98 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



hole by which it enters is so small that it soon fills up, but in the 

 case ofj'oung trees where the borer works along under the bark, 

 the organic connection has been destroyed, and it turns dark, 

 sometimes shrinking so as to form a crack from which the castings 

 fall out, and thus the borer may be detected. The larvse the first 

 year lives in the bark and sap-wood, and remains in the tree three 

 years, during which the borer will be found to have penetrated 

 eight or ten inches upward in the .trunk of the tree, its burrow at 

 the end approaching to and being covered only by the bark. Here 

 its transformation takes place, and it remains in the pupa state 

 some four weeks, when casting ofi" its pupa skin the beetle gnaws 

 through the bark that covers the end of its burrow and comes out 

 of its place of confinement about the first of June." 



There is perhaps no surer and better mode of destroying the 

 borer, after it has once entered the tree, than to dig it out with a 

 sharp knife, or to run a wire into the holes and pierce the borer; 

 but to prevent the beetles from laying their eggs upon the trunks 

 of the trees, both Dr. Fitch and Prof. Riley, the accomplished en- 

 tomologist of Missouri, very highly recommend that strong soap- 

 suds be applied upon the trunks of the trees, from the limbs down 

 close to the ground, first removing an inch or two of the surface 

 of the ground, replacing the earth when done. Either soft soap 

 or common bar-soap may be used. It would be well also to put a 

 piece of soap in the principal crotch of the tree, that it may be 

 washed down over the trunk by the rains. This application should 

 be made in May, or before the beetles are ready to lay their eggs, 

 and repeated in June and July, so that the bark shall not lose the 

 protection of the soap during the season. Mr. A. 0. Pratt of Green, 

 N, Y., recommends an ounce of carbolic acid to every fifty young 

 trees, mixed with three quarts of strong soapsuds; apply with a 

 paint brush to the body of the tree, particularly at the base. 

 Should a heavy rain occur immediately after, then make a second 

 application, and also another in the course of a fortnight. 



"If through neglect to use this treatment the borers girdle a 

 young tree, proceed as follows : With a sharp half-inch chisel 

 make from six to eight incisions downward in the bark and wood 

 just below the girdle, and in a tiimilar manner a corresponding 

 number above the girdle. Then from a vigorous tree cut several 

 sprouts of the proper length, wedged-shaped at both ends, and 

 fit the same in the incisions, thus forming a complete connection 

 for the sap. Wax the points of contact, also the girdled portion, 

 bank high with dirt, prune thoroughly and the tree will survive." 



*" The flat headed borer, ( Chrijsobolhrisfemoraia, Fab.^ works 

 very much as the other, except that it penetrates not so deeply, 



* Prof. A. J. Cook. 



