Abstract
In Newfoundland, the spruce budworm has caused a pronounced decrease in cone production by balsam fir. Severe defoliation reduced the size and number of shoots upon which cones are usually produced. The budworm did not feed on reproductive buds nor influence the number of buds that continued development to form ovulate flowers. However, virtually all of these flowers or the young cones that developed from them were killed by budworm on severely defoliated trees.