PRETTY BLOOMS: The petunias on Main Street are lush and colorful
and literally overflowing their hanging baskets.

A caller suggested we thank the individual responsible for this
attractive addition to our Main Street. Flowers on Boylston Street,
in hanging baskets and newly planted beds, are also a welcome sight
for those driving by on a daily basis.

CARROLL’S SITE: Ray Austin of Bradford has some input on a
couple recent Round the Square items, the first about Carroll’s
restaurant.

He writes, “A contributor thought it was across from Rink
Brothers auto. That may be perfectly correct, but my recollection
is that it was the forerunner of Burger King and at the same
location,” Ray tells us.

We had several calls verifying Ray’s memory of the Carroll’s
location.

Ray continues, “The second item was the full column story about
the Moose. Toward the end, the fire of 1957 was recounted.”

“My present shop building was being constructed that summer by
Kessel Construction with all the concrete work by R.C. Denning Co.
(which a short time later became Gleason Construction). My shop
building has a partial basement, and incorporated into the concrete
work are two “I” beams, 8 x 8 inches over 16 feet long, which were
salvaged out of the Moose building by the Denning Co.”

NATIVE FLY: Every time we see an unusual number of flies,
someone makes a point of stating that they were deliberately
released by “the government” for some obscure reason.

Wrong.

In fact, we carried an item the other day about the forest tent
caterpillars which emerge this time of year and are actually
responsible for those pesky flies.

According to the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources, a parasitoid fly species, Sarcophaga aldrichi, appears a
few weeks before the caterpillars start to spin their cocoons and
pupate. These flies lay live fly maggots onto the silk cocoons, and
they then bore into the pupae to fed and kill the host. The flies
will be gone after the caterpillar pupates. (Yuk.)

DCNR says: “Contrary to rumors, the government does not rear
this species and release it in massive numbers. There are no
federal or state rearing and release programs for this species of
fly. FTC is a native species to North America, and the fly
parasitoid does quite well all by itself in responding to a FTC
outbreak.”