100 THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 



dations anew. In this way these insects seem to have spread from 

 the places where they first appeared to others at a considerable 

 distance. 



In order to lessen the ravages of the salt-marsh caterpillars, and 

 to secure a fair crop of hay when these insects abound, the marshes 

 should be mowed early in July, at which time the caterpillars are 

 small and feeble, and being unable to wander far, will die before 

 the crop is gathered in. In defence of early mowing, it may be 

 said that it is the only way by which the grass may be saved in 

 those meadows where the caterpillars have multiplied to any ex- 

 tent ; and, if the practice is followed generally, and continued du- 

 ring several years in succession, 'it will do much towards extermi- 

 nating these destructive insects. By the practice of late mowing, 

 where the caterpillars abound, a great loss in the crop will be sus- 

 tained, immense numbers of caterpillars and grasshoppers will be 

 left to grow to maturity and disperse upon the uplands, by which 

 means the evil will go on increasing from year to year ; or they 

 will be brought in with the hay to perish in our barns and stacks, 

 where their dead bodies will prove offensive to the cattle, and occa- 

 sion a waste of fodder. To get rid of " the old fog " or stubble, 

 which becomes much thicker and longer in consequence of early 

 mowing, the marshes should be burnt over in March. The roots 

 of the grass will not be injured by burning the stubble, on the con- 

 trary they will be fertilized by the ashes ; while great numbers of 

 young grasshoppers, cocoons of caterpillars, and various kinds of 

 destructive insects, with their eggs, concealed in the stubble, will 

 be destroyed by the fire. In the Province of New Brunswick, the 

 benefit arising from burning the stubble has long been proved. 



Of the caterpillars which devour the leaves of trees, the most 

 common and destructive are the little caterpillars known by the 

 name of fall web-worms, whose large webs, sometimes extending 

 over entire branches with their leaves, may be seen on our native 

 elms, and also on apple and other fruit trees, in the latter part of 

 summer. The eggs, from which these caterpillars proceed, are laid 

 by the parent moth in a cluster upon a leaf near the extremity of a 

 branch ; they are hatched from the last of June till the middle of 

 August, some broods being early and others "ate, and the young 

 caterpillars immediately begin to provide a slelter for themselves, 

 by covering the upper side of the leaf with a web, which is the 

 result of the united labors of the whole brood. They feed in com- 

 pany beneath this web, devouring only the upper skin and pulpy 



