FEUITS. VAKIETIES AND CULTUEE. 



385 



PEACH. — (Amygdalus Persica.) 



The Peach is a native of Persia, whence its cultivation 

 has proceeded westward ; but it has nowhere found a soil 

 or climate more congenial to it than in these Southern 

 States. Indeed, the peach is the favorite, and in many 

 instances the only, fruit tree cultivated by our planters. It 

 requires a soil of but moderate fertility ; its enemies and 

 diseases are but few, and the return so speedy that there 

 is no excuse for being without good peaches. We entire- 

 ly escape the yellows and the curled leaf, I believe, except 

 in the case of Northern imported trees, which generally 

 recover, though checked for a season. The peach borer is 

 very abundant, but from the luxuriant growth of the trees 

 it seldom causes their death. The worm in the fruit is 

 very annoying, especially in the white-fleshed varieties ; 

 it is best prevented by permitting pigs and fowls to con- 

 sume all the fallen fruit of the orchard as it drops. 



The Peach-Tree Borer • — (TrochiUum exitiosum.) — 

 The moth comes abroad from midsummer until October. 

 Its body is of steel-blue color, with an orange band around 

 the middle of the abdomen of the female. Her wings are 

 blue, while those of the male are clear and glossy. The 

 eggs are deposited the latter part of summer, at the base 

 of the trunk, on the soft bark ; when hatched they bore 

 their way under the bark, sometimes proceeding upwards 

 along the trunk, at other times downward into the root. 

 Its presence is made known in spring by the effusion of 

 gum ; as it does not penetrate the wood, it is easily traced 

 by its holes under the bark. The worm is soft, white, 

 with a tawny, yellowish-red head, and sixteen feet, grow- 

 ing to over half an inch in length. It forms a tough, 

 pod-like cocoon on the side of the root, jutting just above 

 the surface. Remedies are various. Haul the earth from 

 the collar of the tree, clean away the gum, and cut out 

 IT 



