No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 435 



be made sufficiently firm and smooth to sustain the traffic without 

 rutting, and resist the penetrating action of the water. 



Every road is made smoother, harder, and better by rolling. Such 

 rolling should be done in damp weather, or if that is not possible, 

 the surface should be sprinkled if the soil requires such aid for its 

 proper consolidation. 



We recommend a steam road roller of sufficient size to be used 

 for rolling the road and crushing stone. If this is not available, 

 then a heavy road roller to be drawn by horses should be used. Also 

 that a change be made in our present appropriation law for good 

 roads, giving all the counties in Pennsylvania an equal right to 

 share the benefits of the appropriation without expense to the 

 county, thereby assisting those most in need of help. 



A law providing for the payment of Two Dollars per day to Town- 

 ship Supervisors for a sufficient time to properly transact the neces- 

 sary road business, would prove of benefit. We fail to find in our 

 present road laws anything to compel a pathmaster to make a de- 

 tailed report to the supervisor, and therefore recommend that the 

 law make this duty compulsory. 



The CHAIRMAN: Gentlemen, you have heard the Report of 

 the Committee on Roads and Road Laws. Are there any questions 

 that you wish to ask on tMit report? If not, what action will you 

 take on it? 



On motion, duly seconded, it was agreed that this report be re- 

 ceived and placed on file. 



The CHAIRMAN: We will now have the report of Prof. Surface 

 on Entomology. 



This report is as follows: 



REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



BY Prof. H. A. Surface, Economic ZooJogist. Hiirrisburiu Pa. 



Never in the historv of Pennsvlvania has there been so much 

 interest taken in insects as during the past year. The reasons for 

 this are as follows: 



1. The destructive effects of insect pests have never before been 

 more apparent in wiping out of existence many orchards, and causing 

 very great loss to farmers, fruit growers, and also truckers and 

 gardeners in this State. 



2. The very grave results of the accidental introduction of the 

 Gypsy Moth and the Brown Tail Moth in Massachusetts, and the 

 spreading of these pests into other states has called the atten- 

 tion of the people, as never before, to the importance of insect pre- 

 vention, and we hope to be able to keep such pests out of this State 

 by proper and careful methods. This problem is so great in Massa- 

 chusetts that the amount of $300,000 was appropriated for fighting 

 these two pests alone, and |30,000 additional for the study and in- 

 troduction of parasites. They have now escaped into New Hamp- 

 shire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and are very 

 liable to reach this State. They practically destroy every green 



