224 EATENIMEXTAL FARMS 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



working on this insect, have suffered very severely; and persons engaged in removing 

 the nests from trees in the Avinter time must be careful not to handle these nests too 

 freely, or they may be inconvenienced by this rash. The nests should be cut off from 

 the trees, placed in a basket with as little handling as possible, and burnt at once. Dr. 

 Howard states that ' a large part of the popular feeling in New England that the 

 Brown-tail Moth must be exterminate'-l, is due as much to the annoyance of this rash 

 as to the loss of vegetation from the caterpillars,' As a remedy for this rash a free 

 use of vaseline is recommended. 



DESCRIPTION OF INSECT. 



The Brown-tail Moth resembles very closely the well-known Fall Webworm, being 

 of a beautiful pure white, except the tip of the body, which in both sexes is brown, and 

 from which the popular name is derived. The female bears at the tip of the body an 

 almost globular tuft of brown hairs. Both sexes fly freely, and are much attracted to 

 lights — a fact of some importance as affecting their spread. The search-lights of 

 night-sailing passenger steamers have attracted so many as to have drawn the atten- 

 tion of the officers of such vessels, who reported that moths had alighted upon their 

 ships in great numbers in the vicinity of Boston about midnight on several occasions, 

 and the introduction of the species at more than one sea port in Maine is attributed by 

 Dr. Howard to vessels cominer from the infested districts rather than by natural spread 

 by direct flight. 



ONLY ONE BROOD IN THE YEAR. 



The eggs are laid in masses containing about 300 eggs. These masses are brown 

 in colour from a thick covering of the golden brown hairs from the tip of the body 

 of the female moth; and the whole egg mass more nearly resembles a silky, downy 

 caterpillar than a cluster of eggs. These masses average about two-thirds of an inch 

 in length by one-fourth of an inch in width, and are found on the lower surface of the 

 leaves in July. The caterpillars hatch in August, but do not injure the trees much be- 

 fore winter. As soon as the buds burst in spring, they are at once attacked by the 

 caterpillars, which emerge from their winter shelters and do much harm 



SUMMER TREATMENT. 



If the winter nests of the caterpillars have not been destroyed, trees should be 

 sprayed with arsenical or other poisonous washes, so as to destroy the caterpillars dur- 

 ing May and June. The caterpillars of the Brown-tail Moth are not so resistant to 

 the poisonous effects of Paris green as are those of the Gypsy Moth. The spraying of 

 all orchards with the poisoned Bordeaux mixture as a regular practice is recommended 

 to all Canadian fruit-growers as the best general means of securing first-class fruit 

 free of most of the ordinary pests which injure fruits. As the Brown-tail Moth cater- 

 pillars attack many other kinds of trees than fruit trees, it will be necessary that they 

 should also be sprayed, and for this purpose Paris green may be used. A good useful 

 poison wash consists of Paris green, 1 pound; fresh lime, 1 pound; water, 160 gal- 

 lons. It is a very usual practice, however, among fruit-grovv'ers to use more than 1 

 pound of Paris green with lime in the 160 gallons, and, indeed, 2 pounds may be used 

 without danger if 2 pounds of lime are added. Arsenate of lead is a newer remedy 

 of great value, from the fact that it does not injure foliage so much, and remains on 

 the leaves for a longer time. Three pounds of arsenate of lead may be used in 40 

 gallons of w^ater without injury. 



RESUME. 



The Brown-tail Moth, which has been the cause of enormous loss in Europe and 

 the United States, is undoubtedly established in one locality in Nova Scotia, and pro- 

 bably in several others. It is important to find out as soon as possible the rang.e of 



