Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-12

.who are engaged in it are while going
from place to place enjoying something
of the nature of picnic, and getting
paid for the fun they are having, but
it is nothing Of the kind. 1t is good
hard work and plenty of it.
Tho men never know when they start
out in the morning what sort of 4
problem they are going up against be-
fore night. They may be called upon
10 tear down a stone wall, take the
shingles from q building and replace
them afterward, or crawl under some
barn or outbuilding, for the possible
reward of a single nest. But in the
finding of even single nest they have
the satisfaction of knowing that they
have destroyed from 200 to 500 eggs that
would If left unmolested start a colony
the following season that would infest
a whole district.
Compared with this work that which
accompanies a brown-tail moth crusade
is nothing. There may be hundreds of
the latter in a locality, but as soon az
the wintry blasts have robbed the trees
of their foliage the nests are 50 Nex-
posed to view that even q child can see
them, and their capture and destruc-
ton is easily accomplished.
But the female of the gypsy moth
cannot fly and therefore cannot choose
the airy locations in which to deposit
hvr eggs as can her smaller and more
active sister pest, and being unable to
| fly she must content herself with de-
| posting her eggs in such places az are
accessible To her. And it is this in
ability ID fly that renders the gypsy
moth more to be dreaded than the
| brown-tan, even were its more des-
tructive qualities unconsidered, for its
nests are much more difficult to find
ana therefore the danger Of infestation
is increased many fold.
| Aside from such nests as are depos-
tied on trees the gypsy moth seems to
possess the instinct for placing them in
!. such spots as would render them safe
from discovery from any ordinary
search that might be made for them.
From the experiences of the searching
parties which are now working in the
state it is evident that a favorite place
for The moth to deposit her eggs Is in
the stone walls which are common
throughout the rural districts of
Maine, ana in some instances whole
one wall
Particularly is this true in the case
Of stone wall on the premises OF ID.
l.. Dorpcl in the village of York.
where q total of 81 nests was found,
and which is the largest number of
nests which have been found in a SIN
gle spot since the men started out on
the hunt early in the year. This wall
runs along in front of Mr.. Donnell'S
residence. and in looking over the
premises the men found two nests on
4 tree that set in the wall. Former eX-
pericnces with stone walls prompted
them to make a further search and
about 100 feet of the wall was taken
down with the result that "a more nests
were found in the wall, IL of them
being on the under side Of one big
stone. Another nest was found on the
bottom Of IN old milk can which had
been discarded and thrown into the
wall.
This is only one instance Of the work
which the men have to do in their eff
forts to prevent the pest from gaining
a foothold in the State. In other To-
calities they have had to take up walks
ana platforms. take up the floorings OF
sheds and other outbuildings, take tin
roofing Off Of buildings, and in one
case they Lad to shovel seven tons of
Goa! ont # bin to get at the floorings
and then shovel the coal back again.
but in each and every instance their
efforts have been rewarded by the
finding Of at least one nest and often
times several in each place where the
hunt was conducted