292 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 174. 



Far and near, not only are the wild Cherry-trees, already in- 

 fested with the odious black knot, left to spread a second 

 plague among the fruit-trees, but whole orchards are allowed 

 to bear, unmolested, swarms of caterpillars, their owners pre- 

 ferring to sacrifice their apples rather than take the trouble to 

 clean their trees of the webs. 



If the state of Massachusetts has taken the Gypsy Moth in 

 hand, why should not communities take charge of their own 

 worms and enforce the destruction of the webs by each land- 

 owner, under penalty of a fine, while the street commissioners 

 be made to attend to the trees bordering the highway ? 



The farmers who neglect this rapidly increasing nuisance 

 seem to me like the Turk who sits under a crumbling wall, 

 murmuring, " God is great ! if it falls it falls ! " and takes no 

 pains to get out of the way. 



So far as our own little farm is concerned, some tall wild 

 Cherry-trees that we depend on for a screen give us timely 

 notice of the arrival of the pest, and bring us all out promptly 

 to do battle. The worms are fought with fire on the end of a 

 pole, with a tall clipping knife, and with a wire brush attached 

 to the end of a long bamboo rod which reaches to the very 

 top of the tallest trees, where, being judiciously twisted, it 

 brings down a crop of crawlers for more positive destruction 

 below. The clipping is the most thorough method, for, if 

 done late in the evening, the nest, with all its occupants, can 

 be secured and its contents burned or trampled to death. In 

 this way all the insects can be destroyed, but, of course, it is 

 only possible where the web is on the end of a small branch. 

 Where it lies in the great crotches the torch or the wire brush 

 must be applied, but the former lets some escape, and I am 

 told that when the nests are burned, the fire shrivels the out- 

 side of the crawling mass, which falls with the web to the 

 ground, but the caterpillars in the heart of the living ball escape, 

 to crawl up the tree again and start afresh upon their depreda- 

 tions. 



It is of no use to think that you have accomplished your 

 purpose because, after heroic labor, there seems not a vestige 

 of a nest remaining. No sooner do you feel that you have 

 routed the last encampment of the enemy than, presto, his 

 tents are once more like those of the Assyrian for multitude, 

 and in a day or two you must resume your round to find the 

 enemy bigger and brisker than ever. About three months of 

 the season have to be given up to the two campaigns, spring 

 and fall, till finally a person of imagination begins to feel that 

 the philosopher's prediction is about to be fulfilled, and that 

 the worm has come to stay. 



"Of what use are the Cherry-trees?" say the wise; "the 

 worm, after all, is not so bad as the black knot, and compared 

 to the canker-worm he is harmless " ; but the terror of his 

 multiplication is upon me, and I live in fear of the day when, 

 having ruined all the fruit-trees, and having failed to find the 

 shade-trees to his liking, the worm may take a fancy to inves- 

 tigate within-doors to find a more tempting meal. 



A vision of opening the front door in the morning to find 

 the house encased in an enormous web, under which the 

 worms are feeding on the shingles, and glaring at you from 

 under their silken canopy, besets the imagination. You seize 

 your hat, a brisk young family drops out of it ; your coat— 

 'there area score of creeping things inside the sleeves. The 

 breakfast-table is invaded by a squirming throng ; others hang 

 from the draperies and wander across the ceilings. Why may 

 not the Web-worms become as great a pest to us as the 

 Termites prove to the South African, if the apathetic public does 

 not awake in time to the necessity of destroying them while 

 they are yet in the minority ? 



Here in this town, where the neglect of certain farmers adds 

 so greatly to the labors of their more thrifty neighbors, we 

 have seen these loathsome creatures multiply in a few years 

 to an alarming extent, and it seems as if the time had come to 

 render it a penal offense to neglect to destroy the webs as fast 

 as they appear. Unquestionably, the day is coming when 

 some destructive measures will have to be adopted, and the 

 sooner the matter is taken in hand the easier it will be for all 

 concerned to get rid of the evil, and I should be glad if some more 

 powerful pen than mine could be used to hurry this good end. 

 An evil, tritting in itself, becomes a menace if neglected, and 

 the comparatively inoffensive character of this little brute 

 seems to blind the public to the way in which he is multiply- 

 ing. A committee to find out how much harm he does might 

 serve as a preliminary to more strenuous measures, but if it 

 were only in the interest of those lovely rustic roads, in which 

 Garden and Forest takes so much delight, it would be worth 

 while to clear away so obtrusive an eyesore as these loath- 

 some webs from the way-sides, otherwise so beautiful with 

 their wild vines and tangle of bushes. 



