Il6 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



orchard caterpillars, (the brown-tail moth among them) is 

 presented by the fact that Southwestern Maine is the point 

 where the first infestation of the gypsy moth would naturally 

 occur. Nothing by way of watchfulness, instruction or provi- 

 sional care that can be done to guard the State against these 

 twin pests should be neglected. 



"Those citizens of Medford who first suffered from the attacks 

 of this pest on their property relate the most alarming experi- 

 ences. They tell of shrubbery and flowers ruined ; of gardens 

 despoiled of corn, small fruits and vegetables ; of fruit, shade 

 and forest trees stripped of their foliage finally destroyed ; of 

 homes filthy with the pest; of trees, houses, fences and walks 

 covered with the trooping battalions of caterpillars ; of the stench 

 arising from the crowding masses ; of the crawling of the dis- 

 gusting creatures into their houses, where they swarmed on 

 house plants, crept into closets, upon the persons of the inmates 

 and even into the beds ; of the people's unavailing efforts to 

 check the march of the ravening host with fire, hot water, and 

 coal oil, in spite of which the pest grew worse year by year, 

 until an appeal was made to the town authorities. The town 

 having expended hundreds of dollars and not being able to cope 

 with it, the State, in 1890, was appealed to for aid, and it was not 

 until the forces of the State had worked a year that the course 

 of the moth was even checked." * 



"The gradual spread of the gypsy moth up to the caterpillar 

 plague of 1888-89 is a matter of record. Equally well known 

 is the work of the gypsy moth committee of the Massachusetts 

 Board of Agriculture, which finally succeeded in reducing the 

 numbers of the insect to a minimum and thoroughly controlling 

 the pest. Since the abandonment of the State w^ork in the early 

 part of the year 1900, the moth has had ample opportunity to 

 increase to a point where it is today more numerous, and occu- 

 pying a larger area in Massachusetts than ever before '^ * * 

 Both the gypsy and brown-tail moths can be controlled by a 

 thorough campaign over the infested municipalities. The work 

 of the former gypsy moth committee has shown that the damage 

 and annoyance from these pests can be practically eliminated by 

 the application of thorough remedial measures over the entire 



* Bulletin of the Mass. State Board of Agiieullure. 



