AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
231 
THE APPLE BORER. 
The impression has been prevalent, es¬ 
pecially at the West, that little need be 
feared from the Apple Borer. And for this 
reason among others, this apparently insig¬ 
nificant insect, has been stealing a march on 
us, which has resulted in great damage. 
We learn from different quarters that its 
ravages have been terrible. 
A few facts may serve to put this matter 
fairly before the fruit growers among our 
readers. 
In the fall of 1854, a gentleman of our 
acquaintance, an amateur in gardening, re¬ 
marked to a friend that nearly one-half of 
his apple-trees were attacked, and that sev¬ 
eral of them were past cure. He advised 
his friend too look about the roots of his 
trees, and see whether they were not in¬ 
fested too. His friend followed his advice, 
but found none. This spring, however, the 
friend examined his trees more carefully, and 
found to his dismay, a large proportion of 
his apple-trees seriously damaged. He 
found too, that beyond all doubt, the borer 
had begun its ravages years ago, and that 
they had multiplied greatly in his trees, 
while he was congratulating himself on his 
imaginary exemption from them. 
Another fact shows the same state of 
things. A nurseryman, doing an extensive 
business in a neighboring county, found, on 
examining his young apple-trees this spring, 
that in some parts of his grounds, eight in 
ten of all of them were hopelessly ruined by 
the borer. 
Another gentleman has told us that a con¬ 
siderable number of his young apple-trees, 
and some mountain ash-trees on his grounds 
are greatly injured or lost, in the same way. 
These facts and many others like them 
should startle every one who has planted a 
tree, and who would not have his hopes 
blasted in consequence of inadvertance or 
misinformation. We must give battle to 
this insidious and destructive insect at once, 
or thousands of dollars of loss will be suf¬ 
fered by the nurserymen, and fruit-growers 
of the West, in a very short time. Indeed, 
we think we should not be far wrong, were 
we to say that among the fifty thousand 
readers of the Farmer, thousands of dollars 
have been already lost, within the last three 
years by the ravages of the borer. 
If these things are so, our readers will 
permit us to make a few remarks on the 
natural history of the borer; and on some 
other matters which may throw light on the 
best mode of resisting its attacks. The sea¬ 
son too, is at hand when the insect com¬ 
mences its work of destruction ; and it seems 
peculiarly fit that attention should be turned 
to the matter now. 
What is the Borer ? The borer is the lar¬ 
va, or grub which is hatched from the egg of 
a beetle, belonging to the family of Bupres- 
tidae, or Buprestians. The beetle itself is 
about half an inch long, with brown and 
white stripes, and flies at night. 
When does it lay its Eggs ? In the latter 
part of May, and first part of June, it pierces 
the bark of the tree with its spear, and de¬ 
posits its eggs under the bark. This it does 
near the root of the tree, in perhaps the 
greater number of cases, especially in small 
trees. Indeed some writers, whose obser¬ 
vations seem to have been confined to one or 
two classes of operations performed by the 
beetle, state that it deposits its eggs only at 
the root of the tree. This is a mistake. We 
have dug them within the last few weeks, 
from all parts of the trunk, from the ground 
to the branches ; they seem to have a special 
liking for those parts of the tree which are 
decayed. On the south-west side of the tree 
where the sun has scorched the bark or the 
wood beneath; also where the bark has been 
bruised by cattle, or in any other way ; also 
where the tree is naturally weak, and shows 
signs of early withering and death—wherev¬ 
er any or all these inducements are offered, 
the beetle seems quite ready to accept the in¬ 
vitation, and make its investment. Let no 
one imagine, therefore, that his trees are free 
from the borer, because he finds none about 
the roots; let him examine all parts of the 
trunk carefully and especially the weak, 
wounded or decayed parts. He may find 
them in any of these portions of the tree. 
Appearance of the grub, and way of doing 
its work. The egg seems to be hatched by 
the natural warmth of the season. The ap¬ 
pearance of the grub is the following : It is 
whitish in color, with large head and body, 
whose diameter is about half that of the head, 
and whose length is about four times that of 
the head ; its general shape resembles that 
of a tadpole. We have seen them of differ¬ 
ent sizes, from half an inch to more than an 
inch long. Their ravages are committed in 
getting their food, which is the inner bark of 
the tree, and the tender wood. Sometimes 
they feed on the solid wood, especially in 
small trees. They are furnished with a 
strong pair of jaws, with which they eat 
their way along, leaving behind them a thin 
track of powder like sawdust; they may be 
easily followed by these signs, when they 
confine their operations to the surface- 
wood. They may remain in the tree sever¬ 
al years, before they emerge in the form of 
the beetle ; for it is in the tree that they get 
their entire growth. In small trees they 
often penetrate to the very heart of the trunk, 
and seem to burrow" there for the winter. 
We have dug them out of such hiding places, 
which they found in some beautiful Tallman 
Sweetings, that were utterly destroyed by 
them. 
How have they found their way to our or¬ 
chards ? They seem to follow the process 
of improvement, and to keep pace with the 
planting of trees and shrubbery of all kinds. 
