1906.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 105 



committee of the State Board of Agriculture, Professor 

 Fernald is able to express opinions based on a thorough 

 knowledge of the insects, and his counsel has been of high- 

 est value. 



REPORT OF CONSULTING ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A. H. KIRKLAND, Esq., Superintendent for Suppressing the Gypsy and 

 Brown-tail Moths, Boston, Mass. 



DEAR SIR : The observations made during the past season in 

 the territory infested with the gypsy inoth have convinced me that 

 this insect presents one of the most serious problems confronting 

 the citizens of this Commonwealth. The condition of the infested 

 territory in 1900, at the time the Legislature closed the work of 

 exterminating this insect, was such that only small colonies occurred 

 at intervals over a territory of 359 square miles, and there was 

 every reasonable prospect that it could be exterminated in a com- 

 paratively few years. 



The gypsy moth has now not only become very generally dis- 

 tributed over the old territory where it is doing a vast amount of 

 damage, but has also extended far beyond its former limits, and 

 at the present time has infested not less than 2,224 square miles, 

 or more than one-fourth of the entire area of the Commonwealth of 

 Massachusetts. This rapid rate of distribution is enough to con- 

 vince one that, unless the most vigorous measures are taken to 

 control this pest, it will within a comparatively few years be found 

 in every part of this Commonwealth and throughout New England. 



The assessed value of the land, exclusive of buildings, in the 

 present infested territory is $992,860,984, while that in the remain- 

 ing part of the State is $272,429,686. In other words, the gypsy 

 rnoth has already infested over 77 per cent of the land value of 

 the entire State. 



One of the most serious problems confronting those in charge of 

 the work of suppression is the forest laud in the infested territory. 

 The amount of woodland in the entire State, as given in the last 

 State census, is 1,460,995 acres, and it is valued at $23,936,362, 

 or $16.38 per acre. The amount of woodland in the territory 

 already infested with the gypsy moth is 365,265 acres, and is 

 valued at $9,894,885, or $27.08 per acre; while the woodland in 

 the remaining portion of the State is 1 ,095,729 acres, and is valued 

 at $14,041,470, or $12.81 per acre. 



The cheapest and most successful method known at the present 

 time of destroying the gypsy moths in forests is to cut and burn 



