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Show FACTS ABOUT TUSSOCK MOTH When Full Grown It Is One of Our Most Beautiful Caterpillars Methods Meth-ods for Combating Insect. When full grown the white marked tussock moth is one of our most beautiful beau-tiful caterpillars, Immediately recognized recog-nized by the four white tufts or tussocks tus-socks on back. The head is bright coral red, and the body marked with longitudinal yellow, gray and black lines. Below the caterpillar is yellow. There are two tufts of black projecting project-ing forward from above the head. At the posterior end of the body there is one hairy "horn." This "worm" when full grown has been feeding for a month and is about an inch long. At that time it spins for itself a hairy cocoon. This may be on the tree where it has been feeding or upon other trees or upon buildings, fences, etc. Two weeks are spent in this cocoon, at the expiration of which time the moth emerges. The male moth Is gray. The female moth has no wings. She lays eggs in a whitish mass on her cocoon and then dies. This egg mass with the cocoon is a conspicuous object and when it is known that the eggs of the female number from 200 to 400 the importance impor-tance of gathering and destroying the egg masses before hatching is very apparent. ap-parent. This pest is a general feeder, a variety of trees and vines suffering from its depredations. The methods for combating the tussock tus-sock moth are collecting and destroying destroy-ing the egg masses. On large trees, where these cannot be reached moisten moist-en them with a sponge saturated with creosoti and tied to a pole. Spraying with arsenicals (arsenite of lead, 3 pounds to 50 gallons of water is best) at a time when they are eating r''" ''''''' ' ' White Marked Tussock Caterpillar. the leaves. To prevent caterpillars from ascending, keep trunks of trees bprdpd with cotton, or some sticky material, such as tree tanglefoot. In cases of bad infestation combine some or all of the above remedies. All leaf-eating Insects mav be killed with arsenical sprays or by hand picking pick-ing or by cutting off the infested twig and destroying the insects thereon, or by burning their colonies or webs by means of a torch on a pole, or by crushing them with the gloved hand. The intelligent care of trees is a great aid in our battle with the insects. in-sects. A tree planted in good soil, vigorous and thrifty, well protected from injury, stands a better chance than one not so favored.' A shade tree injured by horses driven by thoughtless boys and others, a young tree scarred by a lawn mower, or a large one either murdered by cutthroat cut-throat linemen in running electric wires or burnt by contact with such wires invites attack, as does also a tree pruned in the wrong way. |