FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   >>  
ches; some devour the leaves; some feed inside the nuts and ruin them; some suck the sap from the stems and leaves. I shall make no attempt in this paper to enumerate these pests. Time forbids. I shall only mention a few of the most obvious and most serious, and where possible, point out control measures. THE WALNUT CATERPILLAR. _Datana integerrima_ G. & R. During the month of August clusters of blackish caterpillars bearing white hairs, may be seen stripping the terminal branches of black walnut, butternut and hickory trees. This is called the walnut caterpillar, and it has been very abundant in Connecticut this season. Many small trees have been entirely stripped and large ones almost defoliated. There is only one brood each year in Connecticut, though two occur in the southern states, and the pupae winter in the ground. The adult is a reddish brown moth, having a wing-spread of about one and one-half inches. Clipping off the twigs and crushing the mass of caterpillars is perhaps the simplest control method on small trees. Spraying with lead arsenate will prevent defoliation. THE FALL WEB-WORM. _Hyphantria cunea_ Drury. Though a general feeder attacking all kinds of fruit, shade and forest trees, the fall web-worm commonly feeds upon the foliage of nut trees, especially hickories, causing considerable damage in the South. The adult is a white moth, having a wing-spread of an inch or more, appearing in midsummer and laying its egg-cluster on the under side of a leaf. The young caterpillars make a nest at the end of a lateral branch by drawing the leaves together with their webs. These nests usually appear in July and August, though in Connecticut there is a partial second brood and usually a few nests of the early brood may be found in June. In the South there are two complete generations. When the larvae have exhausted their food supply, they extend their nest by taking in fresh leaves, but always feed inside the nest, differing in this respect from the tent caterpillar which makes its nests here in May. When fully grown the caterpillars are about one and one-fourth inches long, with brown bodies covered with light brown hairs, and may be seen crawling about seeking a place to pupate. They soon go into the ground where they transform, the adults emerging the following year. The best remedies are (1) clipping off and burning the nests when small, and (2) spraying the foliage with arsenical poison.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   >>  



Top keywords:

leaves

 

caterpillars

 

Connecticut

 
walnut
 
ground
 

inches

 
spread
 

foliage

 

August

 

caterpillar


control
 

inside

 

branch

 

lateral

 

remedies

 
clipping
 

burning

 

drawing

 

considerable

 
damage

arsenical

 
causing
 

hickories

 

poison

 

cluster

 

appearing

 

midsummer

 
laying
 

spraying

 

transform


covered

 

taking

 

extend

 

supply

 

differing

 

respect

 

bodies

 

fourth

 

crawling

 

exhausted


partial

 

adults

 

generations

 

seeking

 

larvae

 

pupate

 
complete
 

emerging

 

method

 

clusters