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Show iloriiailiiircil Peach Tree Borer Does Immense Amount of Harm It has been estimated thut the peach-tree peach-tree borer docs not less than $G,000,(XIO damage yearly. Wherever peaches grow in the United States they are subject to the ravages of this insect. The larva or worm does its deadly work underneath the bark of the tree, at and just below the ground line. It tunnels about during the summer, attaining nearly full growth by late fall. The worm passes the winter In the burrow, spinning a cocoon lu the spring and changing to a steel-gray moth. The moth emerges a'jout June 15th. The females almost immediately immediate-ly begin to deposit eggs on the trunk and ground about the base of the tree. The eggs hatch In about nine days, and the small larvae start to work into the bark of the tree at the surface of the ground. Up to the present time the best method of control Is to cut out the borers twice a year, once in the late fall and again in May. Where there are large acreages to go over, a special knife is made for this work, with a book point about half the length of the point on a pruning knife, and with a large wood handle. The large handle keeps the hand from getting sore and gives better control of the knife. In large orchards one man opens up around each tree with a round-nosed, round-nosed, long-handled shovel, and the "wormers" follow up and remove the borers. After the worming Is done in May, the trees should by all means be mound, ed up eight or ten Inches high above the base of each tree. This is a very important point in the control of the borer. The small larvae in this way work into the body of the peach tree at the top of the cone of dirt and can be removed in the fall with half the labor that would be necessary if the majority were below the surface of the ground. In the fall mound up the earth about the tree to prevent the collection of water and consequent winter injury. ! It is just as necessary to remove the borers in a small orchard as In a large one. The proverbial short life of a peach tree Is in many cases due to the ravages of this borer. Sometimes as many as 50 are found in one old tree. When one borer Is found in a tunnel It Is no sign there are not half a dozen more In the same tunnel. The pieces of bark and bore cuttings should be scraped up after the tree has been wormed. By burning this material many small worms are destroyed which would otherwise find their way back into the tree. |