170 



THE ILLUSrOIS FAEMEE. 



June 



(For the Illlnoii Farmer.) 



R3nf Peach Grub and Apple Borer. 



Ed. Farmek: I would inform year readers 

 once more of the benefits which I have derired 

 from the application of ♦' gas-tar " to apple and 

 peach trees. For the last four years I have 

 found it a sure preventire against the ravages of 

 the " borer." For fear some might mistake pine 

 tar for " gas tar," (or in other words coal tar) I 

 would inform them that pine tar would injure the 

 trees, whereas the gas tar seems rather to assist 

 than to retard the growth of trees. If any one 

 doubts my statement, it will be a very easy mat- 

 ter, for any of them to come and examine over 

 three hundred of my trees and see for themselves. 

 The use of "gas tar" on my trees was at first 

 an experiment with me, but the use of it on my 

 trees for four yerrs in succession has removed all 

 doubts in regard to its eflBcacy. It should be 

 applied to the trees yearly about the tenth of 

 June, so as to prevent the borers from depositing 

 their eggs in the bark of the tree which is done 

 in the monlhs of June, July and August. The 

 eggs soon batch into worms and cammences their 

 work of destruction. The application of "gas 

 tar" to Hpp'e and peach trees will not prevent the 

 borer from doing its work, if it has been depos- 

 ited in the bark of the tree before the tar was 

 applied, but it will prevent any more from being 

 deposited in those trees to which it is applied. 

 The knite i-hould be applied to every tree that has 

 the borer in it, and they should all be thoroughly 

 extracted. But if any should be left in the tree 

 they "will only remain there to destroy the tree 

 until they come to a certain stage of maturity, 

 which will be about one year from the time they 

 first hatch into a worm on the peach, and about 

 three yc rs on the apple. They will then be 

 transffirmed into a bug about half an inch in 

 leng'h with wings. They will eat a hole straight 

 out throngl) the wood and bark about the size of 

 a small pipe stem through which they pass and 

 fly away. They never return again only to de- 

 posit more eggs in some other part of the tree. 

 The bonr sumetimes attacks the forks of trees, 

 therefore the lar should be applied to those parts. 



I have been thus explicit in giving a descrip- 

 tion of the Hpple tree borer and peach grub for 

 the benetit of those who have not studied much 

 on the subject. " Gas tar" can be purchased at 

 the gas works for ten cents per gallon, which 

 makes it a very cheap article. In putting it on 

 to trets it nec's only to be thoroughly done with 

 a common painter s brush a strip entirely around 



each tree about two or three inches wide from 

 the ground upwards. The ground close around 

 each tree should be solidly packed so as not to 

 let the tar run down and mix with the earth 

 which will, by drying form, a kind of cement 

 and prevent the borer from getting down between 

 the tree and the earth. This last recommenda- 

 tion should be thoroughly attended to. 



M. J. Pond. 

 Concord, Morgan Co., Ills., May 16. 



It is time that we give more attention to the 

 grub and borers, for they are secretly at work on 

 our trees, and before we are aware will do us no 

 small amount of mischief. Low headed trees are 

 less liable to their attacks than high ones, aa 

 they delight to lay their eggs in the sun scalded 

 portions of the bark, as its slow growth and dor- 

 mant condition pleases them better than the rapid 

 growing bark that often holds them fast by its 

 rapid growth. It is easy to try the " gas-tar " 

 which can be had at any of our gas works. 



Ed. 



—*- 



Test Toue Seeds. — It will often save much 

 vexatious loss and trouble in replanting, if the 

 vitality of seeds was tested before sowing. This 

 can easily be done by placing a few seeds on an 

 inverted piece of sod and covering them with an- 

 other piece of light sod, and keeping them mod- 

 erately moist and warm for a short time. Count 

 the seeds before you put them in, and you can 

 thus ascertain what proportion will be likely to 

 grow. 



Cut Woem and Coen Gedb Killer. — Dr. Asa 

 Fitch, the eminent entomologist of the N. Y. 

 State Agricultural Society, says: 



"I doubt not you have noticed in plowed fields 

 a large black beetle with most briUiant golden 

 dots placed in rows on its back. It is the Calo- 

 soma calidum of entomologists, and its eggs pro- 

 duce the corn grub kil'er. It is a mo^t inveter- 

 ate foe of the cut worm, grasping the worm in its 

 strong jaws, and in spite of its violent writhing 

 and struggling securely holding it, and when it 

 finds theee worms in plenty, it gorges and sur- 

 feits itself upon them, till it is so glutted and 

 distended as to be scarcely able to stir — for it 

 never knows how to let a cut worm alone when it 

 meets with one. It is continually hunting these 

 worms, feeding on nothing else it it can obtain 

 them. Both it and the golden dotted beetle 

 which produces it, therefore, should never be 

 harmed." 



