THE LOCUST BORER. 



made by them. By the 20th of July the larvtB attained their full ,size, 

 by the 28th some of them changed to pupse, and the perfect insects 

 were on the trees September 3. These observations were made on his 

 grounds near Boxbury, Mass., during several years previous to 1821, 

 when they were reported in a letter to John Lowell, and published, 

 together with an account of his unsuccessful experiments with white- 

 wash, mortar, and plaster, in the Massachusetts Agricultural Journal, 

 Volume VI, 1821, pages 270-275. 



Col. T. Pickering, in a letter to Mr. Lowell the same year and pub- 

 lished in the same volume, stated that there were trees in New Hamp- 

 shire uninjured by the borer, as well as in some of the Southern States; 

 that he had observed the stems of young trees in Washington, D. C, 

 infested, while in 

 Georgetown (D. C ) 

 he saw large thrifty 

 trees uninjured; 

 and he concluded 

 that natural growth 

 in groves was much 

 less liable to injury 

 than transplanted 

 growth. 



Fitch, writing in 

 1868, stated that 

 numbers of speci- 

 mens were sent to 

 him year after year 

 from Indian Terri- 

 tory. 



Schwarz (1890) 

 observed that in 

 and around the 

 District of Columbia the insect lives in large colonies, affecting all trees 

 of small groves, while lopg hillsides full of locust are not infested. 



K. S. Kellogg, in his discussion of forest planting in western Kansas, 

 says:" 



By locating plantation on good ground and giving it first-class care, the trees will 

 reach fence-post size before the borers do much damage. They should then be cut 

 and utilized. The rapid sprout growth will soon make a new crop. A stump sprout 

 sometimes attains a height of 10 feet the first season. Handled in this manner, black 

 locust can be profitably raised in many places where it is altogether unsuited for a 



permanent tree. 



At present borers are a menace to black locust trees , throughout western Kansas 

 and Nebraska, though there are occasional local areas that are not affected. They 



«Bul. 52, Bur. Forestry, U. S. Dept. Agric, 1904. 



-The locust borer ( Oxjllene robiniie) : a, pupa, ventral view; 6, 

 same, dorsal view.' Much enlarged (originai). 



