No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 93 



means to kill the caterpillars, and some of them have been 

 effective to a certain degree ; but those means will only 

 serve to prevent their increase. When the time comes for 

 gathering the eggs they can be plainly seen on the apple 

 trees and wherever they have been laid ; no man can help 

 seeing them who is looking for them, and all we have to do 

 is to £0 and gather them. We have found instances where 

 we have entirely exterminated them, working with our im- 

 perfectly trained men, the first season. Now, if we can do 

 that in one place we can do it in all, provided we can find 

 the men. In your crop reports I see that farm help is scarce 

 and high. Good gypsy moth help is scarcer and a good 

 deal higher. We want bright young men ; men whom we 

 can teach, if possible ; men who have been trained to habits 

 of close observation. If we can secure such men, they are 

 the men who will make good gypsy moth hunters ; but, 

 unless we can get that kind of men, we can never extermi- 

 nate the moth. We can never do any more than keep the 

 numbers down. If we can get enough of such men, and 

 money enough behind them, I surely believe we can exter- 

 minate it. But the question of cost is a great one. 



Mr. Edson. Can you give us any idea of the quantity of 

 eggs they lay? 



Mr. Forbush. I made an estimate of the first six 

 weeks' work. We did not count the egg-clusters then ; we 

 gathered them by quarts and estimated them by the quart. 

 I estimated the quantity gathered and burned as something 

 like eight cart-loads. Some of the territory that we did not 

 go over last spring we have been over this fall. I should 

 say that we had gathered several cart-loads of eggs there. 

 The eggs of the gypsy moth, where they are few, are usually 

 found on the trunks of trees, and on the under side of 

 branches, in holes and cavities in the trees. Wherever they 

 become abundant, like most other insects, they deposit them 

 everywhere. They are then found on fences, in cellars, in 

 unoccupied rooms, in all sorts of places, — even inside of 

 chimneys and under the eaves of houses. These are 

 the places where we have the greatest trouble in find- 

 ing them. People say, "When they get into the villages 

 you can hunt them and get rid of them easily ; " but it is not 



