452 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



search a few egg-clusters have been discovered in the woods, 

 but no large colony is believed to exist anywhere within the 

 town limits. 



Lincoln. 



A full account of the finding of a badly infested locality 

 in Lincoln was given in the report for January, 1898. 

 When this colony was found, July 13, 1897, about half an 

 acre of woodland had been stripped by the caterpillars, and 

 some of the trees were already dying ; over an acre and a 

 half more of grass, shrubbery and other plants had been 

 stripped or destroyed. The work of 1897 so reduced the 

 moths at this point that comparatively few were found there 

 in 1898 ; but eggs were found scattered to a distance of half 

 a mile from this centre. Further examination in the spring 

 and summer of 1898 showed that the moths had been 

 scattered chiefly during 1896 and 1897 over about a thou- 

 sand acres, mostly woodland. As this distribution had 

 been recent, the moths were not numerous anywhere ex- 

 cepting in the immediate vicinity of the colony found in 

 1897. Here they were found in 1898 in numbers along the 

 stone walls and through the woods. The walls were treated 

 in the following manner. The brush along one side of a 

 wall was burned, thus destroying most of the caterpillars 

 on that side and driving the rest to the other side of the 

 wall, and the next day the brush on the other side was 

 burned. In the woods the brush was cut and left on the 

 ground to dry. Then a fire was run through it, and all 

 not entirely destroyed by the fire was picked up and 

 burned. This was done at a time when the caterpillars 

 were mainly on the undergrowth. This killed most of 

 them. The same day the few trees injured by fire were cut 

 down and the other trees burlapped. The burlap was then 

 followed up, with the result that most of the caterpillars 

 were taken under the burlaps within twenty-four hours after 

 burning. In some places where the caterpillars were most 

 numerous the ground was burned over with oil. The woods 

 were burlapped in all directions from the central colonies to 

 a point beyond where any caterpillars were found. More 

 than 94,000 trees were inspected, and 16,556 trees were 

 burlapped. A few caterpillars were found here and there 



