THE VAGABOND CRAMBUS: CAUSE OF GREAT ALARM. 133 



A few stragglers of this host had been left behind and were aim- 

 lessly, it appeared, traveling slowly over the web. They were secured 

 and, on comparison, were ascertained to be identical with those which 

 I had elsewhere observed. The object of the assemblage at this par- 

 ticular point can only be conjectured. It was not for feeding, for the 

 closest scrutiny failed to give evidence that the larvaa had ascended 

 the tree even to the height of the lower branches. It is possible that 

 there may have been a migration at this time and place from the deso- 

 lated pasture, and the shade of this, the only large tree in the vicinity, 

 may have been sought as an agreeable refuge from the hot sun sud- 

 denly appearing after one of the ''April showers "which characterized 

 this portion of the month of May. 



Alarm Excited by the Attack. 



As previously stated, the insect — the abundance and the ravages of 

 which have been recounted — was generally accepted, throughout the 

 district invaded, as the "army-worm." The local papers contained 

 notices of its appearance at diflPerent points, and gave statements of 

 the number of acres of grass already destroyed on several farms. The 

 Courier and Freeman, of Potsdam, of May 26th, in an extended notice 

 which it gives, states: " So far as we have heard, farmers are making 

 no general effort to check the pest. An occasional furrow is turned 

 or a piece of laud rolled, but no combined and effective work is being 

 done." The editor records sales of cattle that had been made in the 

 vicinity, during the week, of ninety-four head, at low prices quoted, in 

 anticipation of the entire destruction of grass in both pastures and 

 meadows. Long extracts were made from the writings of Dr. Fitch 

 and Prof. Riley, of tlie appearance and habits of the army-worm with 

 methods for fighting it, so that it might be properly met when the 

 existing demonstration should have developed into those migratory 

 armies of which such graphic accounts have been given. Throughout 

 St. Lawrence county, where the ravages had been the most serious, 

 general consternation prevailed, not confined to agriculturists, for 

 there was well-founded apprehension that every lawn and grass-plot 

 would be invaded. It became the common topic of village conversa- 

 tion. At a meeting of the Ogdensburg Board of Trade, on the 23d of 

 May, resolutions were passed, requesting from the State Entomologist 

 such information and recommendations as might be of service to the 

 farmers and the public generally. The Secretary wrote at this time: 

 "Hundreds of acres in the towns of Oswegatchie, Lisbon and Morris- 

 town are completely ruined. If an army of Rebels or Fenians had in- 

 vaded our frontier, the people could not have been more excited than 

 just now over the ravages of this pest. Time can only tell what dam- 



