Commissioner of Agriculture 249 



such plants ; therefore under the law we have not been able to de- 

 stroy one man's currant bushes to save another man's pines, and 

 where the currants have been destroyed, several hundred dollars 

 have been required to pay the owners. On the other hand, dis- 

 eased pines can properly be destroyed under the law without 

 compensation because no damages can accrue. 



PINE-SHOOT MOTH 



This insect, Evetria buoliana, was first discovered in this coun- 

 try in the early summer of 1914. The insect was heretofore un- 

 known and efforts were made to identify the moth and locate the 

 trees on which it had become established. In 1915, the European 

 pine-shoot moth was found in thirty-two nurseries, representing 

 twenty localities in nine states. In nine nurseries on Long Island, 

 one nursery and one estate in Tarrytown and one estate in Buf- 

 falo trees were found slightly infested. The infested trees on the 

 latter estate have all been cut out and it is hoped that there will 

 be no further spread. 



Careful attention was given during 1915 to seek out and de- 

 stroy all pines affected, with, it is hoped, satisfactory results. It 

 is very desirable that the last case shall be found and thus prevent 

 the distribution of one of the worst insect pests of pine trees known 

 in Europe. So far the pine-shoot moth has been found only on 

 pines imported during the last year and seems still confined to 

 European pines in nurseries and private estates. It attacks the 

 trees by injuring or destroying the young twig growth causing a 

 deformation of the tree enough to seriously detract from orna- 

 mental or commercial value. The Federal Horticultural Board 

 has during the year placed a quarantine forbidding the importa- 

 tion of all pine trees from Europe. 



The following is a brief description of the pest : 



The European pine shoot moth eats out the new buds and kills 

 or deforms the young twigs of pine trees in such a way that the 

 timber value is seriously and permanently lowered. The moth 

 feeds mostly on young trees between 6 and 15 years of age, de- 

 stroying a large number of buds and young shoots and injuring 

 adjoining ones. These injured shoots bend downward and out- 

 ward, afterwards growing upward again. When the pest is abun- 



