152 NUT GROWING 



which has been attacked looks very much as though 

 it had received a charge of number six shot. The 

 adult beetles eat holes in the axils of the leaf stems 

 during May or June, the leaves falling a month or 

 two later. The female then lays a double row of 

 eggs in the bark of the trunk of the hickory tree and 

 the larvae tunnel at right angles from this point, 

 each making its special gallery. When the larvae 

 are sufficient in number the branch or even the main 

 trunk is gradually girdled and dies. In some local- 

 ities in the east this species has been very destruc- 

 tive to hickory trees, but on my own property it has 

 attacked only one species, the pignut, so far as I 

 have observed. A small group of trees will be at- 

 tacked and then the natural enemies apparently catch 

 up and restore the balance of nature, trees surround- 

 ing the infested group escaping. There is no prac- 

 tical way as yet known for controlling the shotgun 

 borer of hickory trees. Dead or dying trees may 

 be cut before the beetles come out in May and the 

 wood may be promptly burned. 



The painted hickory borer, Cyllene pictus, is per- 

 haps the commonest one of a number of large borers 

 which attack the trunk of a hickory tree. It also 

 attacks the walnut occasionally. Sometimes borers 

 of several species attacking the wood of the trunk 

 of a hickory do a considerable amount of damage 

 and the best way for controlling them in my experi- 

 ence is to clear away the "sawdust excrement'' from 

 the mouth of the hole and throw in a few drops of 

 di-sulphFde of carbon or gasoline, finally putting a 



