l88 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



MANNER OE SPREADING. 



The principal means of spreading this pest is by the different 

 forms of conveyances that pass through or out of the infested 

 district. The caterpillais have a habit of spinning down by 

 silken threads and remaining suspended in mid-air, where they 

 can be readily caught up by passing vehicles and carried in many 

 cases to remote localities before being dropped. The colonies 

 in New Hampshire and Maine were undoubtedly started from 

 caterpillars caught up by automobiles coming through the 

 infested district in Massachusetts. They may be carried from 

 place to place in the egg cluster or even in the pupa stage. 

 Moths could deposit the egg clusters in empty egg crates, in side- 

 tracked freight cars, on lumber, cord-wood, or even stove wood 

 in an open shed. One family living in the infested district of 

 Massachusetts where the caterpillars had been crawling over 

 their wood-pile moved into this State bringing their wood with 

 them, and if the authorities had not been notified and the wood 

 burned, a colony might have been started and gained a strong 

 foothold before being discovered. 



For this reason, as has been already stated, every citizen of the 

 State has a duty to perform to keep a vigilant watch in his local- 

 ity for any form of insect new to him and send any such doubt- 

 ful one to this office for identification. In this way a new colony 

 could be located and destroyed before gaining much headway. 



The situation in Maine is a serious one, but we feel confident 

 that extermination may be possible, provided sufficient aid is 

 rendered from the infested district, together with what we may 

 expect to receive from the National Government. 



The plan of campaign in all the infested states should be to 

 quarantine each district, thus preventing further spread, and 

 then gradually narrow this area until extermination is secured. 

 This to some may seem visionary and wholly impracticable, but 

 we cannot succeed unless the effort is made. The old adage, 

 "Where there's a will there's a way," ought to apply to the 

 case in hand. The experiment is worth our best effort, and if 

 success is reached the expenditure will be well worth the price 

 of that success. 