They appear to go from the older portions of 
the country, to the more newly improved 
regions, making a few miles progress every 
year; we are inclined to think that they can 
spread quite rapidly, by the transportation of 
young trees from distant nurseries. Within 
a few weeks past, grubs have been taken 
from apple-trees which were taken from a 
Rochester nursery in the spring of 1854. 
These grubs were so large that the idea was 
at once suggested that they must be more 
than a year old ; this became almost certain, 
when these huge grubs were compared with 
some others, taken from trees near by, which 
were very small, though found where they 
might have had a rapid growth. It behooves 
us to look well to the trees we buy; we do 
not know certainly, that nurserymen can de¬ 
tect the presence of the grub, in all cases; 
but we think it can be ascertained whether 
the tree has been stung. If so, all buyers 
have the right to claim of sellers that no 
damaged articles be offered them. 
How shall we resist Jhe Borer ? In all 
ways ; no one thing will do the whole work ; 
under the head of prevention, we would sug¬ 
gest several things: 
1. Buy none but sound trees; sound, we 
mean, in every sense ; trees of vigorous 
growth, of fine roots, of unbroken bark, and 
that never have been stung by the beetle. 
2. After setting the trees out carefully, 
protect them from the attacks of the beetle, 
by washing them with the following prepara¬ 
tion : To two quarts of soft-soap, add half 
a pound of sulphur, and dilute the mass till it 
is as thin as paint, by pouring in strong to¬ 
bacco-water. The tobacco-water may be 
prepared by breaking up fine, two ounces of 
strong tobacco, and pouring on two or three 
quarts of soft warm water, and letting it 
stand two or three days before the wash is 
made ; apply the wash with an old broom 
freely to the trunk and lower branches, after 
the rough bark has been scraped off. Make 
one application about the middle of May, and 
another about the first of June. It is said 
the beetle will not touch a tree that has thus 
been treated. 
3. Before the weather becomes very hot, 
we think the trees should be well white¬ 
washed with lime, or protected from the sun 
by a board, or by wrapping a wisp of straw 
or hay round the portions most exposed to 
the heat. White does not absorb heat as 
darker colors do. If the trees are white¬ 
washed, and one of the other covers for the 
young trees are used, very few, we think, 
will be injured; always supposing that the 
preventives mentioned first, are faithfully 
employed. 
4. A little circle of ashes should be placed 
at the root of the tree close around the col¬ 
lar. This, it is believed, will prevent the 
beetle from disturbing the tree at that point, 
if it be done early enough in the season. 
How shall we destroy the Borers ive have ? 
Tn the case of trees that have been seriously 
injured, we can say nothing better, than that 
they should be pulled up, root and branch, 
and the part that contains the grubs de¬ 
stroyed. If they have been but little hurt, 
the grubs should be carefully extracted and 
killed, and the wounds covered with grafting 
wax or shell-lac, and the tree washed as 
above suggested. 
If young trees have been much punctured, 
we believe they had better be destroyed at 
once. It will be of little use to try to save 
them; and if they do live, they would be 
weak and nearly worthless. 
We repeat, that the trees already infested, 
should be treated with the wash mentioned 
above, after the grubs have been taken out. 
This would, it is hoped, prevent their return. 
We have made our remarks on this topic 
longer than we designed. But we can not 
close without begging all our nurserymen, 
and fruit-growers, to attend to this matter 
speedily. They may avoid great disappoint¬ 
ment, by prompt attention to the trees and 
shrubs, this year. They may suffer great 
loss and subsequent discouragement, by neg¬ 
lecting it for one month longer.— Ohio 
Farmer. 
How to Get Rid of Rats.—I see in your 
last paper, what is called an “ effectual 
method for destroying rats,” which reminds 
me of a story too good to be lost. 
A few years ago, an intelligent farmer of 
Western N. Y., who bestowed more atten¬ 
tion on his mind and stock than on his out¬ 
ward appearance, called for dinner at one of 
the principal hotels in Canandaigua, then, and 
perhaps still, kept as the fashionable house. 
His dress not being, in the opinion of the 
landlord, of the right cut and fit to entitle the 
wearer to a seat at the boarders’ table, “a 
cold cheek ” was placed on a separate table 
for the stranger, in the barroom. While 
eating his scanty allowance, the landlord 
and his barroom friends were discussing the 
best method of getting rid of rats, with which 
the landlord said his house was much in¬ 
fested. 
Having finished his cold collation, he in¬ 
quired for his bill, which was fifty cents. On 
paying it, he said to the landlord, he could 
tell him an effectual method of ridding his 
house of the varmints, and for one dollar, 
would do so. This the landlord readily paid. 
“ Now,” said the stranger, “ the first time 
a rat calls at your tavern for something to 
eat, you give him a cold cheek in the bar¬ 
room, and charge him fifty cents for it, and 
I’ll be bio wed if he will ever trouble your 
house again.” u. v. b. 
Ohio Farmer. 
