THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 19 



the catci'iiillars also attacked the peach tree. For two years we 

 have had almost no fruit. This spring the boys took off the nests 

 and trimmed the trees, and that has saved them. 



Vincent L. Kelly, 33 Park Street, Somcrvillc, writes : — 



We first noticed the brown-tail moth in May, 1897. That year 

 we had no fruit, and we have had none this year. The trees were 

 entirely stripped (1897), but came out again later. Some time 

 about the middle of June the caterpillars began to disappear. 

 While they w'ere with us they were a most disgusting sight. They 

 clung to the outside of the house and piazza, and some even 'got 

 into the house. We tried killing them by picking them off the 

 fences, etc., and putting them into kerosene; but we could not 

 accomplish much, as they were so numerous. 



Mrs. Peter Mooley, 41 Ivaloo Street, Somerville, says : — 



We first noticed the caterpillars, in 1897, and we could do noth- 

 ing with them. We had to take brooms and sweep them away 

 from the doors. They ate the leaves off the trees, so that we did 

 not get any fruit that year or in 1898. The caterpillars seemed 

 to come all at once. We were all poisoned with them. The houses 

 were full of them. They were a sight. They were on every- 

 thing, — fences, shrubbery and flower bushes. The place was 

 fairly alive with them. They were even in the bed-rooms. We 

 tried lime and salt, but nothing seemed to check them. 



Mrs. H. F. Williams, 213 Beacon Street, Somerville, 

 states : — 



The caterpillars were very bad in 1897. They would have 

 stripped the trees if we had not fought them ; even then they 

 damaged the trees. In spite of all we could do, they crawled all 

 over the house, up to the door, and even got into the house. 

 They seemed to be everywhere. We burned them to get rid of 

 them. They did not destroy our trees, but it was only because 

 we attended to them all the time. They would have eaten the 

 trees in one night, if we had not kept them down. The trees did 

 not bear at all this year (1898), and we have had no fruit but 

 cherries. The caterpillars ate everything that came within their 

 reach, — rose bushes, geraniums and plants. Nothing was free 

 from them but the grape-vines. They were not so numerous this 

 summer as last. All the nests were supposed to have been taken 



