l8 MAEXE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9I3. 



long. In the following spring a larch which has been stripped of its 

 leaves the summer previous will leave out again freely, although the 

 leaves are always considerably, sometimes one-half shorter. Now, if 

 any one will examine the leaf buds of the larch it will be seen that 

 they are far 'more numerous than in the spruce and fir or other 

 species of the genus Abies, being scattered along the twig at intervals 

 of from a line to half an inch apart. Hence the superior vitality of the 

 larch, at least, as regards its power of overcoming or recuperating from 

 the effects of the loss of its leaves in midsum_mer. Besides this, the bud 

 worm of the spruce and fir is most active and destructive in June, at 

 the time the tree is putting forth its buds, while the hackmatack, which 

 drops its leaves in the autumn, has become wholly leaved out some 

 weeks before the saw-fly worms appear. For these reasons, while the 

 spruce and fir usually die if most of the leaves and buds are eaten 

 after the season's attack, the larch may usually survive the loss of 

 leaves for two seasons in succession. 



"In addition to the facts regarding the great abundance of the bud 

 worm we may cite information given us by Prof. L. A. Lee, of Bowdoin 

 College, who observed the bud-worms in June, t88o, upon the spruces 

 at Prince's Point, Brunswick, and had no doubt but that they were 

 sufficient to cause the death en masse of these trees. In 1883 we visited 

 the locality, and many of the trees had been cut down for fuel " 



"During the season of 1886 and 1887, as in 1885 no traces of the 

 caterpillars or moths of Tortrix fumiferana, formerly so destructive to 

 the firs and spruce, were discovered." 



For a period of 25 }'ears there was no reoccurrence of any 

 serious injury caused by this insect, and it was not until about 

 5 years ago that we again find them beginning- to be trouble- 

 some. . Dr. Fletcher records them from Manitoba in 1907. 

 In July 1909 m3^riads of the moths were noticed in western 

 New York, many gaining entrance into houses and barns, 

 where the females unable to find a suitable place for the deposi- 

 tion of eggs laid them upon window sills and casements. Thou- 

 sands found their death in the arc lights of the streets. In 

 Canada, Dr. Hewdtt states that in 1909 the larvae were defoliat- 

 ing considerable areas of balsam and spruce in the upper 

 Gatineau region about 100 miles north of Ottawa. They are 

 carried considerable distance by the wind and this method of 

 disposal accounts for the rapid spread of the insect. During the 

 succeeding years the insect has spread over a wide territory 

 covering southeastern Canada east of Lake Huron, southward 

 to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, eastward to Nova Scotia, all of 

 northern New England and northern New York. In Canada 



