December 4,1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
487 
tree by consuming the parenchyma of the leaves. The most 
effectual remedy is dusting with tobacco powder over the insects ; 
this will soon make them roll off and die. Green caterpillars are 
very troublesome ; these should be hand-picked, and also the 
maggots in the spring shoots. The worst pests I have to deal 
with are the wasps. These do great damage to our wall and 
•other fruits. We find their nests if possible, and destroy 
'them, but it is difficult to find every nest, otherwise we 
•should soon cease to be troubled "with them. We do our part, 
having taken and destroyed 233 queen wasps in the spring, and 113 
meats up to the 27th of August, 1890 ; all these within flying 
distance of the fruit garden. The largest nest taken was 38 inches 
round, and contained thousands of live wasps, besides maggots 
just ready to hatch. The wasp is most destructive to ripe fruit, but 
they also attack green fruit. Last season we had a quantity of 
green Pears damaged by the wasp, even such hard Pears as Beurre 
Ranee, upon a south wall, was much damaged by these insects, as 
date in the season as October. We destroyed over eighty nests last 
year, and I was in hopes we had thinned them for another year. 
My belief is that a very severe winter is Nature’s way of keeping 
•down all insects. A stranger walking round our fruit garden would 
not think we had troubled to take a nest. I have not mentioned 
gathering and storing the Pear, for most cultivators use the con¬ 
veniences at hand, and I might leave this question also for a future 
paper.—J. Smith, Yalding. 
"CATERPILLARS AND FRUIT TREES, 1890. 
From some districts of the midlands and the north of England 
•serious complaints reached us last summer of the mischief cater¬ 
pillars had caused to fruit trees, notably the caterpillar of the 
winter moth (Cheimatobia brumata), and in some places that of 
the mottled umber (Hybernia defoliaria) was nearly as abundant. 
•Cither destructive species often accompanied these two, but in less 
numbers generally. Taking England as a whole, however, I think 
we shall find that, considering the prevalence of the plague of 
•caterpillars in 1889, the following season did not show anything 
like the abundance of them that some growers feared. True, there 
was a yield of fruit far below the average, but this could hardly 
charged upon caterpillars, large or small, certainly not in our 
•district of North Kent. Most of the fruit growers I know attribute 
the scarcity of fruit to the cold nights and rough winds that 
occurred just about the time of blossoming ; and with regard to the 
Plum, the knowing ones foretold that a bad year would come after 
•the four or five years, when the yield in most kinds was good, or 
•even abundant. 
Still, we had our caterpillars, quite as numerous as anybody 
■desired, if not more so, and to prevent their progeny troubling us 
next year various precautions must be taken. The discovery that 
by the aid of the male insects the females of the winter moth can 
manage to get above an adhesive band or smear placed round the 
"trees about the end of the year proves that what was supposed to 
be the best method of prevention cannot be absolutely depended 
upon. Yet for all that, this should always be done where the 
species has shown itself abundant in the summer, care being taken 
to lay on this composition before the emergence of moths, for 
•though the period varies in different localities, if left till December 
is much advanced it is likely to be too late. This circlet also serves 
■as an obstacle to the upward progress of the wingless females of 
the mottled umber, and to any other winter moth of similar habit. 
Some alarm has been occasioned by the mottled umber caterpillar, 
which has been looked upon as a new foe to fruit trees. This is a 
somewhat conspicuous one, larger than that of the winter moth, 
ered-brown on the back, the sides yellow, grey, and white. Owing 
to its not spinning a web it can be easily shaken from the trees. 
I do not think it is more abundant than it used to be, but instead 
of feeding chiefly on the Elm, Lime, and other timber trees, it 
appears to have visited our orchards of late ; but in Kent the 
species occurs only sparingly, though plentiful in adjacent counties. 
It. must be borne in mind that this insect emerges earlier than the 
wunter moth, and the eggs in an average year would be laid by the 
middle of November. The young caterpillars hatch out some time 
in April, as do those of the winter moth and allied species. Evi¬ 
dently during last spring many thousands of all these were 
destroyed by keen winds that followed a sudden burst of warmth, 
by which they had been brought into life too rapidly for them¬ 
selves, but quite to the advantage of the horticulturist. 
