li^ AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



efforts, by preserving the parasite, which, it is hoped, will 

 eventually control and stamp out the brown-tail pest. 



Then there is another class of people who are so blind to 

 their own interests, they absolutely refuse to do anything 

 whatever to help themselves, their neighbors, or the state ; their 

 selfish, indolent natures invite daily the justified scorn and con- 

 tempt of the community. There should be a law carrying a 

 penalty and such people should be amenable to that law. 



The people of this state must realize they are fighting the 

 most serious pest known to science ; they must also realize, 

 that the annual damage done to crops in the United States is 

 over $400,000,000 by lesser insects than the gypsy moth. It 

 behooves us to prevent further inroads in the progress of this 

 ravaging pest — a task that cannot be accomplished for less 

 than $50,000 annually. The people who suft'er from the de- 

 struction caused by the gypsy moth are the people who should 

 appear before the legislative committee and demand money 

 sufficient to combat this pest effectively, and less than $50,000 

 is not sufficient. 



The gypsy moth work, this year, began on the first day of 

 April and continued until August 16, when the men were laid 

 off until the first of October, at which time we renewed opera- 

 tions with a few crews of picked men. 



After carefully considering the work done in the past, and 

 drawing conclusions therefrom, I formed plans for the past 

 year and I had the men strictly follow those plans, with the 

 result that our success was greater than our anticipations. 



Crews of men have worked in the following towns and have 

 destroyed, in each town, the number of gypsy moths as tabu- 

 lated below : 



GYPSY MOTHS DESTROYED. 



Egg- Trees. 



Larvae. Pupae. Clusters. Moths. Burlaps. Sprayed. 

 Baldwin 



10,466 

 Bath 



7,836 893 16,964 4 446 1,132 



