TENT-CATERPILLAR 153 



the leaves and hang by a thread. Another good method is to go 

 under the trees and look up through the tops, when the small 

 holes eaten out where the little larv£e have been feeding will 

 be readily seen. 



Ordinarily canker worms are not troublesome, frequently they 

 will not be seen for years, but when they do come in force, look 

 out for trouble. It will require sharp, efficient work to keep 

 them in check. 



Methods of Conibating. — There are two principal ways in 

 which these insects may be combated. The best way, by all 

 odds, because it fits in with the fight against other insects, is 

 to spray with arsenate of lead or some such poison. Usually 

 the spraying for codling moth will attend to the canker worms 

 as well. And yet instances are seen where the most energetic 

 and up-to-date orchard men have been literally swamped by a 

 bad outbreak of this pest. 



Where, for any reason, one expects such an especially severe 

 attack from them, it is well to band the trees with some sticky 

 substance to catch the wingless female insects as they crawl up 

 the trunk. If no crack is left underneath the band through 

 which the female can make her way, and if the bands are kept 

 sticky for a long enough time, the method is decidedly effective. 

 For the fall canker worm October and November, and for the 

 spring species IMarch and April, are likely to be the months 

 during which the females move up the trunk. 



In this connection it is worth calling attention to the fact 

 that the stirring of the soil in cultivated orchards makes it 

 difficult for canker worms to pupate with any degree of com- 

 fort and security. 



Tent-caterpillar. — Tliis is a leaf-eating caterpillar of the 

 "first magnitude." A few nests of them in an apple tree will 

 strip it of leaves about as completely as the cold of winter can. 



The eggs are laid in the summer in curious bands which may 

 be discovered about the twigs during the winter when the leaves 

 are off. These eggs hatch with the first warm days of spring and 

 the little bits of black, hairy caterpillars may be found clustered 

 about the expanding buds in the vicinity, waiting for the leaves 



