22 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



ance of the surroundings and the disgusting presence of the 

 caterpillars. 



The bad condition of this section as regards the gypsy-moth 

 plague was detrimental to real-estate valuations. (Mrs. Mayo.) 



The gypsy-moth plague hurt property in this section. Our 

 house was advertised for sale, and when people came to look at 

 the property they were apt to inquire why the leaves of the trees 

 in the neighborhood were so badly eaten. When we told them it 

 was the work of caterpillars, they would say that they would not 

 live in such a locality. (Mrs. Flinn.) 



The condition of the Edge worth district of Maiden in 

 1889 was similar to that of Glen wood. Space permits but 

 a few statements of residents : — 



The first year that the caterpillars were Very bad was in 1889. 

 They took the leaves off the trees so that they were as bare as in 

 midwinter. We could not sit out on the lawn a minute, for the 

 caterpillars would be all over one. My son used to climb a shade 

 tree in front of the house and shake the caterpillars off. We 

 would put a sheet underneath, and they would come down in 

 showers. The top of the fence was covered so thickly with cater- 

 pillars that you could not put a pin between them. The apple 

 trees in the yard next to ours were stripped. The ribs of the 

 leaves were left, and they looked ghastly. They leafed out again 

 in June, but they bore no fruit. We used to gather the cater- 

 pillars in a dustpan and put them in a pail. When the paU was 

 full we would dump them out and burn them with kerosene. Our 

 next-door neighbor, Mrs. Cahill, used to devote much time to 

 killing the caterpillars. She would sweep them off the fence with 

 a broom and burn them. We would see them in droves on the 

 ground coming and going. (Mrs. John Dowd, 194 West Street.) 



In 1889 we were overrun with caterpillars. We did not know 

 what to make of them. During that summer I could not use my 

 front door, they were so thick around it. They were as thick as 

 leaves. We had four apple trees, and they were stripped entirely 

 bare. A second growth of leaves came out, but we got no fruit. 

 For three years there was not an apple nor even a blossom on the 

 trees. We could not have endured the plague, had the State not 

 done something. (Mrs. Daniel Kelly, 209 West Street.) 



In 1889 the caterpillars were very bad. Every leaf was taken 

 off my sycamore tree. I used to go out with a hoe and scrape the 

 caterpillars off the trunk. If I sat out on my steps after dark 



