ENEMIES AND DIFFICULTIES. 77 



" This year (1868) the moths were out the last of June 

 and first of July. In five or six days the eggs hatched, 

 and this second brood, which is usually the most destruc- 

 tive, mostly changed to pupa on the 20th of July. On 

 the 26th of July the first moth came out, and most were 

 out befoi* the 4th of August. Most of the eggs laid in 

 August do not hatch until the following spring. I did 

 succeed in finding two or three larvae in September, but 

 they were rare at that time." 



In New Jersey, the larvae are quite common during the 

 month of September, and may frequently be found in 

 October. We are disposed to believe that many of them 

 live through the winter in sheltered places, securely 

 wrapped in their webs. Turf fences, and densely matted 

 vines, not flooded, affording them a safe asylum. This 

 opinion is confirmed by the fact that large-sized larvae 

 may be found early in the spring ; and also from our hav- 

 ing kept a worm in a cold room until March, with every 

 indication of its living until May. 



The cranberry was not the principal food of the vine 

 worm until it was brought under cultivation ; while 

 growing naturally in bogs and swamps, where it was 

 liable to be flooded during the winter and early spring, it 

 was not well adapted to their requirements. The worm 

 had made its home among the Fea,ther-lesi{ (Cassandra 

 calyculata) and Low-bush Huckleberry, until the days 

 of cranberry culture, when it descended upon the new 

 plantations, and thi-eatened, for a time, their entire de- 

 struction. But Yankee enterprise, came to the rescue, 

 the meadows were flooded, and the worms defeated. 



By some it is supposed that there are four generations 

 of these pests in one season ; however this may be, by 

 destroying them once a year, they will be rendered almost 

 harmless. To work their destruction, keep the meadow 

 flooded until the 10th of May, in New Jersey, and until 

 near the let of June, in Massachusetts ; or, cover the 



