10 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



sweep them off the side of the house and get dustpanfuls of them. 

 At night time we could hear the caterpillars eating in the trees and 

 their excrement dropping to the ground. In the morning the walk 

 would be covered with the latter. I inked my trees in 1888 and 

 kept them ou": of the trees to some extent, but not wholly, for 

 some of them blew into the trees, and they also got into them from 

 the house. In 1887 I used to sweep them off in solid masses from 

 the tree trunks. They used to get on the washing and stain it. 

 Two of my apple trees since that time have never been the same 

 as regards fruit-bearing qualities. I do not think I saw six cater- 

 pillars all last summer. 



The Outbreak of 1889. 



During the years from 1869 to 1889, while the original 

 colony of the moths was increasing and extending its terri- 

 tory at Glenwood, stragglers therefrom were constantly 

 scattering abroad to form new colonies. Later these joined 

 with the parent swarm in forming the multitude which spread 

 over the town. No particular attention was paid, during 

 these years, to the moths which appeared here and there, for 

 it must be borne in mind that the identity of the insect had 

 been lost, and it was not generally known that there was a 

 new insect in the land. The introduction of disjxtr by 

 Trouvelot was forgotten or unknown, and wherever shade 

 or fruit trees were defoliated, the damage was placed to the 

 account of such old and well-known pests as the canker-worm 

 or the tent caterpillar. 



Gen. S. C. Lawrence, the first mayor of Medford, who 

 lives on Rural Avenue, a mile and a half to the west of 

 Myrtle Street, testifying in 1893 at the hearing before the 

 legislative committee on Finance, said : — 



I helped fight it [the moth] for years before the appointment of 

 the commission, not knowing really what it was. 



Mr. John Stetson, living a mile to the west of Myrtle 

 Street, who in 1889 sent specimens of the insect to the Hatch 

 Experiment Station at Amherst for identification, said : — 



I discovered them in 1888 on a quince bush. I noticed one day 

 that the leaves were all off from this bush. I examined it, and 

 found there were worms there clustered on the limbs. 



