l.VJ GYPSY AND BKOWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



effective work has also been done by the authorities in charge 

 of various insane asylums and other public institutions in the 

 infested district. All these boards have co-operated fully with 

 this office, and in turn we have given them such assistance in 

 the way of advice and inspection as lies within our power under 

 the terms of the act. Thus, we were enabled to inspect and 

 pass upon the winter work done by contractors engaged by the 

 Metropolitan Park Commission, and to plan and follow quite 

 closely the work of the Massachusetts Highway Commission. 

 A summary of these operations is given in the following cor- 

 respondence : 



MKTROPOLITAX PARK COMMISSION, BOSTON, Dec. 4, 1906. 



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

 Brown-tail Moths, 6 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 



DEAR SIR : - - The Metropolitan Park Commission presents herewith 

 a statement of the work of the past year against gypsy and brown-tail 

 moths in the metropolitan park reservations and parkways. Last year 

 every reservation and parkway was in some degree infested, or sur- 

 rounded by infested territory; and in many cases the infestation of the 

 surrounding territory was a special menace because it was largely in 

 woodland which for one reason or another was unlikely to be thor- 

 oughly cared for. Middlesex Fells was most seriously infested ; the 

 Blue Hills was the least infested, but was showing infestation which 

 caused great alarm and required immediate work of repression. Larger 

 appropriations were made by the Legislature of 1906, and very gratify- 

 ing results have followed what is believed to have been an efficient and 

 economical use of the funds thus provided. 



Natural causes destroyed the brown-tail moths to such an extent that 

 little work against them was required; the work was therefore chiefly 

 a.'j-ainst the gypsy moth. In all but the Blue Hills this work was done 

 t>y the employees of the commission. In the Blue Hills, as was pointed 

 out in a previous report, the infestation was a new one. and it seemed 

 wise to place the work in the hands of an agent supplied by your de- 

 partment. The results have been very gratifying, but constant watch- 

 fulness and work will be necessary during the coming winter to proiect 

 the reservation, especially as (lie infested area about the borders, chiefly 

 in the Quincy granite quarries, has increased. The work in the other 

 reservations and parkways has been in charge of employees of the 

 Board, who now appear to have adequate experience and capacity for 

 -neee^t'iilly handling the work. As Middlesex Fells was most seriously 

 infested, following out the plan outlined in the previous report, the 

 reservation was cleared of excessive undergrowth and of shrubs of the 



