442 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



orchards. I tliink cultivators of the apple may derive some 

 comfort in learning from our early history, tliat this insect is no 

 new pest, and that past generations have somewhat succetsfully 

 contended with it, notwithstanding their imperfect knowledge 

 of its habits. The farmers in this county, in those early days, 

 were beset with depredators that are now seldom seen in our 

 fields. What should we think if our clergymen should be com- 

 pelled to leave their studies, when engaged in preparing their 

 sermons, and shouldering their guns, sally forth to protect tlieir 

 corn fields ! In 1711, we find in the diary of the Rev. Mr. , 

 Green, of Salem Village, the following passage : " Killed grey 

 squirrels, that devour the corn exceedingly ; they have eaten 

 one-quarter of my corn ; it is said there are millions of them in 

 the village." 



The habits of the canker worm were for many years imper- 

 fectly known. Dr. Deane, in 1797, supposed that the grub was 

 produced from tlie egg of an earth-colored bug, and that " Prov- 

 idence at that time was about to extirpate them, for a kind of 

 little bird had then made its appearance in some parts of the 

 country, which fed upon the canker worms. It was supposed, 

 that if these birds should have a rapid increase, the canker 

 worms would be thinned, so as to be less formidable, if not 

 wholly destroyed." These little birds here spoken of, were 

 most probably the cedar or cherry birds, Avhicli have been in- 

 creasing in numbers ever since they left the swamps and cedar 

 pastures, to reside near the habitations of man and partake of 

 his fruits unbidden, and in kind return have devoured an im- 

 mense number of canker worms during the past fifty-nine years. 

 But alas ! for the Dr.'s predictions, the grubs were probably as 

 numerous last spring as they were in 1797. 



In regard to the origin of the word canker worm, as applied 

 to the Phalccna vernata, Dr. Deane supposed it originated from 

 the ravages of the insect, having the same effect upon apple 

 trees as canker. If this be its true derivation, given thus early 

 by our ancestors, they must have believed that our insect caused 

 the canker, as they had noticed it in England ; for we should 

 suppose that no exhibition of that disease, as seen in this coun- 

 try, would justify them in calling any insect a canker worm. 

 The disease called canker prevails to such an extent in Eng- 

 land, that Mr. Knight supposed that apple and pear trees suf- 



