The moths will hardly emerge from the cocoons until after the close of the school term. The children should be encouraged to gather the cocoons from the fences around the orchards and from the sticks and the branches on the ground and to carry them home. The cocoons may be placed in pasteboard boxes and kept until the moths emerge, about the middle of July.
Lesson V. Destroying the Caterpillars.
After the caterpillars are fully grown and all the processes of growth have been observed by the pupils, the teacher should give a lesson upon the injury which they do to trees and the necessity of keeping the orchards free from these pests. This lesson should be given guardedly so as not to encourage the children to cruelty in killing insects. The teacher should always try to inculcate in the child reverence for life, that wonderful force, which we can so easily take from a creature but which we can never give back. It is better to appeal to the child's sense of justice in giving this lesson. The teacher may vary it to suit her own ideas, but in substance it might be given somewhat as follows:
"All life is sacred; the smallest worm has as good a right to live in the sight of God as you or any child has. Life should never be taken except when necessary. However, no one has the right to interfere with the rights of another. Neither the child nor the worm has any right to trespass upon the property of any one else."
"Let us see whether these caterpillars are trespassers or not. The farmer works hard to earn the money to buy the land upon which the orchard is planted; he works hard to earn the money with which to buy the young trees; he works hard to set out the trees and cultivate the orchard; therefore the orchard and the fruit of it are his property, and he has a right to drive away all thieves. If men or children steal the fruit, he has a right to appeal to the law and have them fined or imprisoned. If worms come and injure the tree by eating up the foliage, he has a right to keep them out if he can. The leaves are necessary to the tree, for if they are destroyed the tree cannot get the air it needs to keep it vigorous and enable it to mature its fruit. We have seen that these caterpillars destroy the leaves, and thus do great injury to the apple crop. We therefore have a right to destroy these little robbers, as that is the only way we can keep them out of our orchards."
How can the caterpillars be destroyed?
The egg-masses can be collected in winter and early spring from young orchards, and burned.
Tie bits of suet or fresh fat pork to the branches of the trees and thus induce chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers to visit the orchard in winter. These birds will destroy eggs and cocoons of the tent caterpillar, and of other insect pests also.
In large, old trees, we must wait until later. Ask the pupils the following questions:
At what times did we find the worms in their tents? Answer. Early morning; late afternoons; and during cold, dark days.