Editorial. 245 



take many days to make quite a showing of naked boughs. As the 

 caterpillars grow a new skin is formed under the old one, which 

 splits down the back and drops off. When fully grown the worm is 

 not such an unsightly object to look upon, if one could forget what 

 a pest it is. They are then about two inches long, the black body 

 covered with many 3'ellow hairs, with a white stripe along the back, 

 and many irregular light streaks down the sides. Between these 

 and the white stripe is a row of pale blue spots on each side of the 

 back. 



I brought in one of the spindle-shaped cocoons, which seems to 

 be made of white silk, sprinkled with a sulphur colored powder. 

 Having kept it for about three weeks my patience was rewarded by 

 a sight of the full-fledged moth, which was about one and one- 

 quarter inches across the upper wings, which were of a dark fawn 

 color, crossed by two oblong lighter streaks edged with white. I 

 was surprised to find such a tiny hole in the end of the cocoon ; it 

 seemed almost impossible that the moth could have escaped. It is 

 said that soon after the adult insects appear the females begin to 

 lay their eggs. These are in clusters of about three hundred, ar- 

 ranged in the form of a belt around a small twig. This is covered 

 with a varnish-like substance which serves as a protection during 

 winter, as the belt remains ujoou the twig until the following spring. 

 The season when the branches are bare is therefore the best time to 

 war against this pest. If the trees are carefully searched at this 

 time these e.gg clusters may be easily found and destroyed. 



5. E. Kennedy. 



EDITORIAL. 



Our frontispiece this month is an illustration of the first olive 

 mill on the Pacific Coast. We are indebted for it to the genial secre- 

 tary of the California state board of horticulture, Mr. B. M. Lelong, 

 The mill w^as built at the old mission at San Diego, the oldest mis- 

 sion in California. 



Our new dress has been very favorably commented upon, and 

 this magazine is the first to appear in this new style of self-spacing 

 type. In beauty of t3'pography we can now reasonably claim no 

 superior in the world, and none of equal excellence in this respect 

 on the Pacific Coast. We look to our contributors to assist us in 

 making such a statement equally true of the matter presented our 

 readers. 



The demands of the general public sustains our view that there 

 is a field for a journal that shall maintain a high standard, reliable, 



