The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-06-28
THE GYPSY MOTH.
MASSACHUSETTS, FINDS 1T A
FORMIDABLE FOE.
che Filthy and Destructive Pest Was
Imported from the Old WorId-Its
Spread, Rayages and the Efforts to
Exterminate 1t. >

temptible creatures are the most un-
:onquerable, and they are found in the
Insect world. Mankind in all parts of
the world has been and is annoyed,
pestered and subjected to severe losses
by these little creatures. Natives and
settlers in Africa would rather cope
with a herd of trumpeting elephants
than an army of ants, and the inhabi-
tants of the South American lianos feel
less terror when the earth trembles
with the approach of a troop of wild
horses or a drove of wild cattle than
when they perceive the sinuous lines
of a migratory ant army. To the
farmer, the thieving crow and the raw
aging hawk are angels as compared
with the potato bug, the locust or the
grasshopper. Some philosophers and
many scientists assert that all living
creatures have some mission of good to
perform whether their early life be
long or transient. This may be SO, but
the odds are great that these learned
people never encountered an ant army,
never had a promising field of grain
devastated by grasshoppers or l~ocusts,
or never picked potato bugs when the
thermometer registered 80 degrees in
the shade. 1t would not be well for
anyone to ever hint to the people of
eastern Massachusetts that all insects
were created for some good and wor-
thy purpose. They would draw the line
on one Of the nastiest and most de-
~structive pests that has ever infested
the New World.
According to Fletcher Osgood, in
the New England Magazine, the gyp-
sy moth is a tough, hardy creature,
and feeds of nearly every form of
useful vegetation. Like nearly all in
sects it multiplies rapidly. 1t is a ma
tive OF the Old World, and was intro
duced into this country with the best
of intentions. In 1868 a French scien-
fist conceived the idea of breeding the
moth Of the silk worm and PRODUCING
a moth that would flourish in the eli
mate Of the United States and furnish
a web like that of the silk worm. He
tried his experiment in the Glenwood
region of Medford, Mass, in 1870. 1t
was a dismal failure so far as produc-
ing a silk worm was concerned, but
has proved a bowling success in fur
nishing the people of eastern Massa-
chusetts with a pest which has caused
indescribable annoyance, losses that
amount to thousands of dollars, and
the expenditure of large sums oil
money and years of toll in endeavors
to wipe it out.
When the experiment proved a fail
ure many of the gypsy moths in the
caterpillar stage of their existence es-
capped from their netted confines and
spread themselves over the wooded
neighborhood surrounding Medford
In 1881 the moths had increased sc
rapidly as to be considered a nuisance
but not until 1899 did they appear in
such numbers as to arouse the people
to a full sense of the danger thai
threatened them. In that year the
shrubbery and flowers of MedforC
were ruined; corn, small fruits and
vegetables destroyed; the foliage
stripped from fruit, forest and shade
trees, and homes were made filthy BY
the intrusion of the little pests
AAouoSO1 AOhSCO anu WdAAS WClS COfSI'
ed with armies of little ca~terpillars anC
the stencil arising from the crowdins
mass was most disagreeable. Thu
crawling disgusting creatures entered
the houses, swarmed on house plants
crept into closets and even into tn,
beds and upon the persons of tn,
sleeping inmates. The people tried tt
check the pest with fire, hot water AM
coal oil, but their efforts were unavail
ing, and the nuisance became wors
year by year. The insects began t,
spread out over additional territory
and when the people saw that the,
could not check them they appealel
to the state for aid.
In 1890 a paid state commission too
charge of fighting the nuisance, but il
1891 the commission was abolishev
and the work was put in charge O
the Massachusetts State Board of Ag
riculture. The board began workin
on the outskirts of the infested distric
and worked toward the center. Dur
ing the past two years the best wor.
has been done, and the men in charg
of the contest believe that they vii
finally be successful in entirely wipin
out the pest. If they do succeed it vii
be the first time in the history of tn
world that an insect pest has bee
completely eradicated from a country
In 1898 and 1899 the state appropri
ated 5000, 900 to defray the work {
fighting the pest, and it is probabl
that the recommendation of Pro