ITS RAVAGES IX 1890. 



43 



swarmed. I destroyed thousands of them by burning them with 

 rags soaked in kerosene. I spent many houi-s in destroying them, 

 but without making an}^ perceptible difference in their numbers. 

 They were over everything, and even got into the cellars. Some 

 of my apple trees overhang my shop. In the evening when the 

 caterpillars were liveliest the noise of their droppings falling on 

 the shingles sounded like a steady shower. The gutter was brim- 

 ful and running over with the droppings. 



Other sections of the town were afflicted in like manner : — 



In 1890 the apple trees on Fulton Street, Allen Court and 

 Fountain Street were more or less stripped by the gypsy-moth 

 caterpillars. Some of the apple trees were wholly denuded of 

 their foliage, and the crops in some cases were lost. In some 

 cases the limbs of the apple trees were killed by the ravages of 

 the caterpillars. Even pear trees were sometimes badly eaten, 

 and cherries also suffered. The leaves were completely destroyed 

 on a little German willow in my yard. Rose bushes were very 

 badly eaten. (S. F. Weston.) 



The large elm in front of my house was full of caterpillars in 

 1890. The leaves were riddled and many were cut off. We would 

 sweep up daily these bits and fragments of leaves which fell from 

 the tree, but the next day the ground beneath would be littered 

 with them again. This elm stands in front of the piazza, and 

 many caterpillars came from the tree upon the house. They were 

 so thick that we could not sit out on the piazza at all that summer. 

 When we opened the front door they would string down all over 

 one. The caterpillars at one time were so thick on a fence on 

 Salem Street that I could have run my hand along the top rail and 

 scooped them up. In this same year a maple tree standing in 

 front of m}^ house on Allen Court was badly eaten by the cater- 

 pillars. You could hear them eating up in the tree. (Mrs. P. N. 

 Ryder, Salem Street.) 



The gypsy-moth caterpillars were very numerous in 1890 on the 

 Sparrell estate, No. 90 Main Street. ... As evening came on 

 you would see them everywhere on the ground heading for the 

 trees. I have heard the noise of their feeding after dark. They 

 kept coming into my yard from the yards of other people who paid 

 less attention to destroying them. The leaves of the trees were 

 just as if they had been scorched. One tree did not bear for 

 several years. (Richard Pierce.) 



In 1890 I saw the caterpillars clustering in a mass on the body 

 of an elm tree on South Street. I destroyed a great many of these 

 by burning. (John Hutchins, 16 South Street.) 



