270 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and have to be followed up year after year, without any prospect 

 of permanent relief. 



Many methods and receipts for the destruction of these insects 

 have been published and recommended, but have failed to exter- 

 minate them, and indeed have done but little to lessen their num- 

 bers. Mr. Lowell* has justly said that "the great difficulty is 

 the neglect to do any thing, till after the caterpillars have covered 

 the trees with their nests. Then the labors of the sluggard com- 

 mence, and one tree, let his receipt be ever so perfect and pow- 

 erful, will cost him as much time and labor as ten trees would 

 have required three weeks sooner." The means to be employed 

 may be stated under three heads. The first is, the collection and 

 destruction of the eggs. These should be sought for in the win- 

 ter and the early part of spring, when there are no leaves on the 

 trees. They are easily discovered at this time, and may be re- 

 moved with the thumb-nail and fore-finger. Nurseries and the 

 lower limbs of large trees may thus be entirely cleared of the 

 clusters of eggs during a few visits made at the proper season. 

 If a liberal bounty for the collection of the eggs were to be of- 

 fered, and continued for the space of ten years, these destructive 

 caterpillars would be nearly exterminated at the end of that time. 

 Under the second head are to be mentioned the most approved 

 plans for destroying the caterpillars after they are hatched, and 

 have begun to make their nests or tents. It is well known that 

 the caterpillars come out to feed twice during the daytime, 

 namely, in the forenoon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave 

 their nests before nine in the morning, and return to them again at 

 noon. During the early part of the season, while the nests are 

 small, and the caterpillars young and tender, and at those hours 

 when the insects are gathered together within their common habi- 

 tation, they may be effectually destroyed by crushing them by 

 hand in the nests. A brush, somewhat like a bottle-brush, fixed 

 to a long handle, as recommended by the late Colonel Pickering, 

 or, for the want thereof, a dried mullein head and its stalk fastened 

 to a pole, will be useful to remove the nests, with the caterpillars 



* See the " Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal," Vol. VII., 

 page 391. 



