The Forest Oaterpii.lar 131 



cherish the hope that at least some aid will come tu ns in this way, how 

 much we can not as yet estimate. 



2. REMEDIAL MEASURES 



As might be expected in the case of an insect so destructive and widely 

 distributed the methods which have been devised for its extermination are 

 numerous. 



DESTROYING THE EGGS 



During the winter the only plan that can be successfully carried out is 

 the destruction of the eggs. Many persons seem to consider this imprac- 

 ticable, but so far as I know, wherever it has been at all thoroughly tried it 

 has proved unexpectedly efficient. As a preliminary encouragement it is 

 well to remember that each egg cluster destroyed lessens by from two to four 

 hundred the numbers of the caterpillars for the following season. Al- 

 though the eggs are not very noticeable to a casual observer, yet as soon as 

 one has learned where to look for them and does look they are readily seen 

 when the trees are leafless, and many may often be gathered. in a short 

 time. Where the trees infested are of low growth, as apple or other fruit 

 trees, this method is to be highly recommended. Even if the trees are 

 large, many eggs can be reached with a pair of long handled pruning shears, , 

 and even a sharp knife attached to a long pole would secure not a few. Of 

 course the insect can not be wholly eradicated by this method, but in many 

 places it would surely be very much checked. The plan of setting children 

 at work to gather the eggs has been tried on a small scale in this state, but, 

 far more extensively elsewhere. The following quotation, from Weed' illus- 

 trates what may be done in this direction, as it shows what has been done : 



" In the village of Newflelds, N. H., the Improvement society offered 

 the school children ten cents a hundred for all the egg masses, or ' cater- 

 pillar belts,' as they are locally called, that they would bring in. Many of 

 the children worked faithfully and when in February I was called in to 

 point the moral of the process I found that 8,250 egg masses had been ob- 

 tained." Anyone can multiply the above number by the average number 

 of eggs in each cluster, say 250, and see how many caterpillars were thus 

 destroyed at a total cost of 18.25. I have cited the above, although it was 

 the tent caterpillar not the forest caterpillar eggs that were destroyed, 

 because there would be no difference between the species except in the loca- 

 tion of the eggs, which in case of the forest caterpillar would be on a 

 greater variety of trees and on this account more difficult to reach. This 

 is, of course, an important difference, but notwithstanding, there can be 



I W. H, Sta. Bui. 59. p. 203-204 (1898). 



