34 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



that thousands of the pests were bunched beneath the piinters' 

 ink" (Medford Mercury," July 5). 



Though this protection of the trees had the effect of allevi- 

 ating the injury to those protected, it hastened the diffusion 

 of the caterpillars and drove them to other plants and to 

 other localities where trees were not banded, thus extending 

 the area of the injury until it included most of the trees in 

 the eastern pai-t of the town. There were some localities, 

 however, that escaped the general devastation. At a town 

 meeting held on July 15 it was voted, on petition of the 

 road commissioners, to appropriate the sum of three hundred 

 dollars for the care of shade trees. This appropriation of 

 three hundred dollars was in addition to the usual appropri- 

 ation of five hundred dollars for the care of shade trees made 

 earlier in the year. It was expended under the direction of 

 Dr. Pearl Martin, one of the road commissioners. A num- 

 ber of men were employed in scraping off the egg clusters of 

 the gypsy moth from shade trees, chiefly on Park and Salem 

 streets, where the trees were badly infested. The eggs were 

 burned with kerosene. In addition to the work done by the 

 town, much effort and money were expended by citizens in 

 the endeavor to free their premises of the moth. 



Professor Fernald, having meantime returned from Europe, 

 visited Medford and viewed the infested district. Later, in 

 company with Hon. Wm. R. Sessions, secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, he visited and inspected Medford 

 again. These two gentlemen waited on Chairman Wadleigh 

 of the Board of Selectmen, and urged that the selectmen take 

 action to petition the General Court for legislation authoriz- 

 ing the State Board of Agriculture to exterminate the cater- 

 pillars. This course was approved by the selectmen at their 

 next meeting, October 25 ; but, as the Legislature was not then 

 in session, no immediate action was taken. In November an 

 illustrated bulletin on the gypsy moth was issued by Professor 

 Fernald at the Hatch Experiment Station. By authority of 

 the State Board of Agriculture and with the co-operation of 

 the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, an edi- 

 tion of forty-five thousand copies was printed, and mailed 

 to tax-payers in INIedford and vicinity. The bulletin wns 

 printed in full in the Medford " Mercury" on December 6. 



