24 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



were stripped of their foliage in the summer of 1887. They began 

 to leaf out again late in the season, but were immediately stripped. 

 The apple trees also put forth a few blossoms at this time. The 

 following year they did not leaf out at all. They all died, and we 

 cut them down. The apple trees were good-sized trees. One was 

 a spice greening, another a Porter and a third an August sweeting. 

 We also cut down a little locust tree which was badly eaten by 

 the caterpillars, and the limbs of which died. The catei-pillars 

 swarmed in a tall Norway spruce in our back yard. They ate 

 every bit of foliage on this tree, so that we had to cut all the limbs 

 off. Nothing but the pole of this tree remains in our yard to-day. 

 This tree was so full of caterpillars that when I shook a limb with 

 a rake they would fall off in a shower and blacken the ground. 

 There were so many of them that it sounded like pebbles falling. 

 In addition to the trees, our currant bushes were stripped by the 

 pest. (Mrs. Mayo, next-door neighbor of Trouvelot's.) 



The moths ruined me as regards fruit. They were worst in 

 1889. Their ravages caused me to lose five nice apple trees, two 

 cherry trees, one pear tree and five plum trees. ... I had a crab- 

 apple tree that blossomed very full that spring, but the caterpillars 

 covered it, and it died. One of the apple trees which the cater- 

 pillars killed was a beautiful Hubbardston. Some years I would 

 get four barrels off of it to put away. All you will see of it to- 

 day in my yard is the stump, over which we train nasturtiums. 

 The spring following the ravages of the moth these trees leafed out 

 a little, but not much, and finally died. (J. C. Clark.) 



In 1889 we lost three apple trees because of the caterpillars. 

 They were stripped clean, and then leafed out and bloomed again 

 in September. The next spring they leafed out a little, but did 

 not bear, and finally died. (L. M. Clifford.) 



In another yard two large apple trees were stripped by the 

 caterpillars, and died. The way this was brought about was as 

 follows : the caterpillars stripped the trees early in the season, 

 and, as they continued their ravages for nearly the whole summer, 

 the trees had no chance to recover. The next year the trees 

 would leaf out and be stripped again, and so on, until, unable 

 longer to withstand such treatment, they died. (Almon Black.) 



Our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Kelly, had a fine Baldwin apple 

 tree which the caterpillars stripped clean. They kept it stripped. 

 One year it blossomed twice. It leafed out and blossomed and 

 was stripped, and then leafed out and blossomed and was stripped 

 again. Finally it would leaf out and blossom once, perhaps, and 

 then it would leaf out but not blossom, and last year only one 

 branch leafed out. The tree is nearly dead. This tree stood very 



