30 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



The next spring (1890) I found the apple ti-ees in my own yaixi 

 were pretty well infested with nests. I had my hked man scrape 

 them all off with a putty knife. We collected them in a dish and 

 bui'ned them up in the furnace, where they snapped and crackled. 

 (J. E. Wellington, Wellington.) 



I fought the caterpillars in my own yard by placing cloths in 

 the crotches and around the trunks of the trees. The caterpillars 

 collected in great numbers under the cloths, and were then easily 

 destroyed. (S. F. Weston, 11 Fountain Street. ) 



We had both the steps and the fence split up and burned, so 

 as to deprive the pest of its harboring places. I have frequently 

 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. (William 

 B. Harmon.) 



In the evening, after the men had come home from work, you 

 could see fires in all the yards, where they were burning cater- 

 pillars. (Mrs. Fenton.) 



For four or five years I fought the gypsy-moth caterpillars, as 

 did my neighbors, but could not keep them down. . . . By put- 

 ting tarred paper around the trees and keeping the printers' ink 

 fresh, I succeeded in a measure in keeping the caterpillars out of 

 the trees. One tree which was very full of caterpillars I sprinkled 

 with the garden hose and knocked the pests out of it. The tarred 

 paper kept them from crawling up again, and they would collect 

 in a mass below the band. (J. N. French.) 



When the caterpillars were very small the fences were black 

 with them. We used to kill them on the fences by taking tea- 

 kettles and walking along beside the rail and pouring boiling water 

 on the vermin. . . . We would scrape them from the tree trunks 

 with hoes and burn them with kerosene. We used to build little 

 fires at the base of a tree and collect the eggs and bui-n them. 

 (Mrs. Snowdon.) 



The greenhouse was full of them [caterpillars] . The warmth 

 caused them to hatch out early. I destroyed most of them by 

 picking off the leaves and burning them, and also by spraying 

 with an emulsion of whale-oil soap, kerosene and ammonia. (A. 

 W. Crockford.) 



For six weeks a great deal of oui' time was devoted to killing 

 these caterpillars. . . . W^ would go out in our yard time after 

 time during the day and gather the caterpillars in dishes. Time 

 and again I have stayed out in the yard for two hours at a time, 

 catching caterpillars ; but in half an hour afterwards they seemed 

 to be just as thick again. (Mrs. Hamlin.) 



