THE SPRING INSPECTION. 



53 



inspector was first sent with his squad to inspect a section in 

 one of the towns then known to be infested. He was in- 

 structed to inspect the entire territory within the boundaries 

 of the section, and destroy all the eggs found therein. 



It was at once seen that the moth was most numerous 

 along the thoroughfares. A few of the most expert men 

 were sent into the towns nearest Maiden and Medford to 

 examine the roadsides and mark any colonies found. These 

 men speedily found the moth in Lexington, Winchester, 

 Wakefield, Melrose, Eevere and Saugus, thus greatly adding 

 to the knowledge of the extent of the infested region. Work 

 was hurried forward in all these towns. The eggs were cut 

 or scraped from the trees with knives, gathered into cans 

 and burned with oil in small stoves made for the purpose. 

 Eubbish and unders^rowth containino^ eo'o^s were also de- 

 stroyed by fire. As much more territory was found infested 

 than was at first estimated, it was found impossible to secure 

 and train men enough to make a thorough search of the entire 

 region and destroy all the eggs before hatching time. As it 

 was necessary to determine as soon as possible how far the 

 moth had become disseminated, a portion of the work in 

 Maiden and Medford was given up, and the men who had 

 been engaged in destroying eggs there were sent into the 

 outlying towns. For this reason, when the eggs began 

 hatching a considerable area yet remained in a few of the 

 inner towns where the eggs had not been destroyed. Many 

 eggs which had been scattered about, both by the work of 

 the first commission in the fall of 1890 and by the work in 

 the spring of 1891, hatched, and caterpillars began to appear 

 in larije numbers over a wide area. When work was beo:un 

 the time remaining for this inspection and egg killing did 

 not exceed six weeks, as the eggs begin hatching before 

 May 1. Yet in that short time the moths had been found 

 for beyond the utmost limits of the region previously known 

 as infested. 



The Condition in which the Infested Region ivas found in 



1891. 



When work was begun by the second commission the eggs 

 of the moth were found in great numbers upon the trees in 



