REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 9 



and labor. Many of the owners of orchards have purchased 

 spray pumps and are taking the best of care of their orchards 

 and will get good results in the future, which will enable them 

 to demand and get better prices. And by growing better apples 

 they can get a quality of fruit suitable for packing in boxes, 

 and thus in many cases they can double the prices that they have 

 been receiving in the past. The demonstrations of box packing 

 that were given in dififerent parts of the State by the men from 

 this Department were very interesting to the fruit growers and 

 impressed upon their minds that in order to put apples in 

 boxes they must first grow the proper fruit, and to do this they 

 must begin in the orchard by caring for their trees so that they 

 will produce clean and better colored fruit. 



BROWN-TAIL AND GYPSY MOTHS. 



In many parts of the State the infestation of the brown-tail 

 moth was very thick. A report circulated about the State that 

 the brown-tails were all dead at the time the nests should be 

 gathered did great damage in retarding the work. Many of the 

 municipal officers and real estate owners neglected cutting the 

 brown-tail nests from their trees and the result is that in most 

 parts of the State there are more nests now than ever before. 

 Many complaints have been entered in relation to cutting the 

 branches from fruit trees. If the owners of orchards will 

 spray at the proper time, it will take care of the brown-tail 

 moth and benefit the trees in other ways. I was obliged to put 

 a state crew into two difi:'erent towns last spring on account of 

 the failure of the selectmen to comply with the law in regard 

 to removing the brown-tail moth nests from their fruit and 

 shade trees. 



The past season has been a favorable one for the g}-psy as 

 well as the brown-tail moth and the Field Agent in charge of 

 the work reports that a large number of egg clusters \ave 

 been located and destroyed. The infestation was much larger 

 than in 1911. We had an appropriation of $15,000 for the 

 work, and the greatest efifort was made to prevent the spread 

 of the moth in parts of the State not infested and to destroy 

 all possible m the infested section, which is mostly in York and 

 Cumberland Counties. The Federal Horticultural Board has 



