I08 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



g)'psy moths, and therefore the work stopped, and from 1898 

 until 1905 no work was done. In those few years the cater- 

 pillars had increased to such an extent that now Massachu- 

 setts has nearly two hundred towns infested with the gypsy 

 moth. 



In August, 1906, a gentleman at Kittery Point, Maine, took 

 from his orchard what was supposed to be a gypsy moth. The 

 same was sent to Prof. Hitchings at Augusta, and he immediate- 

 ly decided it was a gypsy moth. This fact was communicated 

 to the department at Washington, and on the strength of that 

 the government agent, Mr. D. M. Rogers, sent to the State of 

 Maine, on the 20th of November, 1906, twelve men to scout the 

 State for the gypsy moth. They came to Kittery, and continued 

 along until they got to Biddeford, which was on the 28th of 

 January, 1907. By this time the snow had become so deep 

 and the weather was so cold that it was necessary to discontinue 

 the work, which they did, going back to Massachusetts and 

 returning on the 14th of April and remaining until the 4th of 

 May. 



They found during their scout, up to that time, 518 egg clus- 

 ters of the gypsy moth in the towns of Kittery, York, Eliot, 

 South Berwick, Wells, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. In the 

 meantime, the Department of Agriculture at Augusta, which 

 had in its employ several young men, had sent them to Massa- 

 chusetts to take up the work of the gypsy moth there, that they 

 might be able to cope with the same in the State of Maine. 

 They were placed on the government pay-roll, and after re- 

 maining there a month or so, were sent to this State to scout 

 the cities and towns between Portland and Bangor, which they 

 did. The only infestation which they found was at the Sol- 

 diers' Home at Togus, which has been fought for two years or 

 more, and I am happy to say that the infestation there has been 

 entirely wiped out. 



Our appropriation, made by the legislature, had then become 

 available, and nine men, or ten men I might say, consisting of 

 myself and nine others, were hired for the work, and we began 

 in earnest. Believing that something had been left behind by 

 the government scouts, owing to the severe cold and storm, we 

 were sent over .the same territory that had been covered by them, 

 with the result that 462 egg clusters were found in these various 



