100 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



during the season of the ascent of the female moths, in apply- 

 ing the tar, and he assures me that if he were not careful tlius 

 to keep them in check during the night that they would com- 

 pletely overrun his trees. 



After the moths have obtained access to the trees and laid 

 their eggs, thci^ is very great difficulty in checking their 

 ravages, Mr. Marshall S. Rice, of Newton, gives his experi- 

 ence and method of overcoming these pests, as follows : — 



"Before the foliage was much eaten, and when the worms 

 were about two-thirds grown, on a warm, still day, I took a 

 cane-pole about twenty feet long, and went into my orchard 

 to see what could be done. I took my stand a little way from 

 a tree, and beginning with the top limbs on that side I shook 

 and jarred them thoroughly ; and most of the worms from those 

 limbs let themselves down on their own rope, some to lodge on 

 the under branches, others to hang in the air near the ground ; 

 then I shook the next tier of limbs in the same way, and so 

 continued till the whole side of the tree had been thoroughly 

 shaken, and the worms in great numbers hung in the air under 

 the lower limbs ; then by horizontal strokes with my pole, under 

 the limbs, and as near them as possible, I let down all the cul- 

 prits which were within my reach. I then went through the 

 same operation on the other side of the tree. I went to 

 the second and third tree and did the same. Perhaps I was 

 half an hour doing the three trees. Now I had got a large 

 portion of the worms to the ground, but not knowing what 

 they would do with themselves I went to the first tree oper- 

 ated upon, to examine, and I found the creatures determined 

 not to be foiled by this mode of attack ; all, from every direc- 

 tion, were scampering toward the tree, and some of them crawl- 

 ing up its trunk. I concluded if I had failed to catch the grubs 

 1 could arrest the worms with tar. I directed my man to get 

 some tar and warm it, and bring it as soon as possible. He did 

 so, and perhaps in fifteen minutes he had it there. I brushed 

 down the worms, some of which had got as high as my head 

 upon the trunk of the tree, and he put a belt of tar around 

 each tree. For a while I watched their movements, and found 

 they all knew which way to crawl to find the tree ; and after 

 reaching it, rushed upward till all were stuck fast to tlie tree ; 

 and they formed quite a band around each tree. I concluded, 



