The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-04-20
Egg Masses Gathered Reach
ed the Surprising Total
of 4S7, 205
WESTMINSTER WEST
SCHOOL WINS. FIRST
South School in Dummerston Gets
Second-Joseph Blodgett of West
minister West and Minnie Lucia of
Putney Individual Winners.

Figures which are staggering in their
total are needed to tell the result of
the prize campaign III the schools for
the destruction of the egg masses of
the tent caterpillars in Windham conn
ty. This campaign, which was conduct
ed Jointly by the Windham County
Agricultural society and The Refermer.
details OF which were published Jan.
20, ended at midnight April Is. and in
accordance with its promise at that
time The Reformer prints today the
figures showing how the prizes will be
awarded.
Immediately after the contest closed
the figures began to come in to A. w.
Sweeton, county agent. and bv him
were turned over to The Reformery
whose prize offer was a duplicate of
that of the agricultural association. It
was seen at once that the result would
exceed expectations, and the final foot
Ings show the astounding total of
4S1,2O5 egg masses, nearly half a mil
lion. The agricultural bulletins saw
that the tent caterpillar egg masses
average 80 eggs each. On that basis
the campaign which the Windham coun-
! ty school children have Just completed
! has resulted in the destruction of l2l.-
SUI eggs and thereby reduced ire
mendousiy the amount of damage which
/ VIII be done to the trees and foliage
the coming season.
The mind Is utterly unable to comprc-
hend this vast number, and so the con
test editor has done a little figuring on
n theoretical basis in order to give the
number something of a concrete si"nifi-
Irance. If all these eggs hatchcd. of
course not nearly all the little .catcruii-
lars would grow to maturity, because
the birds and natural parasites would
! destroy many of them. But it they did
all mature and grew 10 bp two inches
/ long and were laid on the ground. al
lowing quarter OF an inch in width
for each caterpillar, they would ma Ike
an army 10 feet wide and about eight
miles long. If placed in single file
they would reach. following the rail
road, from Brattcmoro to San Fran
cisco, via Springfield and New York.
and there would be enough left over to
extend back something like 40 miles.
One School Had 72,43O.
The school gathering the largest mum.
Der of egg masses was the Westminster
West village school taught by Miss
Anna &. Damon. That school. which has
contest, gathered 72,430 egg masse.
and won the first prize of s. in golC
offered by the county association ano
the first prize Of 50 in gold offered BY
The RefOrmer
The school winning the second prize
of $3.50 offered by the association ant
the second prize of $3.50 offered by The
RefOrmer was the Dummerston soutl
school near the Luther Houghton farm
taught by Miss Ruth J. Dutton. Al
though there were but 10 pupils. the,
gathered 34,O2s egg masses. Mrs. Yer;
Wheeler was the teacher when the con
test began, Miss Dutton taking tn,
school at the beginning of the presen
term
Joseph Bodgett of Miss Damon :
school in Westminster West wins I'll,
first prize of So in gold offered by thu
county association and the dupficat,
: prize offered by The Reformer for tn,
/ boy or girl bringing in the largest mum
E Der of egg masses. His record was IS.
800. He is 10 years old, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Clarence Blodgett, and live
! two miles from the school, walking t,
and from school a large part of tn
T time. He showed remarkable energ,
. and persistence.
Mlnhle Lucla; a 1o-Year-old girl u
= the Putney high school taught by Mis-
: Grace r. Marlin, captures the secon,
: individual prize Of $3.50 offered bv tn
: county association and the $3.50 priz
4 offered by The Reformer for bringing
: in the second largest number of eg
. masses. She brought in 26,35S eg
= masses. She is a daughter of Mr.. an
. Mrs. Sidney Lucia of East Putney an
rides to school Much of her work wa
. done on the way to and from schoo