THE CANKER-WORM 



BY CLARENCE M. WEED 



SEVERAL of the insect pests which afflict the New Eng- 

 land farmer in this year of grace 1S97 :,re tne same as 

 those which burdened his ancestors a century ago. This is 

 especially true of the canker-worm ; witness these paragraphs 

 published in 1797, by Mr. Samuel Deane in The New Eng- 

 land Farmer or Georgical Dictionary : 



• l The worm is produced from the eggs of an eaith colored 

 bug, which having continued under ground during winter, 

 passes up on the bodies of apple trees early in the spring. 

 They are hatched as early as the end of May, and are so 

 voracious, that in a few weeks they destroy all of the leaves of 

 a tree, prevent its bearing for that year, and the next, and give 

 it the appearance of its having been burnt. As the perspira- 

 tion of trees is stopped by the loss of their leaves, they sicken 

 and die, in a few years. 



tk The worms let themselves down by threads in quest of 

 prey, like spiders; by means of which, the wind blows them 

 from tree to tree ; so that in a close orchard, not one tree will 

 escape them. But trees which stand singly are seldomer in- 

 fested with these insects. As they are the most pernicious 

 kind of insects with which New England is now infested, if any 

 person could invent some easy, cheap, and effectual method of 

 subduing them, he would merit the thanks of the publick, and 

 more especially of every owner of an orchard." 



Throughout the present century the canker-worm has re- 

 mained one of the most destructive orchard pests Its struc- 

 ture and life habits have caused the injury in each region to be 



