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 A . 

 the morning to find the house encased in future 

 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 

 "5 



