APPLE TREE TENT CATERPILLAR. 



cherry crab trees, Pyrus haccata, the 

 young caterpillars crawling about very 

 actively and beginning to feed on the 

 then partially expanded leaf buds. This, 

 it will be noticed, was only the third day 

 succeeding a night when the temperature 

 fell 5 degrees below freezing, and illus- 

 trates forcibly the vitality of the insect in 

 the early larval form, and thepromptitude 

 with which the eggs hatch when food is 

 prepared and on the arrival of favorable 

 weather. It is a striking fact, too, that 

 one notices in connection with the 

 habits of this insect, that a large propor- 

 tion of the egg masses are deposited 

 upon varieties of trees which leaf out 

 particularly early in spring, for instance, 

 Pyrus baccata and other forms of the 

 Siberian crab, Choke Cherry and various 

 species of genus Prunus ; also, that the 

 eggs do not hatch till food is within easy 

 reach. The accompanying illustration 

 is from a photograph taken by Mr. F. T. 

 Shutt, Chemist, of Experimental Farms, 

 on April 29th, and shows the early stages 

 of development of the destructive form 

 immediately succeeding the hatching 

 period. After taking the photograph the 



twigs with the young caterpillars still on 

 them, were held under a water tap for 

 five minutes, from which water of a tem- 

 perature of 39 degrees was running. 

 The larva? not washed off appeared quite 

 lifeless. The twigs were then placed in 

 a sunny window. Before half an hour 

 had elapsed the caterpillars were appar- 

 ently in good health and enjoying a 

 promenade up and down the twigs, not 

 omitting though to show a marked pre- 

 ference for the portions represented by 

 the partially open buds. They would 

 seem to be well litted to withstand the 

 vicissitudes of the climate peculiar to 

 " The Lady of the Snows," even outside 

 the peach belt. 



Fruit growers and farmers should pay 

 more attention to these unsightly webs 

 and promptly remove them from their 

 trees as soon as noticed in the spring. 

 If pains were taken to examine trees and 

 remove the egg masses in the autumn or 

 when pruning during the winter, the work 

 in spring would be very much lessened. 



John Craig. 



Experimental Farm, Ottaiva. 



TRIM THE SHRUBBERY 



IN many country and village door yards 

 or lawns, the shrubbery consists of 

 rose bushes, lilacs, wistaria and 

 honeysuckle. Often these have not 

 been trimmed for years and they present 

 a most ungainly mass of tangled growth, 

 often rendering it quite difficult to obtain 

 even a fair view of the house by the 

 passers-by. This untrimmed collection 

 is frequently supplemented by rampant 

 growing evergreen trees, that were all 

 right for the first five or six years of 

 their growth, but they were neither cut 

 back nor topped and many of them now 

 have branches spreading from ten to 

 twenty feet. Where it is not thought 

 best to remove them entirely, cut off the 

 lower branches close up to the body of 



tree for a distance of about eight feet. 

 This will remove the foliage that ob- 

 structs the view, and the remaining lower 

 branches will droop a little, giving the 

 tree a pleasing appearance. Other fruit 

 and ornamental trees, by branching low, 

 may obstruct the view, but judicious 

 pruning will regulate this trouble. 



Use the pruning knife freely on the 

 shrubbery and if the bushes are of some 

 desirable kinds try to improve the flow- 

 ers they produce. Turn down the sod 

 about them, applying well-rot'.ed manure, 

 ground bone or wood ashes, well mixed, 

 and you will be more than paid for your 

 trouble. Let this pruning be an annual 

 operation — L. D. Snook in Fruits and 

 FLnvers. 

 129 