Moreover, for the pedestrian the multiplication of cater- 

 pillars is a distress yearly more and more appalling. After 

 the worm has eaten his fill he sets forth upon his pere- 

 grinations, to find a sheltered spot where he can become 

 a hermit in a cell, until such time as his resurrection as a moth 

 is in order, and you are obliged to meet him on his winding 

 way at every turn in your path. Country sidewalks swarm 

 with the wretches ; verandas are their especial delight; you 

 gather a flower, a caterpillar is crawling up the stem ; examine 

 your trees of all sorts, the brutes are making of their trunks a 

 public promenade, up which they hurry at top speed to make 

 a cocoon in the branches ; would you rest yourself upon a 

 bench, the caterpillar is there before you ; if you wear a thin 

 gown, you may have the pleasure of viewing through its 

 meshes the wriggling, hairy form of your enemy, just where 

 you cannot get at him. He makes himself at home amid the 

 flowers of your bonnet, he swings down upon a silken thread 

 within an inch of your nose. He arouses in the gentlest breast 

 a desire to slay this future parent of thousands ; he under- 

 mines the character by stirring up sentiments of virulent hos- 

 tility in otherwise peaceable souls ; he becomes a menace not 

 only to existence, but to Christian character, by developing 

 the savage instincts of our nature ; and, therefore, on every 

 ground, both physical and moral, he is an enemy of the public 

 peace who should be taken in hand by the authorities and be 

 doomed to extermination. ' 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. RobbltlS. 



Note. — The editor of this periodical requests me to provide 

 my enemy with a more precise name than Web-worm. Not 

 being learned in entomology, the only term I dare to vouch 

 for is Nasticrechia Krorluppia (to be pronounced English 

 fashion). 



To this family I am entirely sure he belongs, but one of the 

 reports of the Department of Agriculture has a good deal to 

 say about a certain Hyphantri.a cunea, which seems to corre- 

 spond to him in most particulars, and the same report fur- 

 nishes for him ten more synonymous names that apparently 

 can be used if necessary. From this abundance I have selected 

 the above as the most euphonious and descriptive, for nothing 

 could be more appropriate than the term Shameless Weaver, 

 which, I am told, is the translation of these polysyllables. 

 Should my particular Web-worm require a more formal intro- 

 duction to the public, it is to be hoped that some entomologist 

 will kindly supply us with his real designation. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 New Orchids. 



Cirrhopetalum elegantulum, Rolfe, is an elegant and 

 floriferous little species, native of the Coorg Hills, south India, 

 which was sent to Kew by Mr. J. O'Brien, of Harrow. It is 

 allied to C. pumilio, Hook., f., a native of Burma. The lateral 

 sepals are yellow, except in their basal portion, which, like the 

 rest of the flower, is striped with maroon-purple on a pale 

 ground. — Gardeners' Chronicle, May 2d, p. 332. 



Masdevallia X falcata, O'Brien, is a showy garden-hybrid 

 raised by Mr. D. O. Drewett, of Riding Mill-on-Tyne, from M. 

 Lindeni, crossed with the pollen of M. Veitchii, to which latter 

 it bears a considerable resemblance, especially in color. It 

 may be compared to M. x Chelsoni in its general characters. — 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, May 2d, p. 332. 



Epidendrum X dellense, O'Brien, is a pretty hybrid raised 

 in the celebrated collection of Baron Schroder, of The Dell, 

 Egham, between E. xanthinum and E. radicans, the latter be- 

 ing the pollen parent. It bears a considerable resemblance to 

 the mother plant, except in color, which is a shade of orange 

 approaching vermilion. The flowers, however, are larger, 

 and there is a slight curvature in the column which bespeaks 

 the influence of E. radicans. — Gardeners' Chronicle, May 9th, 

 p. 584. 



Sobralia macrantha delicata, O'Brien, is a pale, nearly 

 white, variety, with a tinge of lavender on the sepals and 

 petals, and lilac on the margin of the lip, and without any yel- 

 low on the throat. It flowered with F. A. Bevan, Esq., of New 

 Barnet, from an importation of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. 

 Albans. — Gardeners' Chronicle, May 9th, p. 585. 



Cirrhopetalum Wendlandianum, Kranzlin, is a remarka- 

 ble species, native of British Burma, which flowered in the 

 collection of Herr Wendland, of Herrenhausen, near Hano- 

 ver. It bears an umbel of three to six flowers, colored in the 

 way of the old C. auratum. The sepals are ovate, with long 

 hairs on the margin, and with five or six fluttering serrulate 

 leaflets at the top, almost as long as the sepals, and deep 



