151 



siiiiil.ii- ill ;i ,u<'iiri-;il WAV, ((» (Ills (•licslinil discMsc W'c -.Wi- s|m'ImI- 

 iiiU' ill .M;is;i(liiiscl Is [unci ically a iiiillioii •Idlhiis cvci-n- vcai- on 

 these insects. I'liii liciiuoi-c, if .Massacliu.seUs had not tukeii liokl 

 of (his prohh'iii as it did, iiiKhHibtcdly these moths wouM liave 

 lieeii into I'eiiiisylvaiiia liy this time. J5ut we have taUeii liold of 

 it and we have methods and wc iin<lei-staiid iiioi-e alioiit this proh- 

 Iciii lliaii we jtossilily could willioiH I his iar.uc a|»|>i-o|ii'ial ion. 

 'J'he hnsinessdiice way in whicdi the State took hold of il has 

 (•(niimenih'd itself. The State of Massaehuset Is is uicaily in- 

 terested as \\r have ))eeH disenssinj; the pro and c(Hi as t(» means 

 and ideas witli regard to this hiiglit disease. It is the same 

 thinii, jioinjj; throui^Ii the same thing only of another kind that 

 the .nyjisy moth tiiiht in ^lassaehnsetts has been. Even some of 

 the hest entomolouists of the conntry seemed lo think originally 

 thai Ilie attem]»t to destroy the moths was money thrown away, 

 lint the ]»eop]e li\ini: in the infested c(Mintry iiaxc a]»pi-ecialed 

 the importance of it and we realize to-day that the money has 

 heeii well spent. \\'e have spent ]>raetically seven millions of 

 <lollars on these insects. On this chestnut hliiiht disease, there- 

 fore, we do m»t care t(» .uo to a lii^ expenditure in MassachuKetts. 

 What I have done thus far with this chestnut disease is to en- 

 deavor to systematize the work and earry it out alonu" the same 

 line that we are carrying out our gypsy and broAVutail moth de- 

 predation work and our general forestry work. Forest fires have 

 been mentioned. The economic importance of putting a stop to 

 forest tires came along after the moths came. One thing has 

 evolved into another. At the ])resent time I veritably Ixdieve 

 that in certain sections of Massachusetts the gypsy moth has 

 been a blessing to those sections. Why? IJecause formerly 

 there was no system of forestr}' mauagement and little forest 

 edtication developed. AVe have gone in, cleaned u]) stumps, 

 dead wood ami debris, selected better species of various trees, 

 that are now protected, and in twenty to twenty-five years I 

 veritably Ixdieve the product will ])ay for all the expenses we 

 have been to up to the present time. 



Now this question of the blight disease again : As I have looked 

 u])on it, — my observations nmy not be very keen, — but as I have 

 looked upon it in my own mind, we find it where the conditions 

 are unbalanced. That is here appears to be the Avorst condition 



