30 GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



frequented for travel shall be kept free from the moth pest, 

 and this has been the first effort of the present administra- 

 tion. In the central infested cities and towns a strong effort 

 has been made to clear the street trees of the gypsy moth 

 egg clusters, and in outlying districts wherever infestations 

 occurred by roadsides the brush has been cut and burned and 

 the trees remaining thoroughly treated. So long as roadside 

 brush remains infested by the gypsy moth, just so long will 

 it be practically impossible to keep the street trees free from 

 these insects. The superintendent regrets that in carrying 

 out this work it will be necessary to sacrifice for a time 

 a considerable amount of roadside shrubbery, yet if this 

 shrubbery is left in its present infested condition it will be 

 killed in a few years by the moths. By cutting and burn- 

 ing it now, the shade trees will be protected, their continued 

 infestation prevented and the moth pest destroyed. After 

 these roadsides become free from the moth, nature in a few 

 years will restore them to their former condition. 



Many cases have arisen where badly infested woodland 

 adjoins roadsides, and in the spring months yields large 

 swarms of caterpillars to be carried away by every passing 

 vehicle. In such cases an effort has been made to thin out 

 such woodland and treat the moth nests along the road 

 borders so as to establish a zone of safety from 50 to 100 

 feet wide, and thus do away with farther scattering of the 

 insect. In the town of Saugus, for example, several wood- 

 land colonies abut on the public highways. From trees 

 which overhang the road the caterpillars drop on passing 

 vehicles. It is practically impossible to keep the central 

 residential districts of Saugus free from the moth while 

 these colonies exist, to say nothing of the adjoining towns 

 of Wakefield, Lynnfield, Lynn, Revere, Maiden and Mel- 

 rose. In the case of these woodland colonies we have 

 deemed it advisable to establish protective belts as above 

 mentioned without reference to the action of the owners 

 of the infested estates, who later on will be called upon 

 to carry out the provisions of the act on the remaining 

 untreated property. 



The act tinder which work against the moth pests is be- 



