1906.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 11 



that the moth was brought over on these plants. The insect 

 seems to have multiplied unnoticed for a few years in a 

 restricted area, but in the spring of 1897 it gained sufficient 

 headway to show itself as a serious pest in Somerville and in 

 a few localities in Maiden, Everett and Revere. The gypsy 

 moth employees of the Board of Agriculture did a small 

 amount of work against the insect in 1897 while the cater- 

 pillars were swarming, but this was discontinued after the 

 Legislature declined to take action in the matter. In 1898 

 and again in 1899 $10,000 was, by vote of the Legislature, 

 set apart from the larger appropriations for work against the 

 gypsy moth for the purpose of combating the brown-tail 

 moth. This additional work was carried on under the 

 direction of the Board of Agriculture. 



THE FORMER STATE WORK BROUGHT TO A CLOSE. 



At the close of 1899 the work against the gypsy moth 

 was well in hand. Effective methods had been developed 

 and their value proven ; a trained and well-disciplined corps 

 of men had been organized ; the boundaries of the infested 

 district had been determined with much accuracy ; the street 

 trees of the region had been freed from the caterpillars and 

 their consequent spreading checked ; the woodland colonies 

 had been given a severe scourging and in some cases anni- 

 hilated ; the moths had been exterminated in many places ; 

 in short, the gypsy moth pest had been so thoroughly 

 brought under control that a general state of apathy toward 

 the work existed throughout the district which but a decade 

 before had been swept by caterpillar hordes. In 1900 the 

 Legislature, through a special committee, investigated the 

 management and general policy of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture's operations against the moth and came to the conclu- 

 sion that a continuance of such work along these lines was 

 unnecessary. The report of this committee argued that 

 the gypsy moth need not be considered a serious pest : 

 "We find no substantial evidence that gardens, crops or 

 woodlands have suffered serious or lasting injury, or are 

 likely, with that proper precaution or oversight which pru- 

 dent owners are disposed to give to their own interests, 



