(iVl'SV AND BKOWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



3. At tin- dose nt' tin- y.-ar allotments of the appropria- 

 tion available for V.'iiT- $75,000 -were made, and the vari- 

 town and city oilicials were notified. 



HISIOKY OF THE YEAR'S WORK. 



Follo\\ ing tin- general policy which seemed wisest to the super- 

 intendent at the beginning of the work,- -first, that of checking 

 the -pread of ihe gyp>y moth, and second, that of relieving in 

 the shortest pn-sible time the greatest number of people from 

 annoyance and damage by the caterpillar plague, -our opera- 

 tions during 190G were practically confined to two lines. 



It having he:-n satisfactorily demonstrated in past years that 

 the principal spread of the gypsy moth occurred through the 

 dropping of the small caterpillars upon passing vehicles during 

 May and June, an especial effort was made to keep the street 

 trees throughout the badly infested central di-irici free from the 

 moth p:-t. and this in itself has been no mean task. Badly in- 

 d street trees have been the most important factor in the 

 .-pivad of the moth. So long as it was impossible to ride with 

 carriage or automobile under such trees without picking up 

 hundreds if not thousands of the tiny spinning caterpillars, so 

 loni: was it impossible to prevent transportation of the insect 

 to iion-infer-ted localities, while the danger of the distribution of 

 tin- moth by such means within the known infected region i 

 been e ( |iially great. 



I hiring the year 190G there have been cleared of the moth 

 and carefully attended. SO far as I inures reported by the 



i superintendents show, upward of 8,000 miles of streets, - 



a distance nearly c.|iial to one-third of the circumference of the 



irlnl"-. () ver thi- mileage of streets the >hade trees have been 



and for; (-lifting, burning and thinning operation-. wherever 



TJ h:iv<- b"i'ii carried On; and these have been followed 



burlapping and spraying wherever the needs of the work 



have demand. -d. lly a vigorous pnxecut ion of the work on the 



we feel that we have cheeked iY..m 80 to 90 per cent. 



be -pre;,din- of ihc moths. \\ j s () ,,lv f ; ,ir to state, however. 

 tli: ". h'l l.-n-jrer appropriations been available, much more could 



h.-i tl do,,,- ;,]MI|M- 



