40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Just imagine yourself going through swamps, climbing hill- 

 sides, and crawling over ledges with a barrel of water, 

 spraying every tree and bush, and when your supply of 

 water is exhausted, going a mile, more or less, to refill your 

 thirsty barrel. This same opposer of an appropriation said 

 this work could be done for five dollars per acre. Even if it 

 could be, just think what the cost to western Massachusetts 

 would be each year. Just think of the hundreds of acres 

 that would never be treated, and in a few years the dead 

 trunks of the trees would be pointing heavenward like so 

 many monuments, to remind us of our folly. And this 

 mode of treatment would not destroy a single nest, and, as 

 each nest will produce from three hundred to twelve hundred 

 moths, it must be apparent to any fair-minded man that a 

 second and sometimes a third application would be neces- 

 sary. Such talk is as foolish as it would be burdensome. 

 The advocates of such measures can only be likened to King 

 Solomon's son, when he said, " My father chastised you with 

 whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." 



Reports were put in circulation that the management w^as 

 influenced by politics. It was even said that one employee, 

 and he an old soldier, was discharged because his Senator 

 voted against an appropriation. The truth w^as, that the man 

 was in such a condition that he was unfit for business, and 

 one hundred employees knew it, and to preserve discipline 

 he had to be discharged. I am sorry to say that some Repre- 

 sentatives, from agricultural districts even, would listen to 

 such stories, instead of searching for the truth. Any one 

 who has any interest in shade trees, parks, forests, orchards 

 or vegetation of any kind, should do what he can to influence 

 his Senator and Representative to vote right in this important 

 matter. Knowing the ins and outs of gypsy moth legislation 

 in the House of 1899, I am convinced that some of the oppo- 

 sition to an appropriation was aimed at the Board of Agri- 

 culture. The suppression policj^, even if successful, would 

 entail a tax upon future generations. This policy is simply 

 the subterfuge of an enemy. By team and by rail the moth 

 would be carried to other parts of the State, and in a few 

 years w'ould become a national insect. We may as w^ell give 

 up the work entirely, or exterminate this pest. 



