1907.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 73. 119 



following season, and killing the caterpillars under them." We may 

 therefore fairly say that the entire cost will be more than $00 per acre, 

 and this would have to be repeated whenever the forest in question 

 should become reinfested. It may be claimed that the forest lands of 

 the State are not worth enough to warrant such an expenditure on 

 them. The average value of the woodland in the entire State, as given 

 in the last State census, is $16.38 per acre, while in the territory al- 

 ready infested its average value is $27.08 per acre, which is less than 

 half the cost of a single clearing of the land of the gypsy moth, and 

 therefore the claim might seem reasonable. 



What, therefore, is the wisest, best and most economical course to 

 be pursued by the Legislature? Shall the work be entirely abandoned 

 by the State, and the suppression carried on entirely by the land owners 

 at their own expense? It has been shown repeatedly that the owners 

 have never been able to control this insect except in a very few cases, 

 like those of Gen. S. C. Lawrence of Medford and a few other gentle- 

 men who have ample means. Neither poor men nor men of ordinary 

 means can be expected or required to go on year after year destroying 

 these moths on their premises, at an expense greater than the value of 

 their property. Should the moth be allowed to increase and spread, 

 such a course would end in a series of abandoned farms from one end 

 of the Commonwealth to the other, and in an enormous loss of wealth 

 to the State. Such a course is so extremely and plainly unwise as to 

 need no further discussion. 



The alternative course for the Legislature is to make such appropria- 

 tions as shall, together with those made by Congress, enable those in 

 charge of the work of suppression to prevent the further spread of this 

 pest, and gradually reduce the infested areas. This course will demand 

 large appropriations, the size of which can only be determined by those 

 who have charge of the work and are conversant with the localities 

 and extent of the infestations in each town, and who from long experience 

 are able to judge of the cost of suppressing the insects under such con- 

 ditions. These appropriations must necessarily be large, for every in- 

 fested place, however small, should be carefully attended to, even in the 

 forests. If this forest work is neglected by reason of insufficient appro- 

 priations, the moths in slightly infested places, like those in Plymouth 

 County, will spread rapidly, and in consequence all the valuable timber 

 will be absolutely destroyed by the stripping of the leaves, the pine 

 forests in a single year. 



Such appropriations as are necessary at the present time and under 

 existing circumstances are in no way to be compared with the cost of 

 clearing the moths from the trees when once they have become infested ; 

 and to illustrate this point as clearly as possible we quote from the 

 report of last year, page 106 : " The taxable property of this State, 

 as given in the last Manual of the General Court of Massachusetts, 

 page 235, is $3,420,197,428. If this amount of property be assessed 



