68 



FRUIT CULTURE. 



a gummy water-proof varnish, remain until the 

 opening of leaf-buds in the following spring. 

 After hatching, the young caterpillars rapidly 

 increase in size, attaining to nearly two inches in 

 length in the course of five or six weeks, 

 when they are very voracious, often 

 stripping large limbs of every vestige 

 of foliage. The best time to destroy 

 this insect is in March, before the nest- 

 eggs are hatched. A careful inspection 

 of the ends of the limbs will reveal most 

 of them. If any should escape notice, 

 the young colony can easily be detected 

 and destroyed soon after hatching. It 

 is sheer neglect, for which there is no 

 excuse, to allow the worms to increase 

 to fuU size. The tenting habit of the 

 worm makes it a trifling task to de- 

 stroy it, when it is small. As it in- P's- 2. 

 creases in size, the tents become very unsighty, 

 and the labor in crushing such a mass of vitality 

 is 'much more troublesome. The wild-cherry is 

 especially liable to be infested with this cater- 

 pillar. 



The Forest Tent Caterpillar (^Clisiocampa 

 sylvatica). This is a common pest at the West 

 and South, being not only very destructive to 

 the apple, but also feeding upon the oak, ash, 



