1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
717 
Killing the Peach Borer. 
Hardly a day passes without a ques¬ 
tion about using some paste or smear 
upon the trunks of peach trees to kill off 
the borers. The papers are full of so- 
called cures for this hateful insect which 
will avoid the time and labor required in 
cutting or worming them out. Many of 
these preparations are sold at a high 
figure, others claim to have a patent on 
their peculiar method or some secret pro¬ 
cess of killing this pest. A large num¬ 
ber who apply to us have heard that 
tar or asphaltum painted around the 
base of the tree will thoroughly clean out 
the borer. It is often hard to know what 
to say to these people, since they know 
of some one who had tried the tar and 
obtained what they call excellent results. 
From our own experience we should dis¬ 
courage the use of such materials. They 
may kill out a few of the borers, but 
with us it has always been necessary to 
go over the trees by hand, and make 
sure that all the insects have been de¬ 
stroyed. At one time we used quantities 
of hot lye, apparently with excellent re¬ 
sults. It became evident, however, that a 
good many of the borers escaped. Still 
the work of cleaning off the gum so that 
the hot lye could operate properly meant 
about as much work as digging out the 
borers. 
The most effective thing we know of 
is a strong coating of lime-sulphur mix¬ 
ture of about the strength that would be 
used for Winter spraying. This could be 
painted on the lower part of the tree, or 
sprayed upon the trunk, driving the spray 
down to the base. This coating of lime- 
sulphur should be kept upon the tree all 
the time, and while this remedy is the 
best we know of as a wash or smear, 
we would not recommend it as a total 
substitute for hand digging. We believe 
that more or less of the latter will be 
necessary anyway in sections where the 
borer is very bad. As for tar and 
asphalt, our advice is to go very slowly 
with them. The tar we know varies 
considerably in composition and some of 
it would we believe prove injurious. We 
would not pay any large price for a 
smear or wash which was guaranteed to 
take the place of digging, because we do- 
not believe it is possible for any coating 
of this kind to thoroughly clean out the 
borer. 
Apple Aphis. 
The apple aphis or louse has received 
very little attention from the average 
farmer. The aphids are so small that it 
is hard to realize the damage they cause 
is so great. They make up for their lack 
of size by their persistence and numbers. 
There is much technical information that 
could be given, but such can be best ob¬ 
tained from the bulletins of the Bureau of 
Entomology at Washington. The object 
now is to call attention to the presence 
of this insect in time to check his work 
of destruction. As soon as the apple buds 
begin to swell in the Spring these little 
pests begin to hatch from the eggs that 
were laid on the twigs in the previous 
Fall. As soon as hatched they commence 
sucking the sap from the tender fruit 
buds as the buds begin to grow. This 
produces the clusters of small misshapen 
fruit which many growers have been un¬ 
able to account for, as they had sprayed 
with both Winter and Summer sprays for 
ordinary insects. The aphis once estab¬ 
lished and allowed to go unmolested will 
increase with great rapidity. They not 
only cause misshapen fruit, but poorly 
developed and distorted wood growth re¬ 
sults. Many young trees can be formed 
where the unchecked aphis has so weak¬ 
ened the tree that it will not recover for 
several years. 
As the season advances the aphis will 
leave the fruit buds and attack the grow¬ 
ing shoots, often in such numbers as 
completely to cover the bark. The young 
leaves are also affected, causing them to 
curl, and preventing them from fully de¬ 
veloping. There is only one practical 
method of combating the aphis in an ap¬ 
ple orchard, and that is to spray with 
tobacco extracts, several brands of which 
are on the market. This extract may be 
added to any of the usual Summer or 
^ inter sprays, and so save the cost of 
the extra application. Treatment should 
not be delayed if good results are de¬ 
sired. It should be given not later than 
the first Codling moth spraying. If the 
treatment is delayed longer there will be 
difficulty in checking the insect as the 
curled leaves protect the aphis from the 
spray. Examine the young buds for signs 
of these pests, and if any are found, 
spray as directed. Do not let the small 
numbers in the Spring fool you, as they 
will increase to many thousands in one 
season if they are not checked. 
R. B. G. 
Action of Lime on Soils. 
Will burned lime applied at the rate 
of one ton to the acre on oat ground 
unlock potash and nitrogen to the extent 
that it would be advisable to use 300 
pounds of acid rock instead of an equal 
amount of 2-8-10 commercial fertilizer? 
