152 TJie Western Pomologist and Gardener. 1872 



W^ork tn the Vineyard. 



After the second pinching of the fruit-bearing branches, the laterals will generally start 

 once more, and we pinch the young growth again to one leaf, thus giving each lateral two 

 well developed leaves. The whole course should be completed about the middle of June, 

 here, and whatever grows afterwards may be left, unless some of the laterals should still 

 become too long arid hang over into the rows, when they may be taken off or short- 

 ened in. 



Let us glance at the objects we have in view, and .whether they are really reached by 

 the practice as followed by us : 



1. One of its principal objects is to keep the vine within proper bounds, so that it is 

 at all times under the control of the vintner, without weakening its constitution by rob- 

 bing it of a great amount of foliage. This we trust our readers will find is fully reached 

 by early and thorongh pinching, as the fruit-bearing branches become stocky, better able 

 to bear up their fruits, and the tendrils cannot intertwine everything. 



2. Judicious thinning of tlie fruit. — This ts done most thoroughly, and at a time when 

 no vigor has been expended in its development. * . 



3. Developing strong, liealthy foliage. — This object we gain by forcing the growth of 

 the laterals, and thus having two young, healthy leaves opposite each bunch, which will 

 shade the fruit and serve as conductors of sap to the fruit. 



4. Orotoing vigorous canes for iiext year's fruiting. We obtain just as many as we 

 want, and no more, thereby making them stronger; and as every part of the vine is 

 thus accessible to light and air, the wood will ripen better and more uniform. — Ora2ie 

 C'lilturist. 



Tent Caterpillar of the Forest. 



Bt The Entomological Editor. 



We now come to the third and last insect of the three which are so generally con- 

 founded — taken all to be the same by many of our horticultural and agricultural Iriends 

 — the Tent Caterpillar of the forest {Clisiocampa Sylvaiica, Harris), which was first 

 described by Dr. Harris, of Massachusetts. 



This insect belongs to the order Lepidopter.^^ and family Bombycid^, and although 

 we have never known it to be very plentiful in Iowa, yet we have each year met a few spec- 

 imens, and it may become troublesome, as we have known it to be in other States, partic- 

 ularly in Eastern Indiana, on two occasions ; it not only defoliated forest and fruit trees 

 in its path, which was about four miles wide, but destroyed whole fields of wheat, and 

 did corn great damage. 



In our latitude the parent moths make their appearance about the last week in June 

 and the first week in July, and after coupling, the female, which is larger than the male, 

 deposits her eggs in very even, regular bands on the small twigs of trees, where they 

 remain until early next spring, when they hatch and hecome small, black worms (larvK), 

 in which state they feed ravenously on the leaves of the different kinds of forest and 

 orchard trees generally, for about si .x weeks, during which time they moult — cast their 

 skins four times and become full grown — and commence making cocoons, preparatory to 

 becoming pup«, which condition is arrived at three daj's after the cocoons are completed, 

 when the last larva; skin is cast. In this condition they remain for some two weeks, when 

 they come forth perfect ima.go, some time during the last weeks in June and first weeks 

 in July. 



The Eggs. — At a in the engraving in this article is a twig of a tree with a nest of eggs 

 around it of the Tent Caterpillar of the forest. It will be observed that the band is very 

 uniform in diameter and docked off squarely at each end, not rounded as are the bands of 

 the Tent Caterpillar of the orchard. Although there is a striking resemblance between 

 the egg bands of the two caterpillars, yet when compared, a marked difference is readily 

 recognized. These eggs will be found on the small limbs during fall and winter until 

 early in the spring, when they hatch out. Each nest contains from three hundred to 



