88 



more active in the darkctst night even, than in the t?unnief>t and 

 warmest days, to flutter about the trunks and branches of the 

 trees in search of the females, that are ready for pairing, liav- 

 ing accomphshed Avliich, tliey pass on in search of others. 

 The female very soon after impregnation deposits her eggs up- 

 on the branches of the tree in clusters of from twenty to a hun- 

 dred or more, and then having obeyed the nniversal law of na- 

 ture (equally applicable to animal and vegetable life) of })ro- 

 viding for its reproduction, innncdiately dies. The egy^^ hatch 

 just as the buds open, and the tender leaves i)ut forth ; and the 

 minute ^vorms, scarcely visible, })rocced at once to feed upon 

 them, making but little show on the foliage until about the first 

 of June, when having attained half their growth, they become 

 very voracious until from the 15th to the 21st of June. Ha^- 

 ing attained their full size and stripped our apple and elm trees 

 of every green leaf, they descend either by their webs or the 

 trunks of the trees, and bury themselves in the grcnmd froin 

 two to four inches deep, where they become transformed into 

 chrysalids, there to remain until the coming frosts of Novem- 

 ber shall break their })rison doors, ^vhen tlicy a[)})car in a new 

 form as described above. 



The object of the Society in oliering the liberal })i'emiuni of 

 one hundred dollars, was doubtless to develop the most efl'ect- 

 ual, the most economical and simple protector to our orchards. 

 From time to time many cumbersome and costly ap])liances 

 (some patented and others not) have been offered to the pub- 

 lic as certain remedies ; and large sums of money have been 

 ex])cnded in their purchase, ending only in the disappointment 

 and disgust of their purchasers. It is believed by your Com- 

 mittee, that no ])lan of ])rotection tliat has Ix'cn devised, is so 

 good as that practised more than half a century ago, of tarring 

 the trees ; the great difficulty attending which was the neces- 

 j^ity of applying it so often. 



A great improvement has been found in substituting print- 

 ers' ink, which does not dry so readily. The best method of 

 applying the ink, is to take a strip of tarred paper six or eight 