Milford, N. Y. m. h. r. 
The 2-8-10 commercial fertilizer that 
you suggested is better adapted for use 
on oat ground after treatment with lime 
than the rock phosphate alone. Although 
lime, when applied in proper quantities, 
will act as an indirect fertilizer in un¬ 
locking potash, nitrogen, and phosphoric 
acid, the action is not complete at any 
one time, and the amounts that it makes 
available are small in comparison to the 
needs of the crop. The following explan¬ 
ation will show how burnt lime acts as a 
liberator of the three plant food elements. 
When lime is applied, there seems to 
come about a reciprocity between the 
bases of the insoluble or difficultly solu¬ 
ble forms of potash in the soil, and the 
base of the lime. These bases then 
change places, and after several more 
transitions the potash goes into a solu¬ 
ble* form available for plant usage. It 
seems strange, but it is nevertheless true, 
that the action takes place more readily 
between the lime and the potash locked up 
in the soil, than with the richer artificial 
crop stimulators as farm manure or com¬ 
mercial fertilizers. The proper amount 
of lime needed varies with every set of 
conditions, and a superabundance will 
prove wasteful to the soil, since more 
potash will be unlocked than can be read¬ 
ily taken up or completely converted. 
The exact changes of the potash from 
the insoluble to the soluble form are very 
complex, but it is a fundamental fact 
that potash is more readily available to 
crop growth through the action of lime. 
In the case of nitrogen no direct in¬ 
terchange of bases takes place. The ni¬ 
trogen is only available for plant usage 
in the nitrate form, and must be so con¬ 
verted before the plant will make use of 
it. Tiny organisms are essential for this 
transition, and as the lime makes possible 
the breaking down of the nitrogenous 
compounds in the soil, these bacteria 
seize upon the nitrogen, changing it over 
to the ammonia form. Other bacteria 
now convert it to a more complex com¬ 
pound. and finally it reaches the nitrate 
stage. But to make this bacterial action 
possible, the soil must be alkaline, and 
lime is best fitted to produce this working 
medium. Besides giving suitable condi¬ 
tions for the change, the lime furnishes 
a base for the nitrate when formed. 
The phosphoric acid exists in the soil 
in such highly unavailable forms as lime, 
iron and alumina phosphates, and these 
are so insoluble that ordinary drainage 
water carries relatively small propor¬ 
tions. The lime phosphate, however, is 
considerably more soluble in lime water 
or pure water than the other two, thus 
the more lime phosphate and the less 
iron and alumina phosphates, the more 
readily is the phosphoric acid available. 
This being the case, the amount of avail¬ 
able phosphoric acid in a well limed soil, 
other things being equal, is greater than 
in one deficient in lime. It is supposed 
that lime also attacks the iron and alum¬ 
ina phosphates, converting the phosphoric 
acid into the more soluble forms. All of 
these actions are complex in detail and 
many chemical deductions must be made, 
but it has been conclusively proven that 
lime exerts a very important influence 
in unlocking the plant food constituents. 
B. 
Ox moving into a new neighborhood 
the small boy of the family was cau¬ 
tioned not to fight with his new acquaint¬ 
ances. One day Tommy came home with 
a black eye and badly bespattered with 
mud, \\ by, Tommy,” said his mother, 
didn’t I tell you not to fight until you 
had counted 100?” “Yes’rn” sniffed 
Tommy, "and look what Willie Smith did 
while I was counting.”—Ladies’ Home 
Journal. 
Good News To o?Slr Buyers 
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in the following States (excepting on 
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Will outlast tin.s hingles 
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'EN0 HO0*S 
Maynard 
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IfVEFCOTf 
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Freight Pai d 
Solid oak.^fi^* 
weathered HI 
finish.Seat El 
17 x 18 ins. 
Height of ragS 
back from 
seat 20 ins. M 1 
Weight crated V 
about 35 lbs. 
Order No. mgSJ 
5A1041 
Freight Paid 
Easiest to run, 
easiest to keep 
26 inch Hog Fence 
Freight 1 £ c Per | 1 
Paid iORod s ^fj 
No.28A10. Has bot- - 
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woven in and " v ’ j 
stayed six inches j y - 
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Lifetime guar¬ 
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Ellis Champion 
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or 
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Gray Threshers 
Gray Horse Powers 
Gray Saw Machines 
Gray Ensilage Cutters 
Gray Gasoline Engines 
A. YV 
