NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



65 



THE ORCHARD CATERPILLAR. 



Messrs. Editors : — In No. 102 of the Rural, I 

 notice an article with the above heading, in which 

 the writer, " II. D. B.," states some facts in re- 

 lation to the caterpillar in his section this season, 

 and asks, " Do we get two cr >ps of caterpillars in 

 one season? or did our peculiar spring-like sum- 

 mer cause the miller to deposit her eggs perpetu- 

 ally, and if so, shall we prohahly be exempted from 

 their ravages next summer 1 ' ' 



They usually produce " two crops" in a season, 

 but I think not always. They do not, however, 

 usually continue their depredations until the ap- 

 pearance of frost, but the lateness of the spring 

 undoubtedly retarded their operations so much that 

 a portion of them could not complete the routine 

 of their existence in season to escape the frost 

 king. 



Y< >u may be reasonably exempted from the rav- 

 ages next season, but do not flatter yourself that 

 you will be entirely so. There will be enough left, 

 and from this time to the first of April is the very 

 best time to destroy them. No farmer or fruit- 

 eulturist should think of waiting till they appear in 

 the spring to destroy them. If you examine your 

 fruit trees you will occasionally find, towards the 

 extremities of the branches, a little bunch resem- 

 bling a warty excresence, which upon examination 



will bo found to contain several hundred eggs. It 

 is these which produce the myriads of caterpillars 

 that devastate our orchards, and to destroy which 

 so many expedients have been devised. 



If every person who cultivates fruit trees would 

 spend a few hours every winter in examining his 

 trees, and would pick off and burn every one of 

 these ovarious depositions which he could discover, 

 we should soon hear no more complaint of the de- 

 vastations of the caterpillar, and our eyes would no 

 more he pained by the sight of their filthy nests, 

 and of defoliated trees. r. g. w. 



Alabama, Dec. 11, 1851. 



Remarks. — We lay the above, from the Rural 

 New-Yorker, before the reader, in order to call his 

 attention to the matter, to ascertain whether 

 anything can be done by winter operations towards 

 lessening the number of insects which perplex us. 

 It would undoubtedly be more comfortable uti- 

 housing the vermin in Alabama, where the article 

 was written, than in New England, though there are 

 days with us when we may s&rape and scratch a 

 little, if we could meet with success. Try all things, 

 must l)e the motto, and practice that which is 

 good. 



STEVENS' SELF-SUPPORTING MOVABLE HINGE FENCE. 



The above cut we have had engraved from a 

 model sent us by Col. Josiaii Stevens, of Concord, 

 N. II. It was designed by himself and exhibited 

 at the State Fair, at Manchester, last fall. 



It is constructed by nailing common palings 

 upon horizontal bars of any convenient length. 



The fence is made in sections, and the bars at- 

 tached to each other by pins of wood or iron, and 

 thus connecting the sections, as will be seen by re- 

 ference to the engraving. 



The outside paling at each end of a section 

 should be three or four inches longer than the 

 others, and sufficiently strong for the fence to stand 

 upon, or each paling may come to the ground, as 

 one may fancy. When the sections are attached 

 they must be varied a little from a straight liae, in 

 a zig-zag direction, and the fence is thus self-sup- 

 ported without entering the ground at all. 



By removing two pins a section may be swung 

 open like a gate and permitting a passage to the 

 field at any desirable point. 



The whole fence may be moved without discon- 

 necting it, by begining at one end and moving a 

 section or two at the time. 



Or it may be taken apart in a few moments 

 without drawing a nail, and placed under cover, if 

 it is desired. 



The sections may be used to confine an animal 

 in the field, surround a favorite tree by the road- 

 side or elsewhere, or to make any temporary en- 

 closure. 



It may be constructed in Maine or New Hamp- 

 shire, we think, so as to become the cheapest fence 

 in use with the exception, perhaps, of the wire 

 fence. 



