8 
means of control can be employed effectively and at reasonable cost by 
the individual owner. This is true, also, of the shade trees in resi- 
dential districts, coming under the supervision of the street com- 
missioners or other local officers. Where, however, large areas of 
woodlands are badly infested, the cost of control is beyond any reason- 
able expenditure by individual owners. As already indicated, such 
control, for a year or two at least, may much exceed in cost the actual 
value of the land, rendering it prohibitive so far as the individual is 
concerned. Furthermore, in the case of individual holdings, without 
any means of enforcement or corrective work, many will take little 
interest in the gypsy moth, and therefore do nothing to prevent its 
local increase, thus nullifying the work of others. In the case of 
large public domains, also, as, for example, the Middlesex Fells 
reservation, the cost of control is beyond any reasonable portion of the 
appropriation for the maintenance of such reservations which might 
be set aside for work against the gypsy moth. 
If the gypsy moth is to be effectively controlled, 1t will be necessary 
to have concerted action over the entire infested area, and this will 
necessitate a central authority and direction. There is a wide diver- 
sity of opinion as to the best method of carrying on such work. The 
plan employed by the gypsy moth committee consisted in expending 
a lump appropriation by the State in control or extermination of 
colonies throughout the infested district, the State appropriation 
covering all of the expense, none of which, therefore, was charged to 
the town or individual benefited. This system has some advantages. 
Tt has, however, the objection that it does not give any incentive for 
local control, or the protection of property by the individual. It 
therefore seems to the writer preferable to devise some system in which 
the cost of control would be divided between the individual owner, 
the town, and the State or National Government, should national aid 
be granted. This idea is not altogether original, but has been given 
somewhat in this form by various persons who have given thought 
to the subject. It has been suggested that the individual whose prem- 
ises were found to be infested should be charged with a portion of 
the cost. of the extermination not to exceed the taxes on the infested 
property, the cost of control above this amount to be divided in accord- 
ance with some determined ratio between the town and State. The 
advantage of this system is simply that it keeps up, in the individual 
and town, a wholesome interest in the control of the pest, and in many 
eases the individual will take some trouble to keep his premises clean, 
and the town, likewise, will institute care of the streets and parks, 
while under the old system little or no individual or local effort will 
be made to prevent infestation or to stamp out the gypsy moth. The 
damage now being done by the gypsy moth is so widespread and so 
severe that some general system of control must be provided for at 
. 
