1907.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 78. 141 



owners in nearly every case are most unwilling to meet the cost 

 of cleaning these woodlands, and frequently cannot afford to 

 do so. On the other hand, the towns and the State have not 

 the funds to clear them of moths under the law, and yet they 

 constitute a most serious menace to all adjacent territory. Ex- 

 perience shows that it is impossible to keep any residential dis- 

 trict reasonably clear of the gypsy moth when large areas of 

 infested woodland exist in the vicinity. We have been forced, 

 then, to consider the only available expedient under the cir- 

 cumstances, which is to isolate such infested woodlands as far 

 as possible, and to prevent at least the hordes of caterpillars 

 from reaching roads and streets, and thus becoming scattered 

 over a wider area. After several conferences with interested 

 persons, the superintendent has practically decided upon this 

 plan. A limited amount of work along this line was done in 

 1906, and more, it is hoped, will be done in 1907. 



The cheapest and most effective way of isolating the wood- 

 land colonies is to thin out a protective belt of trees for, at least, 

 100 feet around their borders. In this belt damage by the 

 moth can be prevented by burning over the ground, banding 

 trees and the liberal use of arsenical sprays. Thus insects may 

 be corralled, as it were, and prevented from spreading. Within 

 the area of severe infestation this laissez-faire policy will, of 

 course, result in the death of all pines and other conifers, to- 

 gether with many of the hard-wood trees. On the other hand, 

 we have reason to believe that if its feeding grounds can be 

 enclosed, the moth, though it may kill off the more valuable 

 trees, will ultimately starve itself out, and leave at least trees 

 enough to shade the ground. This treatment is an heroic one, 

 disastrous alike to the owners of the woodlands and to the 

 public ; yet it seems the best that can be done under the circum- 

 stances, unless large appropriations are made available. 



THE ORCHARD PROBLEM. 



N"ext to the caterpillar-devastated woodlands, the generally 

 infested orchards throughout the entire district offer the most 

 difficult problem in connection with our work. Even in towns 

 remote from those where the gypsy moth is most abundant, as 

 Carlisle, Chelmsford and Pembroke, there are numerous or- 



