The Forest Tent Caterpillar (_clissiocampa sylvatica_), which was so
very destructive to our gardens, orchards, and forests last year, seems
likely to be almost as numerous and injurious again this season. The
worms are now about an inch or more in length, and during the next ten
days or fortnight will eat most voraciously, and their efforts, owing to
their increased size, will be painfully apparent. There are many
painstaking cultivators who are attentive to their trees, and destroy
from time to time all the caterpillars they can find on them, but who
are perplexed and discouraged by the continued invasions they are
subject to from the hosts of these hungry larvæ which swarm in neglected
orchards and among the forests trees. This particular caterpillar is
very fond of travelling, and its powers of locomotion are not to be
despised, for in a few hours it can travel a very considerable distance,
and, if it does not meet with suitable food, can maintain its activity
on an empty stomach for several days. In consequence of this
peculiarity, trees that are free from them to-day may be swarming
to-morrow. To meet such cases I would suggest the following simple and
inexpensive remedy, which has been tried and found to work
admirably:—Take a roll of cotton batting, open it out and cut it into
strips about three inches wide, and tie one of these strips tightly
about the middle to any part of the trunk of the tree, so as to
completely encircle it. In attempting to cross this barrier, the
multitude of minute, horny hooks which fringe the extremities of the
thick, fleshy feet of the caterpillar become so entangled among the
fibres of the cotton that further progress is impossible, and the hungry
worm wishing to ascend, will be found walking disconsolately around and
around the tree, looking in vain for some way over the difficult pass.
As they have no other means of getting into the tree than that of
crawling up it, when once the trees are cleaned, this harmless remedy is
most effectual in keeping them so, and its use will result in a great
saving of time and labor; even heavy rains do not impair the efficiency
of this barrier.
When large trees are swarming with the caterpillars, as is the case in
many orchards, such trees should be visited every morning, and the
larvæ, which are then congregated in masses on the trunks, destroyed,
which may be readily done by the vigorous use of a common broom.
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