1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



653 



ate as an absorbent and divisor in the stable ma- 

 nure. The latter may be used broadcast in the 

 hill, or as a top-diessing. 



A NEW CANKER ■\VORM. — HYBERNIA TILIARIA. 



I send yon a specimen of an insect which I find 

 ascendiiitr mj- apple trees with the canker worm 

 moth. The male moth is yellowish, the female is 

 wingless, and as you will see is very ditferent in 

 form and appearance from the female of the canker 

 worm moth. What is it ? The canker worm 

 moths run unusually early this year, and are very 

 numerous and apparently vigorous. 



Sherman D. Fletcher. 



Westford, Mass., Nov. 1, 1871- 



Remarks. — The insect received corresponds ex- 

 actly with the description in Prof. Harris' Treatise 

 on Insects, of a species allied to the canker worm. 

 He says : — 



Apple, elm, and lime trees, are sometimes in- 

 jured a good deal by another kind of span-worm, 

 larger than the canker-worm, and very difi'crent 

 from it in appearance. It is of a bright yellow 

 color, with ten crinkled black lines along the top 

 of the back; the head is rust-colored; the belly is 

 paler than the rest of the body. When fully 

 grown, it measures about one inch and a quarter 

 in length. It often 'rests with the middle of the 

 body curved upwards a little, and sometimes even 

 without the support of its fore legs. The leaves of 

 the lime seem to be its natural and favorite food, 

 for it may be found on this tree every year ; but I 

 have often seen it in considerable abundance, with 

 common canker-worms, on other trees. It is 

 hatched rather later, and does not leave the trees 

 quite so soon as the latter. About or soon after 

 the middle of June it spins down from the trees, 

 goes into the ground, and changes to a chrysalis 

 in a little cell five or six inches below the surface ; 

 and from this it comes out in the moth state 

 towards the end of October or during the month 

 of November. More rarely its last transformation 

 is retarded till the spring. The females are wing- 

 less and grub-like, with slender thread-shaped 

 antennre. As soon as they leave the ground they 

 creep up the trees, and lay their eggs in little 

 clusters, here and there on the branches. The 

 males have large and delicate wings, and their 

 antenniB have a narrow feathery edging on each 

 side. They follow the females, and pair with 

 them on the trees. This kind of moth closely re- 

 sembles the lime-looper or umber moth {Hyhernia 

 defoliaria) of Europe; but differs from it so much 

 in the larva state, that I have not the slightest 

 doubt of its being a distinct species, and accord- 

 ingly name it Hyberrda Tiliaria, the lime-tree 

 winter-moth, from Tilia, the scientific name of its 

 favorite tree. The fore wings of the male are rusty 

 bulF or nankin-yellow, sprinkled with very fine 

 brownish dots, and banded with two transverse, 

 wavy, brown lines, the band nearest tire shoulders 

 being often indistinct; in the space between the 

 bands, and near to the thick edge of the wing, 

 there is generally a brown dot. The hind wings 

 are much paler than the others, and have a small 



brownish dot in the middle. The color of the 

 body is the same as that of the fore wings ; and 

 the legs are ringed with buff and brown. The 

 wings expand one inch and three-quarters. The 

 body of the female is grayish or yellowish white; 

 it is sprinkled on the sides with black dots, and 

 there are two square black spots on the top of each 

 ring, except the last, which has only one spot. 

 The front of the head is black ; and the antennaj 

 and the legs are ringed with black and white. 

 The tail is tipped with a tapering, jointed egg-tube, 

 that can be drawn in and out, like the joints of a 

 telescope. Exclusive of this tube, the female 

 measures about half an inch in length. The egga 

 are beautiful objects when seen under a micro- 

 scope. They are of an oval shape, and pale yel- 

 low color, and are covered with little raised lines, 

 like net-work, or like the cells of a honeycomb. 



As these span-worms appear at the same time as 

 canker-worms, resemble them in their habits, and 

 often live on the same trees, they can be kept in 

 check by such means as are found useful when 

 employed against canker-worms. 



CATTLE AT LOW PRICES IN MAINE. 



We often hear in this locality that cows can be had 

 for #10 to #'1 2 ; ycarl ings, from f 6 to f S ; good oxen 

 ^'GOtoi^TO; other cattle in proportion, in Maine, 

 if that is so, I wish to buy twenty cows, and some 

 of my townsmen wish to "buy other stock. We do 

 not like to start off on such business at random, 

 and would be obliged for information as to the lo- 

 calities at which stock can be purchased at such 

 prices. T. J. Baker. 



Johnso7i, rt., Oct. 23, 1811. 



Remarks.— About the time that farmers in 

 Maine were finishing up their haying and wonder- 

 ing how they should make the unusually small 

 crop suffice to carry their stock through the long 

 winter season, then- cattle were driven by drought 

 and grasshoppers from their pastures and came up 

 to the barn asking to be fed from the scanty 

 amount of hay that had been secured. Drovers 

 had not then commenced their usual fall purchases. 

 Reports from Brighton market represented prices 

 for beef cattle as rapidly declining, and, in conse- 

 quence of the short crop of hay and its consequent 

 high price elsewhere, thei-e was little demand for 

 store cattle in any section. Under these circumstan- 

 ces it is not strange that there should have been an 

 alarm and excitement in which cattle were sold at 

 low prices, nor that reports of cattle being offered 

 at still lower prices than were actually accepted 

 should have obtained currency. But as droves 

 were started off and buyers entered into competi- 

 tion with each other, farmers regained confidence 

 and prices soon improved, so that were you to en- 

 ter the field now as a buyer you would probably 

 find that you were too late to secure animals at the 

 prices you have named, unless you were willing to 

 take those of an inferior quality. The prices re- 

 ported at Brighton from week to week, with cost of 

 freight, &c., deducted, may be taken as a near ap- 

 proximation to what you would have to pay in 



