CATERPILLAR. 



CAT'S-TAIL. 



ing a few visits made at the proper season. 

 If a liberal bounty for the collection of the 

 eggs were to be offered, and continued for the 

 space of ten years, these destructive caterpil- 

 lars would be nearly exterminated at the end 

 of that time. Under the second head are to be 

 mentioned the most approved plans for destroy- 

 ing the caterpillars after they are hatched, and 

 have begun to make their nests or tents. It is 

 well known that the caterpillars come out to feed 

 twice during the day time, namely, in the fore- 

 noon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave 

 their nests before nine in the morning, and re- 

 turn to them again at noon. During the early 

 part of the season, while the nests are small, 

 and the caterpillars young and tender, and ;it 

 those hours when the insects are gathered toge- 

 ther within their common habitation, they may 

 be effectually destroyed by crushing them by 

 hand in the nests. A' brush, somewhat 

 like a bottle-brush, fixed to a long handle, as 

 recommended by the late (.Vhwl Picket-in-, or, 

 for the want thereof, a dried mullein head and 

 its stalk lastened to a pole, will be useful to re- 

 move the nests, with the caterpillars contained 

 therein, from those branches which are too 

 hiirh u> be reached by hand. Instead of the 

 brush, we may use, witr liial success, 



a small mop or sponge, dipped aa often as ne- 

 cessary into a pailful of refuse soap-suds, ley, 

 strong white-wash, or cheap oil. The mop 

 should be thrust into the nest and turn- 

 a little, so as to wet the caterpillars with the 

 liquid, which will kill everyone that it touches. 

 These means, to be effectual, should be em- 

 I luring the proper hours, that is, early 



in the morning, at mid-day, or at night, and as 

 soon in the spring as the caterpillars begin to 

 make their nests ; and they should be repeated 

 as often, at least, as once a week, till the 

 leave the trees. Early attention and perseve- 

 rance in the use of these remedies will, in 



ve the farmer hundreds of do!! 

 abundance of mortification and disappoint- 

 ment, besides rewarding him with the grateful 

 sight of the verdant foliage, snowy blossoms, 

 and rich fruits of his orchard in their proper 

 seasons. Under the third head, I beg leave to 

 urge the people of this commonwealth to de- 

 clare war against these caterpillars, a war of 

 extermination, to be waged annually during 

 the month of May and the beginning of June. 

 Let every able-bodied citizen, who is the owner 

 of an apple or cherry tree, cultivated or wild, 

 within our border, appear on duty, and open 

 the campaign on the first washing-day in May, 

 armed and equipped with bruslTand pail, as 

 above directed, and give battle to the common 

 enemy ; and let every housewife be careful to 

 reserve for use a plentiful supply of ammuni- 

 tion, strong waste soap-suds, after every week- 

 ly wash, till the liveried host shall have de- 

 camped from their quarters, and retreated for 

 the season. If every man is prompt to his 

 duty, I venture to predict that the enemy will 

 be completely conquered in less time than it 

 will take to exterminate the Indians in Florida. 

 "Another caterpillar, whose habits are simi- 

 lar to those of the preceding, is now and then 

 met with, in Massachusetts, upon oak and wal- 

 nut trees, and more rarely still upon apple trees. 

 36 



j According to Mr. Abbot, ' it is sometimes so 



[ plentiful in Virginia as to strip the oak-trees 



j bare.' It may be called Clisiocampa sylvatica, 



the tent-caterpillar of the forest. With us it 



comes to its full size from the tenth to the 



twentieth of June, and then measures about 



two inches in length." (Harris.) 



Those who wish to become more intimately 

 acquainted with the natural history of the cater- 

 pillar tribe against which such incessant war 

 is waged both in country and town, wherever a 

 tree or a plant is found, will meet with abun- 

 dant information in Dr. Harris's Treatise upon 

 Insects destructive to vegetation. 



Some others of the caterpillar tribe will be 

 found noticed under the several heads of CASE- 



UKAllKllS, or H \SKKT-WOIIMS, CuHH ANT-BT7SH 



Html it.Ci TWOHM CATKIUMI.LAU,LKAK-HOI.LKUS, 

 APPLETKEK AXD Nunstni CATKUPII.LAUS, OAK 

 A*n WALNUT CATKHIMI.LAHS, Ho P-A INK \\n 



GllYl'K-YI\K C VTKIU'ILLAHS, LoCl'ST TllEB 



and other caterpillars infesting hickory and 

 elm trees, Acc.,Tt i: I-K vn N K. Morn, infesting the 

 fir and pine, caterpillars living upon ncJs, flags, 

 and other <y i.'iV pluntx, Sp VN \\-UH.MS, Luoi'Kiis, 

 or Ci:i ' -ng which are the insects 



commonly called cunLcr worms; GKKASE-MOTH 

 iMi.r. vn-;, &c. 



CATKIN. A name given to such amenta- 

 ceous flower- niiinlier of 

 ales and flowers, dispersed along a 

 slender thread-like axis or rachis, hanging 

 downward, in the form of a rope or cat's taiL 

 It is the male ilower of the trees which pro- 

 duce them, as the birch, beech, pine, fir, poplar, 

 walnut, hazel, &c. They drop as soon a> the 

 pollen is |] 



CATMINT, or NEP (Nepeta cataria, Smith, 

 vol. iii. p. 70). This is a common plant, grow- 

 ing in borders of fields and in moist places, 

 flowering in June and July. It grows a yard 

 hiu r h. with broad whitish leaves, and white 

 . not unlike mint. The plant has a 

 strong and rather unsavoury smell. It is easi- 

 ly recognised by its hoary, square, and erect 

 stalks; its leaves slightly indented on the 

 edges, of a whitish-green on their outside, and 

 almost perfect white underneath ; and its flowers 

 growing in spiked clusters around the stalk at 

 certain distances. Cats are exceedingly fond 

 of rolling upon this plant, and they chew it 

 eagerly. This has obtained for it the familiar 

 name of catmint. 



CAT'S-FOOT. A term sometimes provin- 

 cially applied to groundrivy. 



CATS-MILK. A common name for the 

 plant wartwort, which see. 



CAT'S-TAIL, or TIMOTHY GRASS 

 (Phlcum prate, ise, PI. 5, A:). This grass flou- 

 rishes best in moist deep loams. Perennial, 

 native of Britain. At the time of flowering, 

 in the end of June, Sinclair found the produce 

 per acre was, from a clayey loam, 40,837 Ibs. ; 

 of nutritive matter 1595 Ibs. This is a great 

 American grass, and is called timothy from Mr. 

 I Timothy Hanson, who first introduced its seeds 

 into Maryland. Seeds ripe in July. It pro- 

 duces an abundance of early feed, but its pro- 

 duct of aftermath is poor. See GRASSES. 



Timothy is undoubtedly one of the most 

 valuable grasses known to American farmers 

 2 A 2 281 



