252 agriculture: op mains. 



found to be full of them. After consulting with the owner it 

 was thought best to cut the bushes along the wall. After this 

 was done the whole was sprayed over with oil and burned. 

 Over a thousand caterpillars were thus destroyed. This was 

 the first experiment where burning with oil was used and it 

 proved very effective. The trees in the immediate vicinity were 

 afterwards burlapped and during the season hundreds of cater- 

 pillars were taken in this manner. 



On October 15th a scout was made of this infestation which 

 gave the following results ; — on an old oak tree growing in the 

 infested wall four new and sixteen old egg-clusters were taken. 

 This tree was covered with rough bark and offered a good hiding 

 place for the caterpillars so they did not get down to the bur- 

 laps and pupated on the trunk. The females on hatching laid 

 their eggs where they were. This tree was cut down and 

 burned. All of the bushes in the section were cut and a 

 number of hickory trees, which were covered with rough bark, 

 were scraped and the whole place has been put in shape to be 

 successfully handled during another season. 



After finishing here the scouts went to an adjoining wood lot 

 owned by the same party where many hundreds of egg-clusters 

 were found. Practically all of the wooded section and orchard 

 trees of Cutts Island are infested. 



On Saturday, July 13, one of the men on his way from York 

 Corner to Wells discovered some caterpillars crawling in the 

 road. They proved to be gipsies. They were on what is called 

 the Thompson place situated on the old post road from York to 

 Wells about four miles from York Harbor. On examination 

 he found that both sides of the road for a distance of over a 

 hundred yards were thickly infested with the almost full grown 

 caterpillars. The land adjoining on either side was used for a 

 pasture and had grown up to sweet fern, bayberry bushes and 

 low ground juniper. The place had not been scouted as there 

 were no trees near to indicate that the caterpillars had been 

 there. Stone walls extended along each side of the road and 

 the pasture contained numerous rock piles and loose boulders, 

 making ideal hiding places for the pests. 



The caterpillars were found everywhere, in bushes, stone 

 walls, grass, rock piles, etc. The ground was literally covered 

 with the nearly fully developed larvee. Word was at once sent 