It is a matter of easy observation that the caterpillars which get 
on best in any ungenial spring are either those able to protect 
themselves by silken webs, or those naturally provided with a coat¬ 
ing of hairs. Some have both safeguards, the brown tail for 
instance (Liparis chrysorrbosa), a caterpillar regarded in the reign 
•of George III. as the leading foe of fruit trees, but which is now 
less common, and found usually on the Hawthorn and Sloe. So, 
too, is it with the lackey (Bombyx neustria), which I never 
remember before so abundant on the Apple. Through June and 
July the caterpillars were to be noticed wandering about in all 
directions near gardens and orchards, for they are soon dislodged 
from the boughs on which they feed, and move hither and thither 
anxiously till they can regain their position. It is not at that 
season they do most harm to the trees, but in May, while the 
foliage is young. At the beginning of that month the new brood 
appears from the eggs laid in August, and they form colonies vary¬ 
ing in number from fifty to thrice as many, each party construct¬ 
ing a general web, under which they shelter themselves in rainy 
weather, also after dark. During the day they scatter, going in 
little parties, sometimes several ftet off, but seldom failing to 
reach their home at the time needful. In France for many years 
it has been customary to take precautions against the spread of the 
species by obliging owners of orchards to cut off and burn the 
twigs or branches having their webs. Hitherto it has not seemed 
needful in England, but may be if it continues to increase as it has 
of late. Through the winter months search should be made for 
the eggs, placed in circlets about the shoots ; they can be easily 
removed without cutting the wood. Some of our country folks 
have a superstitious dislike of the adult caterpillar, perhaps because 
its head, with its two eye-like spots, looks peculiar, especially when 
it sways from side to side, in doubt as to which way it shall crawl. 
The lackey is rarely found on the Pear or Plum. 
The small ermine moth (Yponomeuta padella) was noticeable 
upon both Apple and Plum in the summer of this year, but it was 
not particularly abundant. I think it now and then infests the 
Cherry, or if not, there is another species of the family does, alike 
in its web-weaving ways. The webs made by the caterpillars of 
this ermine are even more annoying than those of the lackey moth, 
and their secretions appear to have a poisonous effect on the trees 
in addition to the injury done to the leaves and buds. Sometimes 
also they are to be caught in the act of gnawing the epidermis of 
the twigs. It is upon the twigs the patches of eggs are laid, covered 
by the mothers with a smooth gum, which protects them from the 
weather, and also unfortunately makes them difficult to detect. 
Now is the time to look for these and remove them, but the 
gardener will probably be surprised to find under the gummy coat¬ 
ing, not eggs ; there will be moving objects, in fact tiny caterpillars. 
It is a curious circumstance that they hatch in the autumn, and re¬ 
main without eating till the first warm days of spring, when they 
start off in search of food, and begin active life by burying them¬ 
selves under the surface of the swelling buds solitarily, or it may be 
in twos or threes. Having grown to some extent they next unite 
to construct webs, which are their abodes till they come out as 
moths. These are tolerably conspicuous in July, though not large, 
owing to their tints of black and white. They are sluggish, therefore 
it is easy to capture them by spreading under the trees nets or 
cloths, into which they may be shaken. Some of our Pear trees in 
North Kent had their buds damaged by the caterpillars of Tortrix 
angustiorana, well known as an enemy of the Peach and Apricot. 
But still more marked injury to the Pear, Plum, and Cherry this 
year was caused by the hosts of aphides that appeared upon the 
trees in May and June, the species being chiefly A. Mali, Pruni, 
and Mahaleb. In many instances the growers found it impossible to 
grapple with the pest, and some trees became some sickly that they 
had to be cut down. During the autumn the slug-worms of the 
Selandria group were numerous on some Pear and Cherry trees.— 
Entomologist. 
At a recent, meeting at Astwood Bank, Worcestershire, Mr. J. 
Hiam referred to the winter moth, the life history of which he ex¬ 
plained. He exhibited live specimens of the male and female moth. 
He found that the egg laying began in the middle of October, and 
was now at its height. The first male moth he saw on the 22nd 
October and the first female four days later. 
He judged from the state of his trees that the visitation of 
winter moths was as severe this autumn as ever, or rather more so. 
He found, however, that efforts to cope with the pest were 
becoming far more general; it was a rare thing now to see a tree 
without grease bands, whereas formerly it was a rare thing to see 
the trees with them. Still he found there was a great deal of 
prejudice to encounter. From his observations he concluded that 
fruit growers would have to be ready with the Paris green and 
London purple next spring. Mr. Hiam’s bottles were covered 
with paper perforated with minute holes. Through these holes the 
female moths had thrust many of their eggs, showing in what 
minute crevices it was the habit of the moth to lay her eggs in on the 
trees. He had also some true specimens of the grub, which are a 
mere speck when first hatched. This little creature commences at 
once to eat at the centre of the bud, and does the damage weeks 
before its presence is noted. He produced a grease band from one 
