1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
535 
to the surface ; on such land, it is probable that roll¬ 
ing after the grass is up would be beneficial. Of 
course the kind and quantity of grasses sown per 
acre must be governed largely by the locality and 
climate, although there is one principle which should 
always be observed in grass lands, whether used for 
pasture or hay ; some clover should always be present 
as host plants for the grasses. A little commercial 
fertilizer, of a high grade, distributed over thesurface 
and harrowed in just before the seeding, is likely to 
assist materially in getting a good stand. 
White Grub ; Raspberry Tips. 
D. B. L., No address. —1. I have an acre which is set with ber¬ 
ries of all kinds, five varieties of peaches, four varieties of plums, 
and some grapes, which has done good service for five years. I 
set a new patch with berries this spring, but owing to dry 
weather and a fertilizer put in the hill with the strawberry plants, 
I lost most of them, and now the white grub is cutting off the 
roots. Is there a remedy for them ? 2. When should I cover the 
tips of raspberries for plants ? 
Ans. —1. We do not know of any practical remedy 
for the grub so destructive to strawberry roots, ex¬ 
cept avoiding sod ground, or making new plantations. 
2. In similar climates to that of New York City, just 
about September 1 is the best time. If covered too 
early, and the wood is green and immature, the tips 
are likely to rot. 
The Shot-hole Borer. 
M. 8., Smith's Landing, N. Y.— Last spring one of my peach 
trees died after it started to bloom ; now another is dying. On 
examining them I find the dead one full of little maggots, like the 
inclosed branch, No. 1. The one that is dying now has a countless 
number of little holes in it. with the sap oozing out of them. On 
examining them I find a little black bug, which bores them, like 
branch No. 2. What is the remedy ? I am afraid that they will 
destroy all my trees. 
ANSWERED BY M. V. SI.INGERLAND. 
The specimens sent showed that the peach trees 
were badly infested with one of the Shot-hole borers, 
the Fruit-bark beetle (Scolytus rugulosus). This is a 
European insect that was first noticed in this country 
at Elmira. N. Y., in 1877. In a few years, it appeared 
in many other widely separated localities ; it is now 
generally distributed over the eastern United States, 
as far south as Georgia, and occurs as far west as In¬ 
diana. It has thus far attacked plum, peach, cherry, 
pear, apricot and apple trees in this country, and has 
killed hundreds of trees in some localities ; usually, 
however, it destroys but a few trees in a limited local¬ 
ity, and spreads very slowly in an orchard. It is 
doubtless first introduced into many orchards in the 
nursery stock. In Europe, where the insect has been 
known for nearly sixty years, it is not very destruc¬ 
tive, being largely heldin check, in some localities, by 
parasites. Several parasites are at work on it in this 
country, but seem not to have yet materially checked 
its increase. 
The beetle is a minute creature, scarcely one-half 
as large as a wheat kernel ; one is shown much 
enlarged at c, Fig. 183, and the tail end of one is 
shown, natural size, projecting from a hole near d. 
They are just large enough to be able to pass readily 
in and out of the holes in the branch at /. The beetles 
may be seen running about on the bark of the trees 
early in the spring, during April and May usually. 
In May, many will be found making perpendicular 
burrows in the bark on all parts of the tree. These 
burrows reach nearly to the sap-wood, and then merge 
into a similar sized, longitudinal burrow running 
along in the bark for about an inch. At d is shown a 
beetle at work on the perpendicular burrow, and the 
upper bark has also been cut away in one place to 
show another beetle making the longitudinal burrow. 
In some species of these bark beetles, the male 
beetle starts this large burrow, but our observations 
indicate that, in the case of this Fruit-bark beetle, 
the female has to do all the work of burrowing. As 
the female extends her longitudinal burrow, she 
snugly tucks her eggs away along the sides. In a few 
days, these eggs hatch into minute footless grubs, 
which at once begin to tunnel into the bark, their 
tunnels usually extending for some distance at right 
angles to the main burrow made by the mother. As 
the grub grows, its burrows increase in size, and be¬ 
come more tortuous. Usually these tunnels extend 
partly in the wood and partly in the bark, so that 
when the bark is removed, the wood presents a fur¬ 
rowed appearance as shown at e ; here is also shown 
the large mother tunnel, and how the larval channels 
run at right angles to it. Often these larval channels 
completely undermine the bark, and girdle the tree as 
at e. One of the grubs is shown much enlarged at a ; 
they are white in color. The indications are that there 
are two broods of this pest in this country the same 
as in Europe ; Mr. Schwarz has recently stated that 
there may be six broods in some parts of the country. 
