REPORT OF THE DELEGATE TO THE STATE BOARD OF 

 AGRICULTURE FOR THE YEAR 1918. 



By Samuel J. Goddard, Delegate. 



The passage of the Anti-Aid Amendment to the Massachusetts 

 Constitution severed the relations which had existed for many 

 years between the Board and this Society. This amendment 

 provided that no State funds could be given to any private cor- 

 poration, so that the State bounty received in August, 1918, was 

 the last bounty of this sort that the Horticultural Society will 

 receive. As membership on the Board was dependent on receiving 

 bounty, it was evident that some reorganization of the Board was 

 necessary. The Legislature of 1918 therefore created a new State 

 Department of Agriculture, consisting of one member from each 

 county, to be appointed by the Governor. This Department 

 came into existence on the first of September, and the term of 

 office of your delegate on the Board expired on that date. 



One of the most important pieces of work with which the Board 

 has had to deal during the last year and one which closely affects 

 horticultural interests, especially the market gardener, is the 

 European Corn Borer. This pest is a new importation, which 

 appeared in Eastern Massachusetts and is now prevalent in thirty 

 towns in the immediate vicinity of Boston. It attacks not only 

 corn, but garden vegetables, flowers and weeds, and is very destruc- 

 tive. The leading entomologists say that if allowed to get out 

 of control it will be the worst insect pest that has ever come to 

 this country. Strenuous efforts are being made by the State 

 Board and its successor, the State Department, to stamp out this 

 pest, and in this work it is cooperating with the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture. As 

 the insect hibernates in weeds, corn stalks and various kinds of 

 garden refuse, the most practical way to attack it is to entirely 

 clean up gardens in the fall and burn the refuse, including partic- 

 ularly all corn stalks and weeds. The Department is making an 



