192 Twenty-Second Annuae Report of the 



longer time to spread in the mountainous and wild regions of West- 

 chester county, the expense of suppression may have been twenty- 

 five thousand dollars. These expenditures were justified on the 

 ground that in as much as this pest had not become established 

 within the State of New York, every effort should be exerted to 

 stamp it out at the very beginning of its development. When 

 we consider that the New England States spent upwards cf ten 

 million dollars for the control of the gipsy moth and brown-tail 

 moth, it would seem that there should be no. criticism against this 

 State for expending such amounts in eliminating the very first 

 outbreak. The inspection of shipments coming into the State in- 

 dicates that the longer the law is enforced the more satisfactory 

 the nursery stock received is and the more remarkable is its free- 

 dom from insects and diseases. 



In 1915 notice was received at this office and inspections were 

 subsequently made of 4,347 shipments from points within the 

 United States and 1,749 shipments of importations from foreign 

 countries. These shipments embraced upwards of twelve thousand 

 boxes and packages of nursery stock. The only insect pests found 

 not indigenous to this state were 9 webs of the brown-tail moth and 

 4 egg masses of gipsy moth. Three lots of the latter were from 

 abroad. 



CHRISTMAS TREE QUARANTINE 



The Federal Department of Agriculture maintained a quaran- 

 tine on certain New England States because of the presence of 

 the gipsy moth and brown-tail moth and no Christmas trees or 

 Christmas greens were permitted to be sent in interstate com- 

 merce outside of the defined quarantined area until July 1, 1915. 

 Under the provisions of the regulations of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board, in Notice of Quarantine No. 22, opportunity was given to 

 ship Christmas trees and Christmas greens in interstate trade 

 from the quarantined area, with no further restriction than pro- 

 vided by certificates of inspection granted before the shipments 

 were made. In this State it was believed that it was quite im- 

 possible to make adequate inspection of Christmas trees and 

 Christmas greens to insure that no egg masses of the gipsy moth 

 were present. The egg clusters of this insect are very obscure, 

 and experts, no matter how proficient, may overlook them. Fur- 



