14 THE GYPSY MOTH. 



If the Legislature should see fit to adopt the second course, 

 namely, that of mere restriction, it would be necessary to 

 appropriate each year to the end of time a sum of money 

 sufficient to prevent the insect from spreading and also from 

 causing serious damage in the infested region. Those who 

 are most familiar with this insect and the difficulty in de- 

 stroying it estimate the cost of holding it in check at a much 

 higher figure than some who have little or no practical knowl- 

 edge of the matter. The cost has been variously conjectured 

 and estimated at from $25,000 to $100,000 annually. My 

 own opinion is that the latter sum would be required even 

 in the present infested region ; and, if the insect should 

 escape and spread elsewhere, as it would probably do in 

 time with the cessation of exterminative methods, a still 

 larger sum would be necessary. If, however, adopting the 

 average non-scientific view, we assume that only $50,000 

 annually be required to hold this insect in check, I leave it 

 for those who believe that it is the wisest policy for the 

 State to adopt this course to estimate what the annual appro- 

 priations of $50,000 would amount to from now to the end 

 of time. If, however, we estimate the cost for a period of 

 forty years, or from the time a man might take charge of a 

 farm worth, say, $5,000, till the time he gives up the work, 

 assuming the taxable property and rate of taxation to remain 

 uniformly as at present, this man would have to pay, under 

 this proposed restrictive method, an annual tax of 10 cents 

 and 6 mills, which in forty years would amount to $4.24. 



If, however, the third course, that of abandoning the work 

 entirely, be adopted, the gypsy moth will surely spread not 

 only over this Commonwealth but over the entire country. 

 We must bear in mind that this insect feeds on nearly all 

 plants of value that grow in this State, and is capable of 

 greatly injuring or even destroying them. In the report of 

 this committee issued in January, 1894, page 10, it was 

 stated that ' ' A conservative estimate made by Professor 

 Fernald places the probable annual damage which this insect 

 would do in Massachusetts alone, if allowed to spread, at 

 $1,000,000." I have published elsewhere an estimate from 

 the most carefully obtained data, that the cost of applying 

 Paris green to potatoes to protect them from the ravages of 



