202 



THE TREE DOCTOR 



in the same ratio for the coming ten years that it has in the 

 past five, it is a grave question if practically all the trees of Ohio 

 will not be destroyed. I speak of Ohio because here, in the 

 greater absence of woodlands, the "homes" of birds (the trees, 

 vines and bushes) are lacking and, consequently, the increase 

 of the destructive pest is greater. 



I was passing, five years ago, and saw a "nest" of those 

 worms on the tree at the rear of the buggy seen in Photo 187. 

 I had a strong impulse to get out and set fire to them, but I neg- 

 lected a duty. A year after the tree was defoliated and, passing 

 there last fall, I discovered that the trees in the whole neighbor- 

 hood were leafless. They (the worms) are now all over the 

 country, and playing sad havoc with the forests. No tree can 

 long survive without its foliage. In the east they tell me that 

 the stripping of the elms, by the elm-leaf beetle, five years in 

 succession, kills the tree. Last October I went from Pittsburg, 

 Pa., to Marietta, O., on the B. & O. R. R. and it was almost 

 heart-rending to see the destruction of trees by this web-worm. 

 Almost every Hickory and Walnut tree for the whole distance 



Photo 187 

 The Work of the Web-worm. 