It has taken the grubs nearly two months to become 
full grown in a tree near the msectary this year ; I 
found no eggs this year until about June 1, and last 
year eggs were found in October. I doubt whether 
we have more than two broods in New York State. 
When the grubs become full grown, they burrow 
directly into the wood for a short distance, excavat¬ 
ing a chamber sufficiently large for them to lie in com¬ 
fortably. This chamber is then capped over with white 
wood fibers, as shown near the letter e; four of these 
chambers are uncapped in e, and show the grubs pro¬ 
jecting from them, while one is empty. These are 
the pupal chambers, that is, the places where the 
grubs change to pupa3 ; a pupa is shown much en¬ 
larged at b. The winter is usually passed by the 
grubs in these capped chambers. The change to 
beetles from pupie also takes place in these chambers, 
and the beetles burst oft' the caps and eat their way 
out to the surface of the bark, making perfectly 
round holes where they emerge. At f is shown a sec¬ 
tion of the trunk of an apricot tree from which the 
beetles have emerged. This peculiar appearance of 
infested trees, has given the name of Shot-hole borers 
to these bark-boring beetles. Another allied species, 
the Peach-bark beetle (Phloeotribus liminaris) is at 
work in a similar manner in many New York orchards; 
I discussed this pest in Tiie R. N.-Y. for October 21, 
1893. 
There is but little doubt that the Fruit-bark beetle 
sometimes attacks thrifty, healthy trees ; but it is 
also a noteworthy fact that it almost invariably at¬ 
tacks diseased or weakened trees first. I have seen 
thrifty peach trees resist the attacks by filling the 
burrows begun by the mothers, with a gummy exuda¬ 
tion. Some have asserted that the beetles thus attack 
healthy trees, not for the purpose of egg-laying, but 
simply to weaken the tree by causing it to exude the 
gum in the hopes that later the tree would become a 
more fit abode for their progeny. Whether the in¬ 
stinct of the beetles leads them to look so far ahead 
as this, I cannot say. When the insect once gets a 
foothold in a tree, it usually continues to breed in it 
SPECIMENS AND WORK OF THE SHOT-HOLE BORER. Fro. 183. 
until the tree dies, and in some cases, for a short time 
afterward. One very fortunate phase in the habits of 
this pest is that it does thus stick to one tree and 
spreads to surrounding trees very slowly. I have 
noticed this in several instances during the past year. 
Unless one keeps a sharp lookout for the character¬ 
istic shot-holes in the bark, the presence of this pest 
may not be indicated in the orchard until it has pro¬ 
gressed so far that the infested trees are already 
doomed. When this stage is reached, the tree often 
droops, sheds its foliage and fruit, and the bark some¬ 
times dries and shrivels. 
This Fruit-bark beetle will be a hard pest to eradi¬ 
cate in an orchard. We have as yet no reliable data 
as to the value of any wash applied to the trees to 
protect them from, or to kill the borer in any stage. 
The difficulty with washes will be the fact that the 
trees will have to be covered from the ground to the 
smaller branches, as the insect attacks the bark of 
nearly every portion. The wash will have to possess 
the quality of remaining on the bark for two or three 
months continuously to be of practicable value. Mr. 
Troop, of Indiana, records some experiments with 
preventive sprayings of Bordeaux Mixture and Paris- 
green combined, and kerosene emulsion with what he 
considers encouraging results. I doubt whether the 
insect can be reached with anything after it has once 
entered the tree ; that is, in the grub state. The 
beetles are also very tough creatures, as one may 
readily prove by trying to kill them in the poisonous 
fumes of cyanide of potassium, which kill ordinary 
insects in five minutes ; I have had them live for an 
hour or more in the cyanide bottle, and for several 
minutes in 75 per cent alcohol. I realize that this 
is not very encouraging news for those who have this 
pest in their orchards, but we are after facts primarily. 
The question of how to fight the pest, resolves it¬ 
self into this with me : I would burn every badly 
infested tree this fall, thus destroying all ti*aces of 
the pest for next year. Partially infested trees I 
would watch closely, removing every insect I could 
find, and try some of the washes recommended to pre¬ 
vent their work in other trees. I am now thoroughly 
testing several washes against the Peach Borer, and 
hope to be able to give definite information another 
season on the sticking qualities of the different sub¬ 
stances. Several washes promise well so far. All of 
the illustrations, except a, b, and c, are from speci¬ 
mens photographed here at the insectary ; a, b and c 
are reduced from the excellent figures of Prof. Forbes. 
Unthrifty Plants on Sorrel Land. 
