l8o AGRICUI.TURS OF MAINE. 



lature, the appropriation was discontinued and the commission 

 disbanded. The moth being left to recuperate very soon gained 

 the ground already lost and far exceeded its former boundaries. 

 At the close of the commission the infested area was limited 

 to about 250 square miles. In 1905, after four years of unmo- 

 lested freedom save by the efforts of a few cities and towns, this 

 area had increased to 2,224 square miles in Massachusetts ; the 

 moth had been conveyed to Rhode Island ; to Stonington, Con- 

 necticut ; into several towns in New Hampshire, and probably 

 into Maine. In the spring of 1905, the legislature again took up 

 the work with a determination to exterminate the pest if possi- 

 ble. The second commission was organized, with Prof. A. H. 

 Kirkland as superintendent. An appropriation of $300,000 for 

 three years was secured, together with $10,000 per year for the 

 same time, the latter sum to be devoted to parasitic investigations. 

 This work was placed under the supervision of Dr. L. O. How- 

 ard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology at Washington. A 

 laboratory was fitted up at Saugus, Mass., and parasitic material 

 was obtained from several foreign countries. Some successful 

 work has been accomplished during the past season, but to what 

 extent these investigations may prove effective remains to be 

 determined by further experiment. We have great hopes that 

 these parasites may assist in the suppression, and that occasion- 

 ally, when the seasons are suitable, some fungous disease may 

 step in and help suppress the pest, although the above named 

 agencies will never exterminate them. 



During the session of the Fifty-ninth National Congress a bill 

 was passed appropriating $82,500 to be devoted to staying the 

 further spread of both the gipsy and brown-tail moths. Dr. L. 

 O. Howard, who had the work in charge, appointed Mr. D. M. 

 Rogers of Massachusetts, who was at that time Mr. Kirkland's 

 first assistant, as special field agent for the suppression of the 

 gipsy and brown-tail moths. Last July, work was begun in 

 Massachusetts along the principal highways. The trees were 

 cleaned of egg clusters and the sides of the road of underbrush 

 in order to prevent the further spread by the caterpillars spinning 

 down and being carried to uninfested territory. A crew was 

 sent into New Hampshire to scout along the main travelled 

 roads. Quite a number of colonies were discovered. In fact, 

 the infestation was found to extend from the Massachusetts 

 line to bevond Portsmouth. 



