A Struggle with the Web-worm 



to the canker-worm he is harmless : " but 

 the terror of his multiplication is upon me, 

 and I live in fear of the day when, having 

 ruined all the fruit-trees, and having failed 

 to find the shade-trees to his liking, the 

 worm may take a fancy to investigate 

 within -doors to find a more tempting 

 meal. 



A vision of opening the front door in ^ 



vision of the 



the morning to find the house encased in f*t*rt. 

 an enormous web, under which the worms 

 are feeding on the shingles, and glaring 

 at you from under their silken canopy, 

 besets the imagination. You seize your 

 hat,. a brisk young family drops out of it; 

 your coat there are a score of creeping 

 things inside the sleeves. The breakfast- 

 table is invaded by a squirming throng ; 

 others hang from the draperies and wan- 

 der across the ceilings. Why may not the 

 web-worms become as great a pest to us 

 as the termites prove to the South Afri- 

 can, if the apathetic public does not 

 awake in time to the necessity of destroy- 

 ing them while they are yet in the minor- 

 ity? 



Here in this town, where the neglect of 