0. D. T., Town Hall, Pa .—Will high-grade fertilizer produce 
good results on land where the red sorrel grows freely ? 1 sowed 
buckwheat on corn stubble, using 200 pounds of a good fertilizer 
to the acre, and it looks no better than where I left the fertilizer 
off. The soil is a slaty shale, light in color. We have had plenty 
of rain to make things grow. 
Ans. —Experiments at the Rhode Island Experiment 
Station indicate that such soils often need lime in ad¬ 
dition to the complete fertilizer. The lime corrects 
the sourness of the soil, and gives the plants a better 
chance for development. We hope soon to explain 
these experiments in a simple way. Our advice would 
be to use lime freely with the fertilizer. 
What Fertilizers for an Orchard ? 
II. A. A., Neoga, III .—I can buy muriate of potash for three 
cents per pound, fine ground bone for $28 per ton, and Florida 
ground bone and potash for $22 per ton. Whieli would be the 
cheapest and best for me to use in an orchard ? 
Ans. —We would use the muriate and ground bone 
in the proportion of three parts bone to one of muri¬ 
ate—as much as can be afforded. It is not necessary 
to mix them. The “ Florida bone ” you speak of is 
probably not bone at all, but a raw Florida phosphate 
which would be of but little immediate benefit to your 
orchard. 
Cost of Thrashing Crimson Clover. 
It. II. W., Saluda, Fa.—What Is the usual price for thrashing 
Crimson clover seed, the thrasher furnishing only the engineer ? 
Ans. —The custom in Delaware is for the owner of 
the machine to furnish four men—a complete crew to 
manage the huller and engine and to do the feeding. 
He receives 50 cents per bushel for large crops, and 00 
to 75 cents per bushel for small jobs. 
Treatment of Irrigated Strawberries. 
A. If. It., Denver, Colo .—I have a field of strawberries raised by 
irrigation, which has become very thickly matted in the rows to a 
width of three feet. It is dilHcuit to get the water to soak into 
the rows sufficiently to moisten the plants in the center of the 
rows. The yield has been abundant, and the plants are free from 
weeds, and too good to plow under for another year yet. I have 
thought of fixing up a very small plow made of a single cultivator 
tooth, and running it once along the centers of the rows, and 
across all the rows at intervals of about 18 inches this fall, and 
repeating the process next spring. The object is to thin out the 
plants, and to loosen the soil so as to permit the irrigation water, 
when running along in a small stream between the rows, to soak 
into the centers between the loosened earth and roots made by 
these small furrows and cross furrows. Would you approve of 
such a tearing up of the plants as I propose by this furrowing ? 
Of course all is to be harrowed down smooth again and mulched. 
Ans. —Had I the means to irrigate that this man 
has, I would plow under the center of these rows, 
cutting out one foot or more in width, thus destroy¬ 
ing the bed plants, and turn the water into these 
centers, thus starting into active growth those por¬ 
tions that could not otherwise be reached by the 
water. At the proper time, I would turn this water 
off, and allow this new growth to occupy the ground. 
My opinion is that under such treatment the beds 
would be so renewed that an abundant crop would be 
the result. The tearing out of narrow strips would 
allow space for new growth ; but I think not enough 
to accomplish the best results, as the water could not 
be applied as in the other method. Still, I would say 
that if my method cannot be carried out, a wider cut 
crosswise of the beds would allow the water to soak 
to the centers, which is the chief object to be attained. 
Water will produce wonderful results, and the want 
of it complete failure in strawberry culture. 
WALTER F. TABER. 
Explanation of a “Potato Freak." 
F. C. T., No address .—I send a freak of Nature in the line of 
potato growing, or so it seems to me. One week ago, I plowed a 
field of potatoes. The field contained both Hebron and Early 
Rose. In plowing, some of the vines were covered slightly with 
soil. To-day, while hoeing the last few rows, I freed a Hebron 
vine from every crotch, branch and stalk of which a young jjotato 
was growing. The potatoes were perfect with the exception that 
from each eye a leaf was growing. What seems more than queer 
is that no other vine in the whole field shows this same trait. 
What caused this growth upon the vine mentioned, when there 
were thousands of vines which had no extra growth ? Would 
these potatoes form a new variety if planted next year, or would 
they be Hebrons pure and simple ? 
Ans. —No, there is nothing unusual about it. When 
a leafy branch is covered, the leaves die, but from the 
axils of the leaves the bud pushes and a tuber forms. 
It must always be remembered that a potato is a 
swollen stem. The portions above ground develop green 
leaves and vines. Suppress this growth by covering 
them with soil, and we shall have a growth of fibrous 
roots from the main stem, and a growth of tubers 
from the buds between the leaves and the main stems, 
which would, above ground, have developed into 
lateral branches. 
