No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 279 



Copy of Statement of Mr. Wm. B. Harmon^ 55 Spring Street, 

 Medford, Mass. 



In the summer of 1890 the caterpillars destroyed all our fruit. 

 They attacked aud stripped the apple trees first and then turned 

 their attention to the pear trees, which they also stripped. The 

 young fruit was entirely ruined and we had nothing that fall. 

 The trees in places were actually black with caterpillars. They 

 would collect in great bunches and we would sweep them off with 

 a broom. I had quite a large vegetable garden which was nearly 

 ruined by the caterpillars. They destroyed the cucumbers and ate 

 all the tops off the tomatoes. They also stripped some flowering 

 plants. We could not step out of doors, -either on the grass or on 

 the walk, without crushing the caterpillars under foot. Over our 

 front door the house was black with them. We would clear them 

 off every morning, but in an hour it would be black again. People 

 could not come in that way. It is no exaggeration to say that 

 there were pecks of the caterpillars under the dooi'steps and on the 

 fence. We had both the fence and the steps split up and burned 

 so as to deprive the pest of its harboring places. I have fre- 

 quently gathered half a coal-hodful of caterpillars from the fence 

 within a short space of time. In twenty minutes they seemed to 

 be just as thick as ever. We burned many pecks of them in all. 

 The next lot to ours was a vacant brush lot. It actually swarmed 

 with caterpillars, and they came from there into our yard by thou- 

 sands. Last year (1892^ we saw but a few caterpillars. 



(Signed) Wm. B. Harmon. 



Feb. 11, 1893. 



Copy of Statement of Mr. J. W. Harloiv, 58 Spring Street, Medford, 



Mass. 

 We did not suffer so badly from caterpillars in 1890 as some of 

 our neighbors, because we had no fruit trees in our yard. An oak 

 tree in our back yard was stripped nearly bare. Our blackberry 

 and raspberry bushes were badly eaten and we got but little fruit 

 from them that summer. Two oaks on the street in front of our 

 house were entirely stripped. The next year they did not leave 

 out and were cut down. We were not troubled by the caterpillars 

 last summer. 



(Signed) J. W. Harlow. 



Feb. 11, 1893. 



Copy of Statement of Station Agent E. Clark, Glenioood, Medford^ 



Mass. 

 When the caterpillars were thick in Medford a few years ago one 

 would have thought that a fire had run through the gardens. The 



