2* APPLE-TRUNK BORER— .KEMEDIES SCALDING WATEK. 



difficult if not absolutely imipractfcable. On the whole, I thin& 

 Uie best resort of any now in use, is that which is most commonly 

 ^actised, namely, opening the burrow with a chigtl or a stoufi 

 bladed knife, to where the worm lies, and destroying "the vil- 

 lain." Experience shows that the wound thus made in the tree 

 ts of little account, as it readily heals, and injures the tree far 

 less than does a continuance of the worm therein. Even where 

 fliree, four, or five worms are cut out of one small tree, the vigor 

 with which it starts forward immediately afterwards suflSciently 

 attests the benefit which has been rendered it. 



But when I came to examine the situation of this worm and 

 the construction of its burrow, a remedy suggested itself to me so 

 Jjerfectly simple and sure, and so easy of application, as I have 

 f&und on trial, that I am surprised it has never before been pro- 

 posed. It Consists in scalding the worm by pouring hot water 

 into the top of its burrow. The upper end of the burrow can 

 easily be found by puncturing the bark with an awl, or even with 

 a stiff pin directly above the orifice where the castings have been 

 ejected. It is commonly about three inches above this orifite, 

 l>ut may be an inch less or a few inches more. It is discovered 

 fey the point of the awl readily sinking in much deeper here than 

 it will elsewhere. Then, with the point of a pen-knife cut away 

 the bark, which is already dead, which covers the upper end of 

 the burrow, and scrape out the saw-dust like eastings which are 

 packed into this part of the cavity, loosening and removing them 

 m far down as can conveniently be done. Then from a tea pot 

 or other vessel having a small spout, pour hot water into the bole 

 M intervals as it soaks downwards, for a few moments, until you 

 are certain, from its oozing out at the lower orifice, or otherwise 

 fiiat it has reached the worm sufliciently to kill it. By cutting 

 ^wnwards into the wood, and extracting the worm a few 

 Minutes after this operation, any one can satisfy himself that the 

 6»lprit is, as Patrick says, '< killed dead," and that 



" A kettle of sealdiDg hot water injeeted 



Infallibly cures the tmber affected , 



The worm it will die and the tree will recover." 



indeed it is quite probable that merely opening the upper end 

 of the burrow, in the manner above described, so as to permit the 



