390 



NEW EXGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



times as they are not purposely exhibited. 

 Shade them from very bright sunshine, and 

 when uncovered, set them where they may not 

 be exposed to a draught of air. A cool tem- 

 perature during summer is favorable for them, 

 and the removal of the slightest symptoms of 

 decay is necessary. When taken to a dis- 

 tance, carry them in a shallow air-tight tin 

 case, or cover them with paper to exclude 

 them from air and light. Charcoal saturated 

 with water is also a good preservative for 

 sticking them in, and the thinner they are kept 

 the better. 



TKEE BORERS. 



The borer is the popular name given to the 

 larvae, of several kinds of beetles ; tliat is, bugs 

 with wings and hard shells. The larvae are the 

 young of these beetles, in the form of worms, 

 and in this period of infancy they pass most of 

 their lives in eating, growing rapidly, and us- 

 ually cast off their skins repeatedly. 



Their second period is called ihepupa or co- 

 coon state, in which they sleep while Nature is 

 preparing the wings, legs, antenna?, and other 

 paraphernalia of the perfect beetle. 



From this second period they enter upon 

 their last or adult state, do not increase in size, 

 and are devoted to a continuation of their kind. 

 This period lasts only a short time, for most 

 insects die immediately after their eggs are 

 laid. 



It is in the larva condition that they are 

 wood-eaiers, or borers. Our forests and or- 

 chards are more or less subject to their attacks, 

 especially after the trees have passed then- 

 prime. 



These borers, of one kind and another, in- 

 fest apple trees, the quince, cherry, mountain 

 ash, oaks, white ash, locust, and some others, 

 and their depredations are often very destruc- 

 tive. The locust tree is preyed upon by three 

 different kinds of borers. Splendid groups of 

 the locust are frequently utterly ruined, and 

 majestic oaks are half denuded by them in a 

 single season. The borer enters a small 

 branch at some convenient point, cutting it 

 half off in to doing, and then passes along 

 throu'di its centre, or pith, towards the end of 

 the branch. Now note the instinct of these 

 little animais. They do not pass in towards 

 the body of the ,tree, but outwardly, so that a 

 strong puff of wind breaks the branch, which 

 falls lightly to the ground, into which the 

 worm goes to pass through the next transfor- 

 mation ! 



By taking up one of these broken branches 

 and carefully following his tracks, the worm 

 may easily be found. He certainly has im- 

 proved a delightful mode of descending from 

 the brawny arms of tall oaks to reach the 

 ground. 



The apple tree borer is the larva of the stri- 

 ped saperda, (saperda bivittati,) which is rep- 

 resented in the following cut. 

 This is the insect in its perfect or beetle state. 

 This figure shows the size 

 of the insect. The upper 

 part of the body is 

 marked by two longitud- 

 inal white stripes, among 

 others of a light brown. 

 The face, antennae or 

 feelers, and under side of 

 the body and legs are white. 



This beetle comes forth from the tree in June, 

 in the night, flying from tree to tree for food 

 or companions, resting in the daytime among 

 the leaves of the tree on which it feeds. In 

 June, July, and sometimes in August, it de- 

 posits its eggs on the bark of the tree, at or 

 near the ground. 



Knowing this habit, many of these eggs may 

 be destroyed by scraping around the base of 

 the tree, and washing it with strong soap suds, 

 during the last week in August. 



The larva;, or young boi'ers, from these eggs 

 are fleshy, round, whitish grubs, without legs 

 or wings. They eat through the bark and re- 

 main there the first winter, marking their en- 

 trances by a little pyramid of borings, which 

 betrays their hiding places, in which they can 

 be easily found and destroyed. The next season 

 they penetrate the wood, throwing out dust, 

 or cuttings like saw-dust, by which they may 

 be traced ; generally ascending as they pro- 

 ceed and boring deeper into the tree. It be- 

 comes a full grown, borer as here represented. 

 The third season, nearly two years from its 

 entrance, it ap- 

 proaches the sur- 

 face, where it un- 

 dergoes its final 

 transformation, becomes a beetle and leaves 

 the tree. This borer sometimes enters the 

 tree several feet above the groimd, and occa- 

 sionally enters the limbs near the stem. 



Their presence may be ascertained by their 

 cuttings, or dust, and the hole where this has 



