THE APPLE-TREE BORER, ETC. 
159 
and was found in that condition to contain 97 per 
cent, of water when dried until it ceased to give 
<off moisture ; the dry portion was examined and 
yielded in 100 parts, 
Sulphate of lime, . . . 40.83 
Carbonate of lime, . . 32.66 
Carbonate of magnesia, . 0.05 
Water, .... 26.46 
100.00 
If we deduct this last portion of water, (which 
is always present in dry sulphate of lime,) from 
the total quantity, there still remains the large 
amount ol 71 per cent., or nearly three fourths of 
the whole weight of the substance. Of the re¬ 
maining fourth, one third part consists of carbon¬ 
ate of lime, an impurity here arising out of the 
wasteful neglect of the manufacturer, but for 
which the purchaser would pay a sum far above 
its real value. In other words, the substance sold 
as sulphate of lime has been found to contain little 
more than one ninth of that substance. 
This affords a good instance of the value of 
chemical analysis to the farmer, in pointing out, 
immediately, where imposition is practised, and 
what the exact money value of any manure may 
be. Thomas Antisell, M. D., 
Chemist to the American Ag. Association. 
New York , April 13th , 1849. 
THE APPLE-TREE BORER. 
The grub, or borer, which infests the roots of 
apple trees, has been known to me more that forty 
years. When fully grown, the worm is about the 
size of a rye straw, one inch long, with a small, 
red head, and appears similar to those cut out of 
old wood. When taken from the tree, these in¬ 
sects do not appear to possess the power of crawl¬ 
ing, and hardly of motion. They are peculiarly 
injurious to nurseries of young apple trees, fre¬ 
quently destroying nearly all the bark around the 
roots, and boring them nearly off, just at the sur¬ 
face of the ground, so that they may easily be 
broken down by the hand. They also do material 
damage in orchards, particularly young ones. 
This worm is known to be generated from a nit, 
or egg, deposited in the bark of the tree, near the 
surface of the ground, by a bug, or beetle. [This 
\is the Saperda bivittata , of Say, described at p. 75, 
in our seventh volume.] The first summer, the 
young worm grows about a quarter of an inch 
long, and moves downward in the bark, perhaps 
an inch. The second year, it increases consider¬ 
ably in size, and generally progresses in its work 
of destruction two or three inches further, more 
or less downward, consuming the inner bark of the 
tree, reducing it to a sort of powder. The third 
year, it still continues its work of destruction, 
when it attains its full size. The fourth year, it 
bores into the hard wood to the depth of from one 
fourth to three fourths of an inch, and then 
ascends perpendicularly in the trunk from four to 
eight inches; thence curving outwards till it comes 
to the bark. In this situation, it lies until the 
•spring following, within which time it changes 
into a species of bug, or beetle, nearly three 
fourths of an inch in length, with horns, or feelers, 
and wings striped lengthwise with white and black. 
In the latter part of May, or early in June, this 
beetle gnaws through the bark of the tree, leaving 
an aperture like a gimlet hole, and proceeds to 
propagate its kind in the manner above described. 
_ The grubs may very easily be destroyed, by 
scraping the back of the trunk and roots a little 
below the surface of the ground, all round the 
tree; and wherever they are, they produce more 
or less defect in the bark. Those which are only 
in the latter, may readily be killed, but those in the 
wood may be destroyed by piercing a small wire 
into the holes, or by cutting the grubs out with a 
small chisel or gouge. The wounds, thus caused 
in the tree, are far less injurious, however, than 
the devastations of these worms. 
Shelton Beach, 
Formerly of Monroe, Ct, 
New York , Jan. 21s£, 1849. 
NEW MODE OF CULTIVATING THE VINE. 
The following is a translation of a paper lately 
read before the Academy of Sciences of Paris, by 
M. Persoz. His plan of manuring the vine at dif¬ 
ferent periods of its growth, is very ingenious, and 
as far as we can judge, is worthy of a trial in this 
country :— 
The new process which I propose for cultivat¬ 
ing the vine, inasmuch as it enables us to make use 
of half of the land for growing nutritive plants, 
may at first sight appear to differ completely from 
the plans now adopted in vineyards. Such, how¬ 
ever, is not the case, and, as those who have stud¬ 
ied the various methods pursued in different coun¬ 
tries will see, several of the recommendations here 
made have been already followed in practice. I 
acknowledge this the more readily, as it enables me 
to appeal, as a proof of their usefulness, to results 
obtained by long experience. In one respect, my 
plan differs from every other; for I propose that 
all the vine stocks in a certain space of ground 
should be brought together in a trench where, by 
one chemical action, the wood, and by another the 
fruit, may be induced to form. This I propose in 
consequence of having, by direct experiment, satis¬ 
fied myself that, of the manures which are fit for 
the culture of the vine, some serve exclusively for 
the increase of cells; that is, of wood, and that 
others cause the development of the flower bud 
(fruit or grape) ; and the actions of these sub¬ 
stances, instead of both going on at the same time, 
ought to be successive. By the application of 
these principles, the growth of the wood can be 
stopped at pleasure, whilst, by the ordinary me¬ 
thods, the same effect can only be produced by arti¬ 
ficial and empirical means. 
When it is wished that wood should be develop¬ 
ed, the vines must be placed in a trench and 
covered with three or four inches of earth, with 
which have been mixed, for every square yard of 
the surface of the trench, 8 lbs. of pulverised 
bone, 4 lbs. of pieces of skin, leather, horns, tan¬ 
ners’ refuse, &c., and \ \ lb. of gypsum. 
When the wood is sufficiently formed, which 
will be in a year or two, according to circumstan 
ces, the roots must be supplied with salts of potash, 
in order that the fruit may be produced. For this 
purpose, it is necessary to spread over the trench, 
