17 



}>:iv 11 ^ rent. This system of " free range," which has led to so many acts 

 of violence in the State- in which it is in vogue, is also responsible for a 

 1 deal of damage to the young forest trees in consequence of the stock 

 trespassing. 



The importance of the Weather Bureau to the Department of Agriculture 

 can he undrrstoMl by the value of the "frost" warnings issued to let the 

 fanner^ know when h ird frosts are to bs expected. Two weather charts are 

 issued every day, so that any cyclonic disturbance can be located and 

 watch ' 1 from one end of the States to the other. 



Acting still on Dr. Howard's advice, I arranged to visit Cornell University 

 as being a typical example of an up-to-date agricultural college. Leaving 

 Washington in the evening, T reached Ithaca early next morning and took the 

 tram to th- hills beyond, on which the University stands. The chiefs of the 

 stition staff, L. H. IJiiVy. the Director, and Professor J. H. Comstock, are 

 two of the best kncwn nimes in the Universities of the United States. 

 Professor Comstock had just remove 1 with his stiff to the new agricultural 

 buildings, that oveilook a wonderful range of country and are fitted up with 

 all the latest improvements for teaching ; he went with me over the magni- 

 ficent library and through the lecture rooms, insectarium, and museum collec 

 tions. Here I met the members of his staff, Messrs. Slingerland, McGillvray, 

 Bradley, and Needhanr; and at a meeting of the Entomological Club, at the 

 Profe>sor's request, I gave the students an address on economic entomology 

 in Australia. 



Dr. J. G. Needham has an interesting experimental house on 5 acres of 

 marsh lind on the great lake below the college, where he has a boit and 

 apparatus to study 'he growth and transformations of all kinds of water 

 insects, ttc., the chief food supplies of freshwater fishes, and the methods of 

 dealing with mosquitoes and other marsh-land pests. The marsh land was 

 handed over on a perpstual lease to the University by the owner, an ex-student, 

 for i his special work. 



On the following evening I l^ft for Boston to meet the officers of the Gypsy 

 Moth Commission, who have charge of the work of destroying this foliage 5 - 

 eating moth in the State of Massachusetts. 



The first Commission was appointed in 1890, with an appropriation of 50,000 

 dollars ; in the following year a second Commission was appointed, which was 

 soon sifter taken over by the State Board of Agriculture, and another 50,000 

 dollars was obtained ; and in 1892 the State Legislature passed 75,000 dollars 

 to continue the work. In 1893 the Commission asked for a further sum of 

 165,000 dollars, and were finally granted 100,000 dollars ; and the total sum 

 that had been spent by the State at the end of 1895 was over 450,000 dollars, 

 and still the Gypsy Moth was flourishing. 



A regular staff was always working, and many reports were published, 

 until, in 1906, the Federal Department of Agriculture was asked to take it in 

 hind, and Dr. Howard visited Europe to inquire into the conditions of the 

 Gypsy Moth in its native home, for it was originally introduce 1 from France. 

 He made arrangements with many of the European entomologists to send 

 over p^ek lie winter caterpillars of the moths, which are being culti- 



vated in the Federal Insectarium, near Boston, to see if they can obtain from 

 them parasites that are known t) exist in Europe, in sufficient numbers to 

 <;heck its spread. 



There are, therefore, two distinct Commissions at Boston the State Com- 

 missioners and the officers of the United States Experiment Station. The 

 State Commissioners are under Mr. Worthly, with whom and some officers of 



