Charlevoix county herald., 1915-04-10
THE APPLE TREE
TENT CATERPILLAR

AltnOugn III SeluOm does mucn marin
in well cared for orchards the tent cat
erpillar frequently strips the leaves
from trees in orchards that are neglect
ed and, in some parts of the state, be-
comes very noticeable feature in the
landscape during the month of June
since its gray, webby nests may literal
ly cover the apple trees and also the
wild cherry trees which are so numer-
Gus in the northern and western parts
of the State.
The eggs are laid in oval masses upon
the smaller twigs during the late sum-
mer and fall and the worms hatch as
the new growth is starting in the
spring. The larvae (caterpillars)
collect in crotch up on the branches
and soon begin the spinning of silken
web which is enlarged as the worms
increase in size until it may extend
along the branches for two feet; and
when the number of "nests" on tree
is sufficiently large, they may envelop
all of the branches. The caterpillars
begin feeding on the leaves and when
there are several nests on tree the
foliage may be completely stripped.
Especially upon young trees il is
simple matter to remove and destroy
the egg clusters which will result in re-
ducing the injury, but although much
good can be done toward eXterminat-
ing this insect by adding arsenate of
lead to the lime-sulphur solution when
spraying for the San Jose scale in the
early spring, the principal reliance
should be upon the applications made
just before and after the blossoming of
the trees. BY the use of IA to IL
gallons OF commercial lime-sulphur
solution and pounds of arsenate of
lead to so gallons of water there will be
no difficulty in destroying every cater
pillar upon the trees. They will be
very small and easily killed at the time
the blossoms are 'in the pink" They
will be clustered in the forks of the
trees and many of them will be blown
to the ground and killed if high
pressure is used. If any of them escape
they will be destroyed when the trees
are sprayed after the blossoms have
fallen and the fruit has set If these
suggestions are followed, it will be
possible to control the apple tree tent
caterpillar without any extra expense.
for labor or material.
When spraying has been neglected
and nothing has been done to control
the insectssit will often be worth while
to destroy them even after the nests
have become quite large and the
worms are half grown. When upon
small trees or upon the upper branches
of large trees, the nests with the worms
inside can be quickly scraped from the
branches with gloved hand and either
crushed under foot or thrown into
pail containing pint of kerosene and
two gallons of water The use of torches
for destroying the worms and their
nests often results in burning the
branches and doing more harm than
would be caused by the insects. A
swab dipped in kerosene emulsion and
fastened to the end of pole may be
used in removing the nests from the
higher parts of tree.
While this insect has been very
troublesome for several years, the
number of parasites is rapidly increas-
ing and they will undoubtedly be able
to keep the tent caterpillars in subjec-
ton after one or two years.
L. r. TAFT,
State Inspector of Orchards.
Nine times out of possible ten il
costs the man who is elected to office a