258 agricuIvTure; of maine. 



6 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. 

 Dear Professor Hitchings : — 



Yours of the 5th asking for information concerning the gipsy moth 

 work in Massachusetts, is at hand. The appropriations made by the 

 State for the work in 1907 were as follows : 



Field work $295,000 00 



Importing parasites 25,000 00 



In round figures the State expended $240,000, the cities and towns $140,- 

 000 additional, and property owners, so far as our records show, 

 expended $143,000. This does not include upward of $100,000 spent in 

 protecting the park systems, or an amount probably as large paid by 

 wealthy private citizens to contractors and others. The total area 

 infested by the gipsy moth in Massachusetts is 3,148 square miles, and 

 includes 165 cities and towns. 



The residential sections and street trees over some 9,000 miles of 

 streets and roads have been thoroughly worked over and the moth com- 

 pletely brought under control. In the farming districts outside of 

 the woodland the pest is also well in hand. Much work has been done 

 in suppressing the gipsy moths in woodlands, but there is still a very 

 large problem of this kind in sight. 



It naturally follows that our future work will be directed first to 

 holding the ground gained, and second to stamping out the large wood- 

 land infestations. With such hearty cooperation as is shown in carry- 

 ing on this work by all parties interested, there is no question but that 

 the control of the moth can be obtained in the course of a few years. 



The great danger of course is that when the moth is brought under 

 control the necessary appropriations may be stopped or so much reduced 

 as to give the pest a chance to again increase. 



The work of importing parasites for which the State of Massachu- 

 setts is furnishing the funds, and Doctor L. O. Howard the expert 

 supervision, is being prosecuted continuously, and the prospects for suc- 

 cess in securing many natural checks on the increase of both moths 

 never were better than at present. 



Yours very truly, 



A. H. KIRKLAND, 

 Superintendent. 



Dover, N. H. 

 Prof. E. F. Hitchings, Augusta, Maine. 



My dear Prof. Hitchings : — Yours received. According to our most 

 recent data, we have forty-five towns infested with the gipsy moth, 

 covering an area of about fifteen hundred square miles. Our infesta- 

 tions seem to be confined in a large degree to orchards and some shade 

 trees. State appropriation was $25,000. 



Yours very truly, 



THOS. H. DEARBORN. 



