C52 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



However, it was then too late to institute experiments against the 

 pests, as most of the damage had been done for the season and tliey 

 were preparing to undergo tlieir transformations to the adult stage — 

 the moth. But manj of them were gathered for us by coi'respond- 

 ents and were. turned loose in cages here at the inseetary to breed. 

 We were thus enabled in 1893 to learn considerable about their 

 habits and life-periods that proved of value in the work the next 

 year. 



In the latter part of April, in 1894-, soon after the cutworms 

 had begun operations, we visited Forest Lawn for the purpose of 

 making additional observations, to gain further information in re- 

 gard to what had been done to prevent their depredations, and to 

 test some new methods which seemed practicable. Much interest- 

 ing and valuable information was thus obtained. Forest Lawn was 

 reached about 8:15 i\ m., or just in time to watch the pests as they 

 began operations for the night. By the aid of a lantern, many were 

 seen crawling out of the sand around the base of the trees and 

 making their way up the trunk and out onto the branches where 

 they soon began their destructive work on the opening buds ; the 

 frontispiece illustrates this point. Most of them are at work by 

 10 p. M., and many continue to work until nearly daylight. Proba- 

 bly most of them leave the trees by dropping to the ground instead 

 of crawling back the way they came. Upon reaching the ground 

 they bury themselves in the sand about an inch below the surface 

 and usually within a radius of a foot from the base of the tree. 

 1^0 distinction seems to be made between fruit and leaf buds. 

 Fifty have been found at one time on a tree set the preceding 

 year, and 120 on two or three-year old trees. 



For several years, previous to 1893, many peach growers in the 

 neighborhood had noticed that the buds did not start on some of 

 their young trees, and often many of these trees soon died, as they 

 supposed, from the effects of frost or other unknown causes. One 

 extensive grower told us the curious way in which he at last dis- 

 covered the real culprits. He happened to be passing through his 

 recently-set orchard on a still night, and heard a distinct nipping 

 sound which seemed to proceed from the trees. Investigation 

 showed that the noise was caused by the coming together of hun- 

 dreds of the minute horny jaws of cutworms on the peach buds. 



One cutworm doubtless destroys several buds in a night and 

 thus a few worms soon kill young trees, or by eating the buds from 



