126 THE FOREST TENT CATERPILLAR 



practicable in a young apple-orchard, although it is generally 

 considered impracticable in orchards of large trees. It gener- 

 ally would be out of the question in woodlands, of course, 

 although in case of a few ornamental maples or other trees on 

 the home grounds such egg-collecting might well be worth 

 while. The gathering may be done by sending a sharp-eyed 

 boy into the trees to cut or rub off the glistening masses, or by 

 means of a pruning hook or a pair of long-handled pruning 

 shears. The belts of eggs should be burned after they are 

 gathered. When the insects are abundant these e^g masses 

 are so thick that to cut them off one must cut off nearly all 

 the twigs — a ruinous proceeding. In such cases it is better 

 to spray with arsenate of lead. 



Killing the young caterpillars. — On small trees, where the 

 caterpillars are easily reached, something may be accomplished 

 by swabbing the colonies of young larvae when at rest by 

 means of a bunch of cotton waste, old rags, or something simi- 

 lar. In rainy weather one is more likely to find the larvae 

 massed together during the day than in bright weather. 



Use of water. — One of the easiest ways of knocking the 

 caterpillars off the trees is by the use of a forcible stream of 

 water from a hydrant or good force pump. In Hanover the 

 town authorities used streams from the hydrants with an eleven- 

 sixteenth-inch nozzle from the fire service to good effect in 

 clearing the caterpillars from the magnificent elms of that 

 beautiful village, and the same method has been successfully 

 used in various other places. Of course the caterpillars that 

 fall to the ground are to be destroyed, or at least prevented 

 from again ascending the trees. The Hanover authorities 

 washed the trees from two to four times. The trees were 

 banded, so that those caterpillars which were not crushed on 

 the ground immediately after falling were prevented from 

 ascending the trees, and destroyed when they congregated on 

 the bark below the bands. It would be well worth while to 

 try this washing method in early spring, just after the cater- 

 pillars hatch and before the leaves expand. 



Spray i?ig tvith poisons. — The season's experience has 

 shown that spraying with arsenical poisons is a practical and 



