234 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc 



dust-pan. We killed them on the fences with boiling water. Their 

 eating in the trees sounded just like a breeze. Many got into the 

 house, and we could not open the windows. I found them in the 

 kitchen and in the bedrooms. I used to find them in the beds when 

 I turned down the blankets. 



(Signed) Mrs. F. T. Spinney. 



Jan. 25, 1894. 



Statement op J. C. Miller, Jr., No. 3 Lauriat Place, Medford. 



I moved to Lauriat Place in the late summer of 1889. I noticed 

 an apple tree in Postmaster Spinney's yard completely stripped by a 

 strange caterpillar. Some people called these caterpillars army 

 worms, but they were in reality gypsy moth caterpillars. Only the 

 main ribs of the leaves on Mr. Spinney's trees remained, and some- 

 times these fell off. The tree appeared almost as it would have in 

 winter. It was a terrible sight. The caterpillars seemed to do their 

 work much more thoroughly than the canker worms. At this time 

 they were crossing from Mr. Spinney's by multitudes into yards on 

 the other side of the street. It seemed but a few hours after they 

 left Mr. Spinney's before they were all through my trees. They came 

 literally in droves, and seemed to have a method in their movements. 

 They were pretty plentiful in the trees in my yard, but I put on 

 printers' ink and got a fair crop of apples, it being late in the sum- 

 mer before they struck into the yard. Nevertheless, their ravages 

 seemed to have an unfavorable effect on the crop as regards the con- 

 dition of the fruit. The big caterpillars were strong enough to crawl 

 through the fresh ink on the bands around the trunks. The next 

 year (1890) all the orchards in this section were completely ravaged, 

 and there was no fruit. The caterpillars simply swarmed. I de- 

 stroyed thousands of them by burning them with rags soaked in 

 kerosene. I spent many hours in desti'03'ing them, but without 

 making any perceptible difference in their numbers. They were over 

 everything, and even got into the cellars. Some of my apple trees 

 overhang my shop. In the evening when the caterpillars are live- 

 liest the noise of their droppings falling on the shingles sounded like 

 a steady shower. The gutter was brim full and running over with 

 the droppings. In the last year we have had practically no trouble 

 from the caterpillars. . . . 



The gypsy moth caterpillar is certainly a menace to the country. 

 It is worse than the canker worm, because individual action will 

 destroy the latter but will not succeed with the former. 



(Signed) J. C. Miller, Jr. 



Jan. 23, 1894. 



