THE WOOD BORER.

Shannon News, 23 December 1924, Page 2

THE WOOD BORER.

THE SEASON TO DEAL WITH IT, A BUILDER’S ADVICE. Wipe all furniture and woodwork over with kerosene once a week for three weeks, and '75 per cent, of the grub known as the borer will die . instantly. This is the advice of Mr G. 1\ Kreschmar, a retired builder,, who has made a close, study of. the beetle, or borer, which are really one and the same. Everyone knows. what havoc the borer plays with houses and furniture; and would welcome any information that might/help m dealing with the pest. Chating with an Auckland'' Star reporter, Mr s Kretschmar said that lor several years he had given much time to studying the borer. It was quite true the. grub wrought destruction on timber and furniture', but the damage clone, although serious, was no.t so extensive as many people believed. “Each grub is responsible Mr' the boring Qf a hole about 3in;. deep,” ■said Mr Kretschmar, “hut where the grubs exist in large numbers, they will soon play havoc with a house, or furniture.” The borer, he said, was a very small grub of. a light cream colour, and, confined to. its self-made, home, lived quite comfortably. Once the borer was inside the wood, say from the month of March, and unless uug out in some way, it was free to carry on its work Qf destruction. It W4 S next to impossible. to dig the borer out without destroying the timber, therefore any action to-, deal with toe pest must, be taken before the Lew season’s eggs are hatched. “About a fortnight ago the. beetle once again , made its appearance,” said Mr Kretschmar, “and as they mate as soph as they come to the surface licxw is the time to look lor them. Anybody, with light-coloured wall-papers j white painted woodwork, or ‘picture, frames, particularjy the. three-ply ones, would dQ' well to examine them tlpne times a day. II tiie borer is in the house, there will be little difficulty in seeing them, as they are small brown beetles Qf slow movement. All' you have to do is to place your band under the beetle, press upon it lightly with your thumb, slightly moist, and then dispose of the pest the quickest way you can. ■' \ “The beetle is with us till about the second week in January, when it dies, and then it is necessary to take measures to destroy the eggs which have been laid. Moving, over any surface, whether wood or iron, the beetle stop’s for a second at short intervals to deposit an egg. The opinion of many people that the eggs are laid in a hole is quite erroneous., because, if that were correct the grubs would he found in groups. The opportunity to deal with the borer is when the eggs are on the surface, and the best method is to rub all the wood in the house with kerosene. You want to make a start about the middle of January and at intervals of a week, rub all the woodwork in the house with kerosene. The latter leaves no staiii, and even a piano may be syringed with it without doing harm to the. instrument. Furniture not affected by the weather it is advisable to take out in the yard and saturate with water because the borer cannot live in wet wood.” Mr kretschmar went on to. say that the grub, or borer, began eating his way into the wood .as soon as hatched and continued tq bore inwards until about October, when it began to worSt towards * the surface, and on November 21, or about that date, the borer re appeared in the form of a beetle. Holes“ In furniture were no proof that the borer was there; it merely showed where the pest had been at work. Although he had been told that the beetle flew in the air he had never seen it, although he bad made a very close study of them and even kept them in glass cases.