Protecting Young Fruit Trees.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 4999, 9 June 1891, Page 1

Protecting Young Fruit Trees.

In the Rural World, St. Louis, United States, America, Jacob Faith tells his way of keeping borers, rabbits, slieep, and mice from killing trees. Make a wash as follows : Fresh lime slacked with soft water —soapsuds are best—make the wash the thickness as to wash house or fencing. When one peck of lime is used, while hot add -jgal. gas tar, costing 5d ; and 41b of sulphur. Stir well. . If the moth has laid the egg which produces the borer this wash is death to the egg and moth : moths and beetles will not deposit their eggs in a tree thus washed. The wash described will prevent both apple and peach tree borers. Wash the trunk and limbs asf ar as the rough bark goes. A man or boy can wash 200 to 500 trees a day with a 15d flat paint brush. , To keep rabbits and sheep from girdling, wash late in the autumn or about the time of frost, as liiglx as they can reach. I would not neglect washing my trees for 50 times its cost. A weak lye is a very useful and perfectly safe tree wash ; also, old soap suds that stand a few days after clothes are washed will keep the bark smooth and the borers off, if trees are washed two or three times in summer season. If one pint of crude carbolic acid is added to 15gal. of old soap suds or lye it will keep insects off for months. Many other washes will keep insects from killing trees, but some are injurious to trees, instead of beneficial.