bailey: storm damage in Vermont 
27 
alive. The wood of these maples turns very dark colored before the tree 
is entirely dead, which injures it very much for lumber. Two years ago 
my orchard was about the only one in this section on which the worms 
worked, but last season they took a clean sweep. Every sugar place 
around is being cut down as fast as possible.” 
Commenting on this Dr. Perkins said: 
“It is very probable that some other destructive agency has been at 
work in Mr. Hutchinson’s maple grove, for a single defoliation would 
not alone destroy the trees if they were in good condition at the opening 
of the season.” 
Then follows some consideration of the effect of defoliation on life of 
the tree and maple sap production. Though he appears to be more 
conservative than some of his correspondents in estimate of damage in 
both respects, he concludes with this: 
“It appears to be certain that Vermont will not produce the accus¬ 
tomed amount of sugar for a good many years to come.” 
What about this question of damage? Dr. Perkins did not think 
that one year’s stripping would in itself kill trees and he was inclined to 
discount in part some of the reported disastrous effects of defoliation 
on the next season’s sap run. He felt that other conditions contributed 
to the effect strongly, though he agreed, of course, that the caterpillar 
damage was important. 
Well, we are still in the dark on some of these things, but there are 
plenty of men still who remember that outbreak and will tell you that 
their sugar places were spoiled by the caterpillars. There are plenty 
of sugar places now with dead tops plentifully showing up, dead branches 
and weakened condition generally; and there are badly weakened maple 
and oak shade trees due, I believe, pretty much to forest tent caterpillar 
work. In some sections, the obvious weakening of the trees through 
caterpillar attacks has been the deciding factor in causing the owner to 
sell for timber. That was reported back there too. 
Several times, in his bulletin, Dr. Perkins refers to the fall canker 
worm being responsible for some of the defoliation. We can check with 
him on this also except that the canker worm involved this time has 
been Bruce’s Rachela bruceata instead of Alsophila pometaria and their 
worst work preceded by a couple of years that of the caterpillar. Since 
they are very similar in general appearance, it seems quite possible 
that the two had been confused in the reports which Dr. Perkins re¬ 
ceived. 
