NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



471 



For the Tfew England Farmer. 



CATERPILLARS — RASPBERRIE S—BOB- 

 O-LINKS. 



Mr. Brown : — Not content with receiving -week- 

 ly an amount of information equaling my subscrip- 

 tion in value, I claim a Yankee's privilege of ask- 

 ing questions, and rely upon the patience of an ag- 

 ricultural editor for satisfactory replies. 



1. I wish to know the best method of freeing 

 our trees from the ravages of the -web-worm or 

 summer caterpillar. Fur two seasons I have at- 

 tempted their extermination, and were it not that 

 I see nearly every orchard in this vicinity covered 

 ■with their unsightly web, I should be ashamed to 

 acknowledge my success has been rather limited. 

 They are easily destroyed on small trees if taken 

 when they first make their appearance, but they 

 are frequently on the extremities of the branches 

 of large trees where they cannot be reached, ami 

 coming as the first of them do in the middle of 

 '•haying,*' it is no small matter to watch them in 

 an extensive orchard. 



They commenced operations this year about the 

 middle of July, and have continued to come in 

 fresh swarms until the present time, attacking all 

 kinds of fruit trees, except the peach and plum, 

 and extending their depredations to most forest 

 trees and ornamental shrubs. I have tried vari- 

 ous methods of destroying them, and among 

 others, burning with strips of birch bark, but they 

 will "stand fire like a salamander," seem to work 

 under water nearly as well as in air, and in fact, 

 nothing but crushing appears to be effectual, and 

 they are so scattered among the leaves, that great 

 care is requisite to get them all in that way. 



The only time at winch I have been able to find 

 them collected, is in the middle of a warm day, 

 but I will not undertake to describe their habits, 

 as I hope to have it more correctly and fully from 

 you or Dr. Harris, (a.) 



2. Where can Dr. Harris' Work on Insects be 

 obtained, and what is the price of it] (b.) 



3. What season is most favorable for transfer- 

 ring the native Black Raspberry from the field to 

 the garden? (c.) 



4. You remark in a late Farmer that the male 

 Bob-o-link exchanges his black and white coat for 

 a brown one, and I would like to know if there is 

 good evidence of this, or whether it is merely de- 

 rived from the fact that none but brown ones are 

 seen after a certain period? (il.) w. f. b. 



Ash field, Aug. 20. 



Remarks. — (a.) Our friend seems to be pretty 

 well "posted up" on summer caterpillars already. 

 Dr. Harris gives an account of them on page 254 

 of his work on insects, but which is too long to 

 copy here. He says, "So soon as the webs begin 

 to appear on the extremities of the branches, they 

 should be stripped off, with the few leaves which 

 they cover, and the caterpillars contained therein, 

 at one grasp, and should be crushed under foot." 

 The spiral brush attached to a pole, and a large 

 stock of patience, will work great destruction 

 among them in ten hours. But you have an "ex- 

 tensive orchard." How many would be happy to 

 have you transfer it to them, together with the 

 necessity of keeping off the web worms. "Well, it 



is a tax to keep them off to which many of your 

 neighbors are not subjected. Our prescription is, 

 patience and the brush ! 



(b.) Dr. Harris' Work on Insects Injurious to 

 Vegetation is out of print. In a note he informs 

 us that he is busily engaged in preparing a new 

 edition, which will be issued in the course of the 

 coming winter. 



(c.) The black raspberry (thimblebcrry ?) is 

 transplanted successfully in the autumn after the 

 leaves are fallen, and in the spring. There is no 

 difficulty in cultivating them, as they are hardy 

 and only need common care. They are produc- 

 tive and wholesome, and ought to be in every gar- 

 den. 



(J.) We have great confidence in the books — 

 they are (the good ones) but the recorded experi- 

 ence of those who are the closest observers, and 

 who take the most interest in the subject they 

 write upon. Speaking of the bob-o-link, Nuttall 

 says, "they appear sometimes inclined to have a 

 second brood, for which preparation is made while 

 they are yet engaged in rearing the first ; but the 

 male generally loses his musical talent about the 

 end of the first week in July ; from which time, 

 his nuptial or pied dress begins gradually to be laid 

 aside for the humble garb of the female. The whole, 

 both old and young, then appear in the same 

 songless livery, uttering only a chink of alarm 

 when surprised in feeding on the grass seeds, or 

 the crops of grain which still remain abroad. 

 When the voice of the bob-o-link begins to fail, 

 with the progress of the exhausting moult, he 

 flits over the fields in a restless manner, and mere- 

 ly utters a broken 'bol/lee, 'bob'lee, or with his 

 songless mate, at length, a \veet, 'weel, oUeet, 

 o'leel, and a noisy and disagreeable cackling chirp. " 

 This writer made it a business of life to observe 

 the habits of birds. 



While the plumage of the male is undergoing 

 this change he is shy and retiring, and soon after 

 it is completed both sexes begin to assemble in 

 considerable numbers, and may be seen about the 

 cornfields, or in the pastures and sometimes 

 alighting upon the fences. How long they con- 

 tinue in these habits or at what particular time 

 they leave we are not able to state. But it is cer- 

 tain that no bird is seen during the time they re- 

 main, with the gay nuptial dress, either in the 

 flock or separately, and all use the same plaintive 

 note, chinlc, o/iinh. In New England, we believe, 

 they never collect in large numbers, but coming 

 together from a few neighboring fields and mea- 

 dows, pass the time as mentioned above. But af- 

 ter leaving New England they congregate in large 

 flocks and travel together, visiting the margins of 

 the rivers and feeding on the wild oats and other 

 seeds. The shores of the Delaware, Potomac and 

 other rivers south are thronged with them, where 

 the gunners annually kill thousands. Those who 



