No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 233 



our fruit trees, taking the apples first and then the pears. There was 

 a beautiful maple on the street in front of the next house, and all the 

 leaves were eaten by the caterpillars. They got from the tree upon 

 the house and blackened the front of it. A young maple which had 

 been set out on the street in front of our house was stripped by them 

 and died. Our vegetable garden was practically ruined by them, 

 peas, beans, corn, etc., being eaten. The garden of our next-door 

 neighbor, Mr. Camp, suffered a like fate. The caterpillars would 

 get into the house in spite of every precaution, and we would even 

 find them upon the clothing hanging in the closets. We destroyed a 

 great many caterpillars by burning, but their numbers did not seem 

 to be lessened in the least. Other neighbors did not fight the cater- 

 pillars as we did, and so our efforts were in a measure rendered 

 abortive. I think perhaps that if an organized effort had been made 

 at that time to destroy the caterpillars they might have been stamped 

 out. 



We lived on Myrtle Street for four years, and every year had the 

 same plague. A young peach tree died, apparently because it was 

 stripped by the caterpillars. Our raspberry bushes were also stripped 

 of their leaves. We lived later en Lawrence Street, and here also 

 the caterpillars were troublesome. An umbrella bush in the yard 

 was killed by them. The gypsy moth plague hurt property in this 

 section. Our house was advertised for sale, and when people came 

 to look at the property they were apt to inquire why the leaves of the 

 trees in the neighborhood were so badly eaten. When we told them 

 it was the work of the gypsy moth caterpillars they would say that 

 they would not live in such a locality. 



(Signed) Mrs. J. W. Flinn. 



Jan. 24, 1894. 



Statement of Mrs. F. T. Spinney, College Avenue, Medford. 



I lived on Cross Street in 1889. In June of that year I was out 

 of town for three days. When I went away the trees in our yard 

 were in splendid condition, and there was no sign of insect devasta- 

 tion upon them. When I returned there was scarcely a leaf upon 

 the trees. The gypsy moth caterpillars were over everything. I 

 used to burn them in the trees with torches. They were so numerous 

 that when they clustered on the trunks they would lap over each 

 other. A neighbor gathered in one day in my yard a peck of cater- 

 pillars and poured kerosone over them and set the mass on fire, but 

 many nevertheless walked away from the burning mass. I used to 

 scoop thein off the sides of the house and the tree trunks with a 



