﻿CANKER 
  WORMS: 
  PAST 
  HISTORY. 
  167 
  

  

  1813, 
  when 
  it 
  was 
  abandoned. 
  Tlie 
  frost 
  of 
  1794 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  very 
  effective, 
  for 
  

   it 
  is 
  not 
  till 
  1801 
  that 
  we 
  find 
  in 
  the 
  '^ 
  Papers 
  on 
  Agriculture 
  " 
  of 
  the 
  Massachusetts 
  

   Society 
  for 
  Promoting 
  Agriculture, 
  1801, 
  p. 
  4 
  : 
  ** 
  The 
  Canker 
  Worm 
  has 
  in 
  some 
  places 
  

   made 
  its 
  appearance 
  again," 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  "Papers" 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  society, 
  1807, 
  p. 
  12, 
  

   " 
  Orchards 
  have 
  much 
  improved 
  of 
  late 
  [at 
  Newbury, 
  Mass., 
  ] 
  (since 
  the 
  year 
  1802), 
  owing 
  

   partly 
  to 
  the 
  disappearance 
  of 
  the 
  Canker 
  Worm, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  "Massachusetts 
  Agricul- 
  

   tural 
  Repository 
  aud 
  Journal," 
  June, 
  1815, 
  p. 
  316: 
  "After 
  having 
  been 
  freed 
  for 
  nearly 
  

   twenty 
  years 
  from 
  the 
  ravages 
  of 
  the 
  Canker 
  Worm 
  [at 
  Roxbury, 
  Mass.], 
  our 
  orchards 
  

   are 
  again 
  overrun 
  with 
  them, 
  and 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  valuable 
  trees 
  of 
  our 
  country 
  are 
  

   threatened 
  with 
  destruction." 
  Mr. 
  J. 
  Lowell, 
  the 
  author 
  of 
  the 
  last 
  quotation, 
  says, 
  

   I. 
  c, 
  p. 
  317, 
  "the 
  insects 
  rise 
  in 
  the 
  fall." 
  

  

  Have 
  we 
  s]3anned 
  the 
  interval 
  [Mr. 
  Mann 
  continues] 
  within 
  which 
  the 
  relative 
  

   importance 
  of 
  A. 
  vernata 
  sank, 
  aud 
  that 
  of 
  A. 
  joometaria 
  arose 
  ? 
  In 
  the 
  journal 
  last 
  

   cited, 
  January, 
  1816, 
  Vol. 
  IV, 
  p. 
  89, 
  Peck 
  says: 
  "It 
  is 
  certainly 
  true 
  that 
  the 
  canker 
  

   moths 
  rise 
  in 
  the 
  autumn 
  and 
  deposit 
  their 
  eggs." 
  But, 
  he 
  t^ays, 
  p. 
  90, 
  "Those 
  which 
  

   rise 
  in 
  November 
  are 
  not 
  very 
  numerous, 
  compared 
  with 
  those 
  that 
  rise 
  in 
  the 
  spring." 
  

   This 
  certainly 
  argues 
  against 
  my 
  suggestion, 
  if 
  it 
  is 
  supposed 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  founded 
  

   upon 
  new 
  observations, 
  but 
  not 
  if 
  it 
  is 
  merely 
  a 
  renewal 
  of 
  the 
  statements 
  made 
  in 
  

   1795." 
  

  

  This 
  suggestion 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Mann 
  seems, 
  however, 
  not 
  to 
  be 
  coniirmed 
  

   by 
  further 
  investigation, 
  for 
  Mr. 
  Morrison 
  tells 
  us, 
  in 
  1874,^^ 
  that 
  vernata 
  

   is 
  much 
  the 
  commoner 
  sijecies 
  [in 
  eastern 
  Massachusetts] 
  and, 
  he 
  pre- 
  

   sumes, 
  the 
  most 
  destructive. 
  It 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  evident, 
  however, 
  that 
  

   pomefaria 
  was 
  not 
  an 
  especially 
  destructive 
  species 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  Mr. 
  

   Peck's 
  studies. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Wm. 
  Le 
  Baron, 
  writing 
  in 
  1871,^^ 
  says 
  that 
  the 
  Canker 
  W^orm 
  

   " 
  was 
  very 
  abundant 
  in 
  Massachusetts 
  seventy 
  years 
  ago," 
  which 
  would 
  

   place 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  this 
  abundance 
  in 
  1801, 
  though 
  some 
  allowance 
  may 
  

   be 
  made 
  for 
  the 
  generality 
  of 
  the 
  statement, 
  and 
  it 
  appears 
  from 
  what 
  

   he 
  says 
  immediately 
  afterward 
  that 
  he 
  may 
  be 
  referring 
  to 
  the 
  years 
  

   about 
  1703 
  and 
  1794; 
  for 
  '^subsequently," 
  he 
  continues, 
  "it 
  became 
  almost 
  

   unknown 
  in 
  that 
  State 
  for 
  many 
  years. 
  It 
  is 
  said 
  to 
  have 
  disappeared 
  

   after 
  a 
  very 
  heavy 
  frost 
  in 
  the 
  month 
  of 
  June, 
  which 
  killed 
  the 
  cater- 
  

   pillars. 
  But 
  this 
  is 
  hardly 
  probable 
  of 
  so 
  hardy 
  an 
  insect 
  as 
  the 
  Canker 
  

   W^orm." 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Cyrus 
  Thomas 
  gives 
  evidence, 
  in 
  1876,^^ 
  by 
  published 
  extracts 
  

   from 
  a 
  letter 
  to 
  the 
  Western 
  Bural, 
  of 
  the 
  Canker 
  Worms 
  having 
  been 
  

   very 
  destructive 
  insects 
  in 
  Connecticut 
  about 
  seventy 
  years 
  previously, 
  

   in 
  some 
  seasons 
  entirely 
  divesting 
  the 
  trees 
  of 
  their 
  foliage. 
  This 
  date 
  

   may 
  be 
  doubtfully 
  set 
  down 
  as 
  occurring 
  about 
  1806. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  T. 
  W. 
  Harris, 
  in 
  a 
  report 
  on 
  diseases 
  and 
  insects 
  affecting 
  fruit 
  

   trees, 
  published 
  in 
  1854,^^ 
  states 
  that 
  the 
  insects 
  prevailed 
  in 
  the 
  vicinity 
  

   of 
  Boston, 
  Mass., 
  from 
  1831 
  to 
  1840, 
  increasing 
  yearly 
  in 
  numbers 
  till 
  

   the 
  last 
  date, 
  but 
  almost 
  entirely 
  disappeared 
  from 
  1841 
  to 
  1847. 
  They 
  

   committed 
  great 
  devastations, 
  however, 
  in 
  Dorchester, 
  near 
  Boston, 
  

  

  " 
  Canadian 
  Entomologist, 
  vol. 
  6, 
  pp. 
  29-32. 
  

  

  «« 
  Second 
  Eept. 
  Ins. 
  111., 
  p. 
  101. 
  ♦ 
  

  

  «7 
  Sixth 
  Eept. 
  Ins. 
  111., 
  p. 
  21. 
  

  

  «Proc. 
  Am. 
  Pom. 
  Soc, 
  3d 
  sess., 
  p. 
  210-218. 
  

  

  