548 Transactions of the American Institute. 



• 

 holes are perceived within a foot of the ground in your quince trees, 



as in apple trees or mountain ash, you may suspect borers. These 

 holes are where the beetles have escaped, and they naturally deposit 

 their eggs on the same or neighboring trees. This borer or grub is 

 three years in coming to maturity. The first season it works only 

 on the bark, just at the surface, or a little under the ground. 

 During this period, like the peach worm, it is girdling the tree. The 

 next two seasons it is boring in the wood about half or three-quarters 

 of an inch from the outside and working upward. When full grown 

 as a borer, it makes a short turn toward the outside and terminates at 

 the bark, the long perpendicular gallery ending horizontally, leaving 

 only the bark as a door-way to the outside world — instinct teaching 

 that when a beetle it will no longer have the boring apparatus neces- 

 sary to work through wood, but enough to bore through bark. Many 

 nurserymen pay but little attention to guard against this enemy and 

 send out trees infested by them. All trees should be most carefully 

 examined before being planted. Many remedies have been proposed, 

 but the orchardist would save time and trouble by letting them alone. 

 Kill the borers. If you see fresh borings in the spring or summer, 

 take an annealed wire and punch away until it will go no further, 

 and you will probably find on the end of it when taken out a cream- 

 looking fluid, that proves you have crushed the enemy. Go over the 

 orchard soon again, and, if fresh borings, repeat. With quince trees, 

 it is better to take away some earth from the tree, so as to be sure. 

 Mechanical appliances and washes to prevent the female beetle deposit- 

 ing her eggs on the trees may be useful, but it is still better to kill 

 all the grubs before they become beetles. The man who permits 

 borers to molest his orchards will, if he puts his faith in quinces, 

 prove a victim of misplaced confidence. 



Preservation of Wood. 



Mr. P. Linton, Newton, Penn., desired information as to the use 

 of sulphate of copper in the preservation of building material and 

 wood for general purposes on the farm. 



Prof. Henry E. Colton — There are various processes, patented and 

 otherwise, for this purpose, which have attracted more or less atten- 

 tion from time to time. I think the best is to season thoroughly and 

 then paint well ; if a common, cheap job, use coal-tar or crude petro- 

 leum ; if any nice work or farm implement, pure linseed oil and some 

 of the mineral or lead or zinc paints. Fence posts should be painted 

 above as well as below ground. The processes for using sulphate of 



