Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1914-05-15
lASSAIL THE WHITE-WEB NESTS.

w
One of the days wonders of nature is
is the phenomenal development of white !,
web nests in small trees along country
roadsides and in fruit orchards. 1t is
merely two or three days since they be-
gan to appear at first like little specks
in the crotches, and today they are sew
era inches wide and perhaps half an
inch through. They grow with such
rapidity that they look conspicuous in
the evening where they hardly were
visible in the morning, and in the course
of two or three days they look ugly;
before the tree owner makes up his
mind to do anything about them they
are so big and heavy that they weigh
down the branches and send their raw
enous inhabitants on destructive errands
all over the tree. Just above each nest
the fresh buds that are trying hard to
open and unfur their leaves begin to
turn pallid, as if suffering from indiges
ton, and on inspection it Will be found
that little white thread leads to every
bud. Gradually this thread W idens into
broad highway for caterpillars, and
the new leaves shrivel and die. The top
of that particular branch is Ienuded,
and so is the top of every other branch
that has white nest until the tree is
literally crawling with caterpillars that
build their smooth highways to all the
branches and feed on the young leaves
as quickly as they come out.
Although natures early efforts to
clothe the young trees in green has
been thwarted that way every spring
for several years, gently at first, but
recently with destructive force, the
whole process remains somewhat of
mystery to many who see it every day
and comment upon it. 1t is suspected
by many as being gypsy moths, though
it does not come within hailing dis
lance of resembling the work of that
moth. Some people say it is the
brown-tail moth which they have
heard so much about and which they
regard to .be such hopeless pest that
any individual effort to check it would
be wasted energy. The gypsy moths
never spin any nests and the brown
tails are still using the nests that they
spun last fall with mixture of leaves
and web. If all these nests had been
cut down a week or two ago there
would not be any brown-tail moths left.
These white-web nests in the crotches
are the nests of tent caterpillars. They
are being spun now by the new cater
pillars just coming out of the eggs and
are enlarged daily as the caterpillars
grow and need larger houses. They
serve as houses for the caterpillars be-
tween meals until the caterpilars are
leaves enough on the tree to feed them
as long as that; if there are not they
quit that tree and crawl into the next
and strip that, and then crawl into
another and strip everything within
their reach up to their full eating ca
pacity, until it is time for them to trans
form and prepare for the next gener-
alton. They are more ravenous than
the brown-tails or the gypses, because
they are more numerous and take the
cream of the foliage.
Just now they can be handled easily.
In one apple tree there may be 1O
nests today. All these nests could be
removed in 10 minutes. or they could
be sprayed with little creosote, SC
that every worm would die. By wait
ing a week or two before giving those
. 10 nests any attention the caterpilars
: will have been given time enough to
: spread all through the tree. Their
they cannot be removed by anything
less than thorough spraying of the
foliage with arsenate of lead tc
poison them when they eat. If they
/ are numerous enough they disfgure the
t tree before they have consumed fata
{ dose.
5 Much advice has been sent out rela
tive ito this family of NOTES.-The TEN
caterpillars. Wild cherry trees furnish
c the caterpillar with it's first choice OF
= food and its best breeding places. The
= next preference is the apple orchard.
r Where the moth has been generously
! distributed in recent years the apple
= tree is as often as the wild cherry tree
! the object of first attack. 1t is STATED
: that if the apple tree is sprayed in time
for the tent caterpillar, assuming that
! the white-web nests were not removed
the improved yield of apples will fully
pay for the spraying.
Snow In Adirondseks.
Gloversville, N. Y, May IA. Guides