STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 65 



leave an open space all around the trunk for the beetle to crawl 

 down into. Loose sand will not pack, but if the tree sways will, 

 as soon as it returns to its natural position, settle in and fill the gap. 

 A mound some six inches high, applied just before egg-laying, 

 would compel the beetle to work above it, and later in the season, 

 if it did not settle avray sufHciently to permit thorough examina- 

 tion, it could easih' be pawed away. I accordingly had nearly all 

 m}' young trees mounded with sand in 1884. The date of applica- 

 tion is a point of considerable importance. It should be before the 

 beginning of egg-laying, and should be delayed as late as is safe,. 

 to permit of repeated examinations. The middle of June was fixed 

 as the date beyond which it would be unsafe to delay the mounding. 

 Soon after that, as near as I can conclude from limited data, the 

 egg-laying begins. How long it continues is uncertain, but as 1 

 have found unhatched eggs after the first of September, it is i)rob- 

 able that it continues till late in August. Therefore, the mounds 

 should be kept well up till about the end of August. After that, 

 they ma}' safelj' be drawn away or suffered to sink down as th.ey 

 would naturalh', under the iiifluenee of the rains, and need not be 

 drawn up again about the tree until the next June. As the sand 

 works away and wastes in the grass it may be renewed, but a lilteral 

 application will answer for several years. If sand be scarce it may 

 be economy to place an old tomato can loosely around a small tree 

 and fill it with sand, as recommended by Dr. True several years 

 ago. AVraps of i)aper extending two feet up the trunk, tied on 

 tight and left there the whole year may be found to be an effect^ial 

 protection against both borers and mice, but I have not tried it. 

 Tarred paper would be most durable, but injurj' to trees has been 

 reported from its use, and until these reports can be shown to have 

 been unfounded, it should be used with great caution. 



So far we have considered only the young trees with smooth bark. 

 On old, rough-barked trees the mounding would assist' somewhat, 

 but the condition of the bark would still make it difficult to fiuil the 

 borers. Such trees, I am sorrj' to say, I have thus far neglected, 

 and perhaps to this circumstance I owe it in part that borers have 

 been plcutier in my orchards during the past two years than ever 

 before. I propose now to take these cases in hand, and the first 

 step will be, after a moderate application of sand, to api)ly an 

 offensive wash to these trunks for, say, two feet from the ground. 



