PUBLIC INTEREST AROUSED. 35 



The task of destroying the eggs, which had been delegated 

 to the Medford road commissioners, was far greater than had 

 been anticipated, and the money appropriated was soon ex- 

 pended, while only a small part of the eggs had been 

 destroyed. While the work was in progress Dr. Martin saw 

 that the moths were so numerous and so widely distributed 

 that the town authorities could not cope with them. At a 

 meeting of the selectmen, December 10, he appeared in 

 behalf of the road commissioners and advised applying to 

 the Legislature for State aid. The Board voted that the 

 clerk should communicate with Secretary Sessions of the 

 State Board of Agriculture in relation to measures to be 

 taken to place this matter properly before the next Legis- 

 lature." 



At the next meeting of the selectmen, December 17, a 

 communication was received from the Hatch Experiment 

 Station, advising that the Legislature be petitioned for an 

 appropriation to exterminate the moth. The clerk, reporting 

 in regard to his interview with Secretary Sessions, recom- 

 mended that petitions in favor of such an appropriation be 

 circulated in Medford and vicinity for presentation to the 

 Legislature. Messrs. Wadleigh and Lawrence were appointed 

 a committee to draw up such petitions. Mr. Lawrence was 

 also appointed a committee to confer with Secretary Ses- 

 sions in regard to preparing a bill to be presented to the 

 Legislature. 



In December, Prof. H. H. Goodell, president of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, wrote to Governor-elect 

 Brackett, urging that measures should be taken by the in- 

 coming Legislature to provide for the extermination of the 

 gypsy moth. 



In his message to the Legislature of 1890 Governor 

 Brackett said : 



A new enemy is at present threatening the agriculture, not only 

 of our own State, but of the whole country. It is the gypsy moth, 

 said to attack almost every variety of tree, as well as the farm and 

 garden crops. The pest is spreading with great rapidity, and, if 

 its eradication is to be attempted, immediate measures are of the 

 utmost importance. 



