THE CATERPILLAR PLAGUE. 



21 



The caterpillars were thickest in Glen wood, where in places they 

 were like a carpet on the ground. Since the State took hold of 

 the matter the trees have been in good condition, and excellent 

 work has been done. (G. C. Russell, 11 Washington Street.) 



The caterpillars were a sickening sight when they were at their 

 thickest. They used to make a living path, as it were, from the 

 ground up into a tree. (Richard Pierce, foreman of the Sparrell 

 estate, No. 90 Main Street.) 



We did what we could in our neighborhood to fight the cater- 

 pillars, but they were so thick that one hated to go out of doors 

 or on the street. We could plainly hear them at night eating in 

 the trees. (Miss Helen T. Wild.) 



Many a time I have swept the caterpillars off by the dustpanful 

 from the underpinnings of the house. (Mrs. E. M. Russell, then 

 living on Cross Street.) 



In 1889 our apple, pear and crab-apple trees were all stripped 

 by the gypsy-moth caterpillars. They either bore no fruit or else 

 bore so late that the frost destroyed it. When the caterpillars 

 were small we could see them in the daytime spinning down from 

 the trees. At night you could not dodge them, and they would 

 get into your neck and eyes. (F. H. Haushalter, 42 Myrtle 

 Street.) 



A few years ago the caterpillars were terrible in Glenwood. 

 You could not go down Myrtle Street without getting your shoul- 

 ders covered. . . . We spent hours killing caterpillars, but there 

 seemed to be two to every one we killed. (A. P. Perry, Myrtle 

 Street.) 



I believe that, had the State taken no action in this matter, they 

 would have increased to such an extent that they would have bred 

 a pestilence in our country. They soon grew to the size of your 

 finger, and the stench that arises from them when they are in large 

 quantities is nauseating. (W. W. Fifield of Medford, before the 

 legislative committee on Agriculture, Feb. 27, 1894.) 



Before public measures were taken in the matter, the foliage 

 was completely stripped from all the trees in the eastern part of 

 our town, presenting an awful picture of devastation, and promis- 

 ing in a short time to kill every tree and shrub and all vegetation 

 in any region visited by the creatures ; which shows how inade- 

 quate individual effort was to cope with the subject. (J. O. Good- 

 win, Medford.) 



People who wished to avoid the plague by removing to 

 other towns or localities are said to have had some difficulty 

 in disposing of their homes on account of the desolate appear- 



