Commissioner of Agriculture 179 



our system gave us knowledge. We have received from our cor- 

 respondents cordial acknowledgments, and rejoice in the generous 

 statements made by some that by the reports we made them and 

 the further caution as to ineffective fumigation, we had undoubt- 

 edly been the cause of a successful control of the pest and possibly 

 prevented the foothold it might have secured in a vast area of ter- 

 ritory not yet infested. 



The unprecedented import of brown-tails in the spring ship- 

 ments of 1909 gave at the same time a fine opportunity to discover 

 other pests if present. There was, however, but little of import- 

 ance found, only a cluster or two of the eggs of the gipsy moth in 

 a shipment to a sister state. 



All plantings of foreign stocks or seedlings made in New York 

 State have been carefully inspected for nests of brown-tail moths 

 and nowhere have we found that a single one has escaped our 

 inspectors' diligence. 



The finding of brown-tails in importations of nursery stock to 

 New- York in the spring of 1909 seems without precedent. One 

 would think that if seedlings bearing such a" conspicuous nest had 

 been brought here within the past 40 years, some of the nursery- 

 men would have recollection of having seen them. Only one such 

 case, however, has come to light as a result of much inquiry, and 

 in that case the identification is not conclusive. 



The only case of a brown-tail infestation that we had during the 

 year came to a large private estate in Westchester County with a 

 car-load of Crataegus which was shipped late in the fall of 1908 

 from an eastern state. All the trees were heeled in over winter. 

 In the spring the trees were planted in groups of 12 to 15 trees 

 in an area of about iy 2 acres. Later, about the time the brown- 

 tails pass to the pupae, 17 caterpillars were found. It was then 

 too late to spray with arsenical poisons, as feeding had ceased. 

 We had no knowledge as to how many insects were present. Our 

 only course, however, was to destroy the pupae wherever they 

 might be and at the same time save the valuable thorns and the 

 large shade trees near by. Following thorough inspection, all 

 trees were sprayed two or three times with oil emulsions. The 

 cultivated land and the heavy sod land, after the grass had been 

 cut, oiled and burned, was burned over with cyclone spray. Sixty 



