

 stroyed. The best time to look for these borers is in 

 May and September. Placing sheet tin or fine wire 

 netting about the trunk of the tree is of some benefit but 

 is more expensive and not as effectual as the knife. 

 After the borer has been destroyed, it is well to press 

 the soil well in place over the injured parts. 



The San Jose scale is a less conspicuous and far more 

 destructive pest. It is a small scale-like insect, so small 

 that an individual scale is scarcely distinguishable by 

 the naked eye, but it becomes so numerous that the 

 trunks and branches appear to be covered with scale- 

 like deposits. When this crust of scale is scraped off 

 with the knife many bodies are crushed and a mass of 

 yellow liquid is seen. This pest begins to hatch its young 

 as soon as the weather has become warm and settled; 

 a single pair and its progeny may produce millions of 

 young in a season. See experiment station bulletins 

 for method of destruction. 



