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eggs are laid in midsummer, and remain upon the trees until the 

 following spring. The)- ma}% therefore, be found at any time 

 during the winter months. This fact indicates an excellent meth- 

 od of combating this pest. If the trees are carefully searched 

 during that part of the year when they are bare of foliage, the 

 clusters of eggs can be easily found and destroyed. The little 

 machine reseml)ling a pair of shears, attached to the end of a 

 long pole which is used for picking apples, will be found very 

 useful in collecting these clusters of eggs. Hy the use of it one 

 will be saved the necessity of climbing the trees. All wild cherry 

 trees occurring in the vicinity of the orchard should also be 

 cleared of eggs or destroyed ; as tlie^e usually serve as breeding 

 places for this pest. 



Early in the spring just as the buds are beginning to open the 

 eggs hatch. In many cases this happens before the buds open ; 

 and the young caterpillars are foiced to gnaw into the buds in 

 order to get food. In this way there is frequently much injury 

 done before the webs appear. For this reason, I earnestly advo- 

 cate the destruction of the egg clusters in preference to fighting 

 the insects at a later stage. 



As soon as the caterpillars hatch they move down the twig un- 

 til the}' reach another branch ; and here in the fork they begin 

 their web. The beginning of such a web is represented at d, in 

 the figure just below the cluster of eggs. Ordinarily, however, 

 the caterpillars move a much greater distance than that repre- 

 sented, making their web in a much larger fork. This v>-eb serves 

 as a nest for the entire colony of worms hatched from the cluster 

 of eggs. As the worms increase in size the}' add successive lay- 

 ers to the outside of the nest, making it larger and larger, until it 

 becomes one or two feet or more in length. 



A point to be remembered is that this web serves merely as a 

 residence, and that the worms must leave it in order to get their 

 food. Thus during a portion of the day comparatively few cater- 

 pillars will be found in the nest, the majority of them being 

 scattered over the tree, feeding upon the foliage. It is a curious 

 fact that this caterpillar spins a silken thread wherever it goes. 

 As a result of this, there may be found upon the limbs over which 

 the caterpillars pass in going to and from their nest, little bands 

 of silk, extending from their nest to the various parts of the tree 

 where the insects have fed. 



As these webs are very conspicuous, the ordinary method of 



