198 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



doubtedly hold true in all other parts of York county. More- 

 over no less than three thousand egg clusters were destroyed 

 in Cornish this year where last year less than fifty were re- 

 ported. Again, a serious woodland infestation was found in 

 Brunswick this fall and over four thousand egg clusters were 

 destroyed. Last year the number found there was less than one 

 hundred. A serious situation confronts the State of Maine 

 when infestations of such size are found so far towards the in- 

 terior of the State. 



But the real menace of the Gipsy moth is in the fact that the 

 caterpillars eat foliage and thereby destroy trees. Ever since 

 the start of the work in Maine, this Department has been warn- 

 ing the public that unless sufficient money was provided for 

 this work, the woodlands of the State would be in danger of 

 destruction. Until last summer there has not, to my knowledge, 

 been any extensive Gipsy moth defoliation in Maine. Last 

 summer, however, about twenty acres of oak growth in the 

 town of York were nearly stripped of foliage. There was one 

 pine tree sufficiently defoliated to cause its death and it is, I be- 

 lieve, the first pine lost through work of the Gipsy moth in this 

 State. This defoliation occurred in the vicinity of Mount Aga- 

 menticus in York. Next year in the same section probably forty 

 acres will be devastated and a good part of the growth will be 

 killed. Smaller defoliations occurred in Wells, So. Benvick, 

 Eliot and Kittery. With the increased number of caterpillars 

 sure to hatch next year, more and more defoliation will take 

 place throughout this entire county. 



This is the Gipsy moth situation in Maine today. The reason 

 for its seriousness is that we have been unable to place in the 

 field a sufficient force of men to check the increase of the pest. 

 From the start, the appropriations for this work have been 

 inadequate and particularly so for the past four years. The 

 result is that the Gipsy moth is at present destroying wood- 

 lands in York county and will soon be doing likewise in other 

 parts of the State, if indeed it is not already doing so. After all 

 that has been written and spoken on this subject during the 

 past six years, the present Gipsy moth situation in the State of 

 Maine should be a surprise to no citizen. 



