530 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



Notwithstanding the severe sentence which he 

 thought had been pronounced upon his views, 

 Mr. White deserves much credit for the unresent- 

 fid and truth-loving spirit in which he noticed 

 the su])posed severity. He represents himself 

 as perfectly willing to have his opinions called 

 in question, and subjected to a sifting process. He 

 obviously cares more for the establishment and 

 dissemination of the truth, than of any particular 

 or favorite views of his own. Would that such a 

 spirit were more prevalent than it is. There 

 would be less unseemly controversies and less em- 

 bittered feelings among those who differ in their 

 views. 



How very different the spirit in which a writer 

 on page 474 notices the article of "More Anon," 

 in which the latter calls in question some of the 

 opinions advanced by the former. It is a spirit of 

 wounded self-esteem, and of baseless resentment, 

 and not of love of truth more than of individual 

 opinions. More Anon. 



THE APPliE TREE BOBEB. 



We hear so much of the damage done by the 

 apple tree borer, and have so many personal in- 

 quiries in relation to the pest, that we make spe- 

 cial use of the following note, instead of trans- 

 ferring it, as usual, to the column of "Extracts 

 and Replies." 



borers in apple trees. 



I want to know if there is any way to get rid 

 of, or prevent, the apple tree borer ? I have an 

 orchard of about fifty-five trees, young and old, 

 and I have dug out about one hundred borers, 

 this season, from them. Some of the young trees 

 are badly hurt by them. I saw two articles, (in 

 the Monthly Farmer, I believe,) to get rid of 

 them ; one was to dig away all the dirt from 

 around the tree, and the other was to pile up dirt 

 around the tree. I have never tried either. For 

 three or four years past I have put a little pile of 

 ashes around each tree ; but it does no good ; 

 they increase every year. My trees are on good 

 ground, stony and warm, and top-dressed every 

 year. The apples are a good deal wormy, and I 

 always pick up the windfalls and put them in the 

 hog-pen. The trees grow middling well, and I 

 keep them well trimmed and cared for. 



Charles D. Bartlett. 



West Hatfield, Oct., 1862. 



We have more than a thousand fruit trees on 

 our little farm, and have never yet seen a borer 

 among them, nor the effects of one on any of the 

 fruit trees. A few fine young locust trees were 

 entu-ely ruined by the beetle named Clytns pidus, 

 or the painted Clytus, we suppose, which stood 

 only a short distance from several apple and pear 

 trees. 



The modes recommended on all sides, seem to 

 be simple and few, by which to prevent or destroy 

 these pests. Downing says the most effectual 

 mode of destroying it is that of killing it by 

 thrusting a flexible wire as far as possible into its 

 hole. We have practiced this on the trees of 



some of our friends, and with pretty good suc- 

 cess. This practice will be a perplexing one at 

 first, by not understanding how to manage the 

 wire, and secondly, in being puzzled to find the 

 hole of the depredator. The first difficulty will 

 vanish after a little patient practice, and one will 

 be able to move a soft, flexible Avire in almost any 

 direction which the hole may take. The second 

 requires some knowledge of the habits of the in- 

 sect, whereby the evidences of its presence may 

 direct us to the creature himself. It ap]iears that 

 the butterfly, or miller, that produces the borer, 

 flies in the night, and deposits its eggs in the 

 bark of the tree, and generally quite near the 

 ground, during the months of June and July. It 

 is supposed that it remains in the tree, in the grub 

 state, two or three years, before it comes out in 

 the butterfly form. It is while here in the grub 

 state that it destroys the fruit trees. 



Harris states that some of these borers always 

 keep one end of their burrows open, out of which, 

 from time to time, they cast their chips, resem- 

 bling coarse sawdust ; others, as they proceed, fill 

 up the passages behind them with their castings, 

 well known among us by the name of powder- 

 post. These borers live from one year to three, 

 or perhaps more years, before they come to their 

 growth. They undergo their transformations at 

 the furthest extremity of their burrows, many of 

 them previously gnawing a passage through the 

 wood to the inside of the bark, for their future 

 escape. When the beetle has thrown off its pu- 

 pa-skin, it gnaws away the thin coat of bark that 

 covers the mouth of its burrow, and comes out 

 of its dark and confined retreat, to breathe the 

 fresh air, and to enjoy for the first time the plea- 

 sure of sight, and the use of the legs and wings 

 with which it is provided. 



It has been seen that the eggs are deposited in 

 June and July. By the middle of August they 

 have been hatched, and the grub so far grown as 

 to be able to go to horing into the tree, and to 

 cast its chips forth. Now is the time to detect 

 his whereabouts, and a little careful jjractice will 

 enable the orchardist to notice the chips which 

 adhere to the tree, by their damp appearance and 

 different color from the bark. They may also be 

 found on the ground, directly under the hole. 

 When this process is understood, it is not a diffi- 

 cult task to visit quite a large number of trees in 

 a day, and give the invaders their quietus. The 

 wire should be flexible, and the end held turned 

 over so as to enable the hand to grasp and hold 

 it firmly. File or grind the other end flat and 

 sharp, and then turn it up the sixteenth of an 

 inch, which will frequently enable the operator to 

 pull the grub out. 



Some recommend to burn a sulphur match in 

 the hole, to plug it with camphor, to place a small 



