APPLE-TREE BORER. There are a num ber of species. The two-striped Saperda (Saperda bivittata) is extremely destructive to apple orchards, from the borings of the grub into the wood of the trees. The mature beetle, appears during May and June, and being strictly nocturnal is seldom seen except by the entomolo gist who hunts for it. The female deposits her eggs, mostly in June, in the bark near the, foot of the tree, and also in the forks of the main branches. The eggs hatched, the minute grubs commence boring into the wood, generally downward the first year and upward and near the bark the second year. The borer lives in the wood of the tree until the third year when it emerges as a perfect beetle. It infests healthy The natural enemies of this insect are the pecker tribe. Artificial remedies are to find the cast of the young larvte, and killthem by piercing with a flexible wire. Prevention is, however, the only sure edy. , Keep the base of every tree quite clear of weeds and trash, and apply soft soap thoroughly to the bark, laying cakes of strong bar soap in the forks of the trees, during May, June, and into July. The insect
fests besides the ple, the mountain ash, pear, quince and June berry. The flat - headed borers (Chrysobothris rata), while working in the same class of trees, is totally like the others, ing an oval hole twice as wide as high. The beetle flies by day instead of at night, and besides the apple, attacks the oak, peach, the soft maple, ash, willow, tulip tree, and even the elm and cottonwood. It also attains its full size in one year from the egg. The insect attacks limbs and trunk indiscrim inately. The soaping is as effectual for this as the round-headed species, but must be applied more generally over the larger limbs. Once either of these species get firmly fixed in the tree, the only remedy is to cut them out. Hence the value of the preventatives named.