48 



THE TENT CATERPILLAR 



the injury when a fruit tree is stripped of its leaves. In its 

 effort to repair the damage the tree will put out new foliage, 

 thereby using up the stored materials that otherwise would be 

 utilized for growth or fruit. Even in case no blossoms appear 

 the season the damage is done, so that no loss of fruit that year 

 may be felt, the effects will be evident in next year's crop. The 

 preservation of the leaves in wholeness and health is necessary 

 to the preservation of the tree in a profitable condition ; the 

 orchardist cannot afford to have the leaves removed or injured. 



Fig. 3. — Apple Leaves eaten by Tent Caterpillars (Original) 



The injury done by the tent caterpillar is at once distinguished 

 from that of the canker worm by the fact that the former eats 

 the body of the leaf, veins and all, leaving only the midrib or 

 larger veins (Fig. 3), while the canker worm feeds upon the 

 surface of the leaf, leaving the brown network of veins. A 

 severe attack of the tent caterpillar renders the tree almost as 

 bare in June as it is in mid-winter — a condition shown in the 

 iJiustration on the second page of this bulletin — while a similar 

 attack by the canker worm gives the tree a brown appearance,, 

 somewhat as if it had been scorched by fire. 



