20 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



About four to five p.m. they [the moths] flew about in thousands. 

 Later in the season (1889) their eggs could be seen in clusters on 

 the stone walls, fences, buildings and trees in great numbers, often 

 nearly covering such objects. (James Bean, High Street.) 



Nothing too bad can be said of the caterpillars. If you sat down 

 anywhere you would crush caterpillars. If the washing was hung 

 out under trees infested with them, they would get on and stain 

 the clean clothes. They were all over the sidewalks, and would 

 drop down upon one from the trees. (Miss R. M. Angelbeek, 

 24 Myrtle Street.) 



In 1888 and 1889 the gypsy-moth caterpillars were a terrible 

 pest on Cotting Street and in that neighborhood. In a neighbor's 

 yard [Mr. Rugg's] they brushed off of one apple tree at one time 

 fourteen quarts of caterpillars. (Almon Black, 10 Cotting Street.) 



The elm trees in our yard were badly eaten by the gypsy-moth 

 caterpillars. The ribs of the leaves alone were left. In the after- 

 noon, when the sun got low, the caterpillars in the trees would get 

 into the sun, and you could see the long line of them stretching 

 away up the tree trunk. (Miss A.B.Bockman,21 Franklin Street.) 



The willows at the corner of Magoun Avenue were completely 

 stripped for two years in succession. The moths were so thick at 

 one time under the willows that I have collected them by the hand- 

 ful and fed them to my hens. (Walter Sherman, 23 Spring Street.) 



In the evening we could hear the caterpillars eating in the trees. 

 It sounded like the clipping of scissors. We kept the caterpillars 

 down in our yard as much as possible, but it was discouraging to 

 see them coming straight across the street in droves to our yard. 

 They almost seemed to have a concerted plan of action. (Mrs. 

 M. M. Ransom, 18 Lawrence Street.) 



The trees of our next-door neighbor, Mr. Randall, suffered very 

 much. The caterpillars got into his evergreens, and were so thick 

 that they made them look black. (Mrs. Hamlin.) 



In 1889 the brush lot at the corner of Lawrence and Spring 

 streets swarmed with gypsy-moth caterpillars, and the young oaks 

 were all stripped bare. Our house stood next to the brush lot. 

 The caterpillars got upon the outside in great numbers, and we 

 also found many inside. (J. G. Wheeler, Daisy Street.) 



The outside of my stable was literally black with caterpillars at 

 the time when the gypsy moth was the thickest in this section. It 

 was a disgusting sight. (R. Gibson, 5 Lawrence Street.) 



The year before the State began fighting the gypsy moth, I visited 

 an acre of brush land in Glenwood, where the nests of the moth 

 were laid by the hundred on stumps, bush stalks and other objects. 

 This was in the fall of 1889. (J. Sherman, 76 Riverside Avenue.) 



