Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-01-07

augmented by the fact that there is
three times the tree growth on which
| the moths Will live in luxury. II is
It spectacle that makes the goldfish or
the state house at Boston blush Will
shame. The millions that have beer
spent are Only the expensive intro
dEction u tie pest Of the east to the
more fertile west Of the state.
Some of the people may consider
that merely the dream Of tie news
paper reporter, and compose them
selves Tor another nap. in the belief
that there is nothing o. consequence
to it, The northern section of Worces
ftvr county is the recognized highway
OF the advancing moths. and that in
the abstract reads ike another dream.
TIE gypsy moths have advanced far
Gcyond IhesIimits Of Worcester coun-
". and haYe found in their hungry
WAY in Berkshire. Hampshire and
Franklin counties where the experts
kew a lew years ago they would new
- be known to show their miserable
presence. 1t is not now the province
u the official moth hunters To alver-
tise how far the moths have gone in
To the western counties, but they adj
nit that in 1907 only two clusters of the
moth nests w.re found in. Fitcnburg.
that last year the hunters found 256
clusters and that this year they have
have located 100 moths nests. of
which 9S9 were on apple trees. That
Is the report OF the condition OF the
moth highway in three successive
years.
What is beyond remains for the i'm
agination to frame up. The trend is
westward because il is evident that
the moths have no means OF going
eastward across the Atlantic ocean,
and they must expand in some direc-
ton. They have been traced into
.iainc. blu: as they got into the great
forests of that state where the town
ships are numbered instead OF named
they found the climate too cold, and
they felt lonesome for the habitation
of men. They are sociable creatures.
these gypsy moths, and they prefer
to operate near where men have their
homes, their orchards and their pet
Woodlots, with the special attractions
always centered in the shade trees
along the highways Of the most trav-
el. where men take the most pride
in the foliage and beneath which pass
the most pretensious vehicles of tray
el.
More than twice the area OF New
Hampshire is now infested with the
moths than was troubled by them IL
year ago. Thus. they are travelling
west by that more northern route as
fast as through Worcester county.
The Connecticut river has not delayed
Nc nI, nd her &c
no reason TO suppose it will be for
midab BILE barrier when the gypsy moths
get ready to spread out from New
Hampshire into Vermont.
This winter there are said to be
1000 men in the employ of the COM
monwealth of Massachusetts, out in
the highways and byways. putting
creosote on the cocoons of the gypsy
moths, and destroying the nests OF
the brown tail moths. The federal
government is said TO have $50 men at
work to beat the gypsy in Massaclu-
sets. ard 800 more men in other parts
of New England at the same kind of
work Have you seen any of them?
Where are they Is the warm stove
OF the country hotel more attractive
to them than the haunts of the moth
pest II They have been doing this
kind of work for years, and they are
as Potent as an army of flycatchers
out to prevent the aviators going up
in their aeroplanes. Men about Wor- !
cester bring baskets full of moth
nests that have not been taken in by
the official moth hunters. and they
report that they have been over only
small areas to gather the harvest.
There is no sign that anybody is gath
eiing tire nests ever the greater part
- tfa nxrosed territory Tha result
will he q greater spreading of the
roth posts next year than ever be-
fore.