New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-06
THE CATERPILLAR PLAGUE.

ARITIEs
The caterplar plague is beginning to attract con.
adorable attention, and there are many seekers
after some method of destroying the pests Not
only are they eating the leaves from the trees but
they persist in dropping down upon walks and
pavemeDts aud passing people. Although they are
not believed to be particularly dangerous to human
beings, they Gel tainly very disagteeable, ana
when one feels the sticky little feet moving slowly
along the back of his neck he does not always
calmly reach back, take up the little worm tenderV
and carefully place il upon the ground. lie snruss
his shoulders violently tries TO shake the thlng on
strikes wildly all around It, and sometimes makes
remarks that are not always fairly indicative OF MS
character as a Christian and a gentleman Nheh
caterpillar similarly drops down upon young Lady,
The case Is somewhat different. Her cries usually
hiring nearly all the policemen in the precinct to her
assistance and he shows AN unusual amount OF
beroism if she does not faint or 60 into Mysteries
A TRIBUNE reporter walked through "a number OF
the city parks recently aud saw several millions
of these caterpilars busily engaged in dieting upon
the trees, dropping down into the walks ana crawl
ING over the park benches. The hoIse-chestnuts
were almost entirely destitute of leaves every
vbers and MANY of the naples were little better.
The caterpiars seem TO take all the sap and leai,
filling which does the work Of assimilation, ana
leave the skeleton or VEINS OF 'ne 'er MOI ASH
ington Sanare some OF these caterpllars were seen
on the electric-ght poles; but 1t 10 not DeheVed
that these have been damaged any as YET.
John v Culver, chief engineer and superintendent
n, the Brooklyn parks, was called upon at his home
near Prospect Park recently anu asMed sere
ing the amount OF damage tho c"'eip"i"i' WIN
dong in Brooklyn -. $500. ao.l 81
harm here" said he in fact we are not allowing
thnm IN Accomplish much IN the Brooklyn parks.
About three weeks ago discovered number VI
them IN Tompkins PaIk small park In the eastern
rlnr tod lsm
NAPLES They had already begun to destroy the
leaves and seeing he danger immediately set TO
work to head on haa h,en 90 n .' 'ue ,SsN
could and destroy the cocoons and ca!erplllars
which they cleared of. l then carefully went
through all tue other city parks ana Inauguiaied
system of war against these pests in each one ana
now are having comparatively niue .rouoie.
do not think We shall lose over haif dozen trees
altogether, and very 10" VIII NC ihJui W any 0A
tent" !, A..
"What trees appear to be affected most by the
caterpiaIsr ..rod or+
The whole family OF naples seems 10 be particularly
patrouized by the caterpars. In 'front.' ol my mousse
here is a large English held-maple. III you VIII Just
step outside for a lew moments can snow yOh
specmens of the caterpllars, aud also show you
their manner of living, of working, anu so forth"
Ioou examining the tree. a large number OF
coconns were iound fastened upon the bark. IN each
OF which wa a worm; some oil them hau opened
and the caterpillar had gone about MS business
among the leaves. Here and there, also. were
yellow caterpilafs moving up anu down lne trunk'
ana many of tue leaves were covered with them.
Now this" sail Mr. Lulyer, " is one variety OF
The caterplars which are bOtherng u.s. This one
appears to come from an egg luclOSed IN roll Oh
sk-like substance fastened TO the park oil me Tree.
usually IN a crotch of some branches. hen u
reaches maturity it breaks out oil TINS sliKen ron
aud goes for the leaves You Will notice that IL
eats the leaf entirely oil except t1e Shehe c
think is dong even more damage than TINS one
ii Won will noIce the ends of many OF the branches
OF this tree you will see large sllken webs spread
IN
leaves and several dozens vi Small calerphlars
These caterparS do not eat the whole ieaI as 90
the others but they bore holes III IT and extract all
the SAD out uf it, max ng 1t ,OOk almos exactly ike
dead leaf. These cateTpIllarS come from myriads
of deposited IL small sliken r1iis heaI inc enus
of tie branches. After the caterpiiars are matched
from the eggs they seem to require ABOUT lour day
in which to grow strong enough to break out ana
scatter over the tree in the meanwhile EXTENDING
their silky web TO many times It's original size.
These caterpillars seem TO go right through Tree
Ie,l rteAp. aIs or dTop OFT. never knew OF thelr
birds seem very fond OF this caterpillar. nave
noticed the robins eating them, but do not know
whether or lot the sparrows esteem them II deli
cacy." -..-.:,,.- A.
usual this veal r
Oh YES; a great many more than usual this
seems to be an exceptional year for catefplllars
Had we not taken decided measures III tIme we
should has sustained serious damage from them
i'll our parks
" Are you troubled with any Other insects OeSlues
the aterpllars"
No not 10 any apprecable extent Early in the
season | found sOOd many Ot the 'lDch-WOrmS
which destructive to the elms, but we started
a crusade against them and have suffered no
damage from them at all. The army worm was
with us some time ago. TOO, but OF late II has en-
tirely disapp. AIRED from the Park The srarrows
The most effective agencies against the arny-worms
Last year we had considerable numbers OF THESE
worms and had 10 take decided measures against
them We found that a line OF Kerosene OIL or any
tarry substance would turn the worms right back;
they would never attempt TO cross such a. me inc;
pretty well headed of the worms. We also mud
that tar and KerOsen Is a splendid medicine lor the
caterpnars. The tar-common coal tar from the
Gas wotks-is very mnch diluted with kerosene and
spread the bark ana sprinkled over the leaves
where the caterpillar are worst ana IL puts an end
TO them very speedily. It is necessary to dilute
the tar very much. Tor otherwise 1t might construct
the bark of the tree"
" Are he forest trees generally much affected by
insecsp
care in other respects but insects do not seem TO
trouble them much. The foliage throughout the
parks is finer this than nave ever known IL
TO be before Prospect Park looks particularly
well. We are very little bothered by the eater,
pjllars there and the trees all DONG Splenddy
How often do the caterDllars breed IN season r
"Onlv once, | beleye The eggs deposited one
year develop about midsummer the next year II
nv observation has been as correct as think 1t has
On one side Of MIR. Culyeps house are lot OF
grape-vines, which seemed almost completely Gov
cred with WORMS IN lieu OF leaves. There was not
single hole leaf on the vines only the skeletons
OF the leaves LETT. Mr.. Culyer said that he had
never seen so many of the grape worms before tut
he did not know whether or not they were as bad |
elsewhere upon his ON vines.
Before leaving Mr.. CulveTs the reporter secured |
specimens of the two species of cater ars referred
to- He took them to Mr. Halstead, one OF the !
editors OF The american 3n cHttuTtst. at No. 75l
Broadway in order to have them examined. Mr. |
Halstead examined the insects carefully and de- |
cided that of them was OF the genus LIparde OF
the family of the Bombyces OF the Lepdoptera,
described in Harrs's Insects Injurious to Nege-
taton as slender little caterpillar of bright
yellow color, sparrglv covered with long ana hne |
yellow hairs on the sides of he body. and having
four short and thick brush-lke yellOwlsh tufts on
the back, that is on the fourth and three follow
ing rings two long black pumes or pencils extend
ing forW ard from the first rlng and single plume
an the ton of the eleventh ring The heaC and the