STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (33 



shelters the ti'ee they will, if there is a chance, secrete themselves 

 partial!}- behind or under this band and there deposit their eggs ; 

 and the onl}- time I ever found the borer at work up in the stalk of 

 the tree, above the ground, for anj' distance, was where I have 

 wrapped matting around the tree. I have invariably found borers 

 up through the stalk of the tree, secreted behind this band. It is 

 an invitation to the insect ; it furnishes the shelter which it seeks. 



Mr. Gardiner. In the few words which I read in the beginning 

 upon protecting trees against mice in winter, with pieces of pipe, I 

 ought to have added, that. I found one year that when I had left the 

 pieces of pipe around the tree all summer, I almost invariably found 

 borers under that tin pipe. Since that I go after the snow is gone 

 and pull them off and lay them at the foot of the tree until the next 

 autumu, because I find a tendancy to borers where the pipe remains 

 on all summer. 



Mr. Athertox. The damage which the borer does in the first 

 two years of its existence is principalh' on the outer and inner bark. 

 If he enters the heart of the tree, or as he ascends previous to his 

 emergence from the tree, I would advise in all cases, never to let 

 him alone. It has been an invariable rule with me, when I fail 

 to reach the borer with m}- knife, to reach and destroy them with a 

 wire. I alwa^'s carr}' two or three pieces, so if I break one I can 

 have another. I never fail to reach the borer. I can generally, l)y 

 running the wire up, catch it in its bod}' and bring it down ; but if 

 it is from eight to ten inches, or six inches even, it is too far to bring 

 it down ; but you will have indications at the end of the wire that 

 you have killed it. I never fail to reach and destroy them. I do it 

 whether the tree is large or small. When the borer ascends he 

 makes a round hole in the heart of the tree. If there is more than 

 one, they will make several of these holes. If the tree is small, 

 they weaken it ; therefore my advice is, not to let him alone ; pur- 

 sue him to his destruction, it can be done with a flexible wire. 



L. H. Blossom, of Turner, recommended the application of the 

 fumes of brimstone, forced into the cavity made by the borer, by 

 means of a bellows, and described an apparatus to be affixed to the 

 bellows for that purpose. He said he had used it successfully. He 

 would never leave a borer alive in a tree, but thought too much 

 cutting injurious. Had seen trees very much injured by excessive 

 cutting. 



