July 15th.—(1) The ofhcers in charge of the Eastern Tombs report that the trees at the tombs have been troubled with caterpillars. The trees suffered much last year, and energetic measures were taken to deal with the plague. In the Spring off this year they were all looking beautifully green; but since then many of them have been stripped of their foliage by caterpillars. The pine trees have suffered especially. The troops in charge of the tombs have been set to work to collect the grubs, which are destroyed by boiling and then buried. According to precedent, a reward of one tael cent per catty will be paid for all the caterpillars brought in.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.