52 Destruction of Insects. 



Art. V. Observations on some of the Inserts which infest Trees 

 and Plants ; with Hints on a Method of their Destruction. By 

 B. Hale Ives. 



Natural History, and particularly that branch of it relating to 

 the insect world is so closely allied to horticulture and rural affairs, 

 that your Magazine would be considered incomplete, and not true to 

 its title, did it not occasionally treat on the benefits or inconveniences 

 we experience from these minute, yet important animals in the econ- 

 omy of nature. 



During the three past years, I have paid some little attention to 

 the science of entomology, and studied the habits and economy of 

 many of these little "pilgrims of summer;" more particularly those 

 which are the bane of the fruit and flower garden, and on which man 

 places his foot without compunction. 



All must be familiar with the common garden caterpillar, and the 

 injury done by it to our fruit trees ; yet few are aware that it is in 

 their power to annihilate them, and with little labor, even in the 

 dreary months of winter. Many plans have been suggested and put 

 in execution, for the destruction of the worms after they have left the 

 egg and commenced their ravages. They are then brought into no- 

 tice by a web-like covering, which they spin in a fork of the trees, 

 to protect them from rains, and the dews of night. The most efficient 

 plan yet invented, is that of our late townsman, the Hon. Timothy- 

 Pickering, which consists of a spiral brush, attached to a pole, by 

 which they are dislodged, after they are colonized upon the tree. 



The following, which I extract from my journal of 1832, in rela- 

 tion to this pestiferous caterpillar, with a kw subsequent observations, 

 may possibly prove of use to some reader of your highly useful Mag- 

 azine. 



"February 26. — In a walk this morning, I found two heavy co- 

 coons of the Phalc^na gcntia, upon the common alder (Alnus glu- 

 tinosa), and a fine live specimen of the v^'inter moth (^Cheimatobia 



vulgaris). On returning through the apple orchard of U , 



Esq., I perceived nearly all the trees speckled with occasional dead 

 leaves, adhering to the branches so firmly as to require considerable 

 force to dislodge them. Each leaf covered a small patch of from 

 one to two hundred eggs, united together, as well as to the leaf, by 

 a gummy and silken filare, peculiar to the moth. I gathered a few 

 bunches of these eggs for a more careful examination, and deposited 

 them in my cage of cocoons." 



These eggs proved to be those of the moth of the orchard, or gar- 

 den caterpillar, so well known to gardeners, and which are hatched 

 soon after the leaf buds expand. In March, 1833, I visited the 

 above named orchard, and, as an experiment, cleared three trees, 

 from which I took twenty-one bunches of eggs, which would have 



