136 GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



search may be barren of results, while apparent failures 

 may unlock the door to success. All the writer can say is, 

 that the foreign end of the work is in the hands of the man 

 best qualified of any one in this or any other country to 

 carry it to success, and that on our part no effort will be 

 spared to obtain the results we seek. We may succeed, and 

 we may fail. All should regard it as an experiment, pure 

 and simple. Should it be completely successful, five years 

 at least will be required before noticeable results will be 

 obtained. In the mean time, no one should sit idly by and 

 allow his trees to be defoliated and perhaps killed. We 

 must continue to apply the methods that we know will bring 

 results ; we must keep up the fight along the lines we know 

 to be effective. 



EDUCATIONAL WORK. 



Since the success of the work against the moths depends 

 largely upon the intelligent co-operation of property owners, 

 it has been the policy of the central office to disseminate in 

 every possible way information concerning the habits of the 

 insects, and the most efficient means for combating them. 



7 o 



To this end, two leaflets describing the moths were reprinted 

 by permission of the Board of Agriculture, and were freely 

 distributed to all inquirers early in the season. By the time 

 these were exhausted the well-illustrated Bulletin No. 1 had 

 come from the press. The bulletin gives in plain language 

 concise descriptions of both moths, their habits, the remedies 

 best suited to destroy them, and a full exposition of the law 

 under which we are working. It has had a wide distribution 

 among city and town officials, women's clubs, village im- 

 provement societies and interested citizens throughout the 

 State. A poster describing necessary fall and winter work, 

 and giving colored cuts of gypsy and brown-tail moth nests, 

 has been generally distributed throughout the infested dis- 

 trict. Besides being placed in post-offices, stores, etc., 

 these posters, through the courtesy of the large railroad 

 systems entering Boston, have also been placed in numerous 

 railroad stations. In addition to this, the superintendent 

 and his agents, as time has permitted, have given numerous 

 illustrated lectures throughout the moth district before clubs 



