Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1901-07-26
WGbWOrnS.

At the present time large num-
bers Of fruit and shade trees
throughout the States are beingren-
dered unsightly and considerably
injured by the depredations Of Web
worms. These caterpillars Matched
from eggs about July Ist and are
July Io) about half grown. They |
are easily recognized by the large |
web which they spin over the foil
age and within which they feed |
Ounce, apple, ard cherry trees seem
10 be worst attacked, and very fire.
quently these are found almost en-
tirely defoliated, and covered with
webs, while some 100 fruit and
shade trees are included i'll the list
of food plants of this pest. The
Webworms are readily distin-
guished from the Tent-caterpillars
which appear i'll the spring, as the
latter do not enclose the foliage in
their tent, which is smaller; the
tent-caterpillars are black with a
white stripe down the middle Of
the back, while the webworms are
more commonly light yellowish.
When full grown the webworms
are about one inch long, varying
from pale yellow to greenish or dar-
ker shades. The body is covered
with tufts of long, straight hairs
arising from small yellow protub-
FRANCES. A broad dusky or black
Ish stripe extends down the back,
OH each side Of which is yellow
ish band ,speckled with black. The
parents of this pest are quite pretty
moths, usually of a milk-white color
thou gh often spotted with black,
whose wings expand about one and
one-fourth inches from tip to tip
They emerge in May or June, ant
the females each deposit from 400
to 500 eggs i'll patches on the undel
sides of the leaves. These egg.
hatch late in June, and become full
grown about the middle of July
They then crawl down the tree ant
burrOw slightly under the surfac
of the ground or creep under loos
bark, or into some such shelter
There they spin their silken CO
CoOns containing numerous hair
from their bodies, and in thes
transform TO pupae. From tn
pupae the moths emerge late i
, July or August and lay eggs for al
other brood of worms. Thes
: worms become full grown late
September or in October, and til
pupae remain i'll the cocoons owe
winter, the moths emerging the ne1
ispring.
Therefore, as there will be anotht
;. brood Of the worms this year, it
important to destroy as many F.;
y possible at once before they hay
n left the trees to pupate, for ever
e worm wi ich becomes full grow
e and Transforms to a pupa and mot
IS means the appearance of a larj
. number OfwOrms in August or Sc
" TENDER.
% REMEDIES Banding trees wi
h cotton is of no valre against til
is pest though a most desirable mea.
lie of trapping the TussOck-moth ca
g, erpillars, which are so otter init
X iOus to shade trees ,as the webworr
e do not crawl from tree to tree.
"a Spraying the trees with an {
ID senical poison will soon rid them
Of the worms. Either Paris gree
as green arsenoid, arsenate of lead,
nd arsenite of lime, will be found sat
as factory.
is Paris green, or green arsenoi
should be used at the rate of OF
n fourth pound to barrel of wat
IN III to which should be added t,
or pounds of freshly slaked qui
". lime.
lot During the winter the cocoC
may be easily collected and
stroyed.
. One of the best and most CO
~ mon means of destroying the wor
nd is to burn them in their webs.
tn this be done at nightfall, it can
rst done without any material init
IA; to the twigs, which will soon !
out new leaves and will not be ?
.ol' manently dishgured, and is mi
nt' better than pruning off the I'M
es ted parts. A bundle of rags wi
, g+ to the end of a long pole make
ms good torch for this work or a 20
rye brick wired to a pole and satura
md with kerosene is even better. c
"a; should be taken in the use of 81
nry torches near buildings to avoid
10 possibility Of conAagration.
The webworms are much We
nd this season than for several yet
ant and it behOoves every one to
in stroy all possible to prevent m
i'm serious injury by the second bro
del -DELAwARE COLLEGE AGRIC
oe - TURAL EXPERIMENT STATI
. 'ne Newark, Del.