496 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



gipsy moth has increased but slightly, except in Maine, where it 

 has about doubled. Cooperative work in the several affected States 

 has been continued as formerly. The bureau work has been confined 

 almost exclusively to the gipsy moth. Conditions in general do 

 not seem to be any worse than in preceding years, and in a great 

 many instances are very much improved. From the work that 

 has been carried on under the bureau, together with that done by 

 the State, from the occurrence of the wilt disease, from the increas- 

 ing importance of the introduced parasites, and from probably favor- 

 able weather conditions, the eastern portion of Massachusetts was 

 in better condition than it has been for a long time. Defoliation 

 of the street shade trees in cities and villages has been hardly no- 

 ticeable, except in a few spots, and the same may be said for the 

 roadside trees over many hundreds of miles of road. In the height 

 of the caterpillar season occasional patches of defoliated forest could 

 be seen, but these were by no means as large or as numerous as in 

 previous years. 



The brown-tail moth has become disseminated more widely, having 

 extended its ravages considerably westward and slightly northward, 

 for the reason that the brown-tail moths of both sexes are rapid fliers 

 and general control of the spread is beyond the influence of man. 



WORK IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



In Massachusetts the work has been largely that of caring for the 

 wooded roadsides along the most traveled highways. Several hun- 

 dreds of miles have been kept practically clean. Nearly all of this 

 work has been done between the northeast and northwest line from 

 Boston. Several hundred miles of these roadsides which have been 

 taken care of during the past two to four yeafs have been left to the 

 towns, in order that the work of the bureau might be extended to 

 roadsides farther away. A large part of the work of this character 

 in Massachusetts has now been completed. The treatment given to 

 the roadsides has been the removal of the underbrush and the dead 

 limbs from the larger trees, the creosoting of the egg clusters of the 

 gipsy moth, the banding of the trees with sticky bands, and the 

 spraying of the foliage with arsenate of lead. 



A force of men has been kept scouting in towns not before known 

 to be infested by the gipsy moth, resulting in the addition of 11 towns 

 to the known infested area of Massachusetts. Practically all of the 

 towns between the known infested area and the Connecticut River, 

 and including a tier of towns west of the river, have been carefully 

 examined, and the heretofore uninfested towns in the southeastern 

 part of the State have been scouted. In the 11 new towns no large 

 colonies were found. 



WOEK IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



Scouting for the egg clusters of the gipsy moth was begun in New 

 Hampshire about October 15, and approximately 100 men were con- 

 tinued in the work until the larvae began to crawl. The winter was 

 favorable for this kind of work, as there was little deep snow, except 

 in the hilly sections west of the Merrimac Valley. In the outer towns 

 covered in this scouting work practically every tree except in the 



