58 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



NOTES FOR THE YEAR 



The following observations relate to some of the more injurious or 

 interesting species coming to notice during the year and are grouped 

 as heretofore, under appropriate subheads. 



FRUIT INSECTS 



Apple tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americana Fabr.) . 

 There was a general and, in many localities, a serious infestation 

 by this common, conspicuous and easily controlled pest. The 

 plague extended from Long Island north to Clinton and St Lawrence 

 counties and west to Chautauqua county. There was less injury 

 in some localities than during the previous year, though wild cherry 

 trees were frequently stripped and many apple orchards not given 

 the best of care were severely injured or defoliated. The cater- 

 pillars were hardly seen in well-sprayed orchards. 



This common insect winters, as is well known, in dark-brown egg 

 belts- deposited on the smaller twigs of wild cherry and apple, in 

 particular. The caterpillars are fully formed in the fall and re- 

 main in the eggs over winter, issuing with the first warm weather 

 and attacking the unfolding leaves. The gregarious habits of the 

 pests and their conspicuous nests render their early detection easy. 



It is entirely practical to forecast the abundance of this leaf feeder 

 by looking for the egg masses during the winter. Collecting and 

 burning of these may be advisable in the case of small trees, though 

 the caterpillars, either small or nearly full grown, succumb quickly 

 to such a poison as arsenate of lead used at the rate of 2 pounds to 

 50 gallons of water. Good spraying should give results in twenty- 

 four to forty-eight hours, unless the caterpillars are so nearly full 

 grown that they will stop feeding rather than eat the poisoned 

 foliage. Wild cherry is a preferred food plant and a prolific source 

 of trouble for adjacent apple orchards. This comparatively worth- 

 less tree should be kept cut down so far as practical and thus reduce, 

 in large measure, the probability of a recurrence of such outbreaks 

 as that of last year. This species is so easily detected and so readily 

 controlled that there is no good reason why it should be allowed to 

 become excessively numerous, except possibly in those sections 

 seriously handicapped by extremely low land values. 



Burning the nest with a torch is comparatively inefficient, since 

 many of the pests are likely to escape and there is danger of severely 

 injuring the limbs. It is simpler and more satisfactory to remove 



