342 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



An emergency appropriation of $30,000 became available 

 February 15, but the remarkably heavy snow storm of Feb- 

 ruary 12 and 13 prevented the resumption of field opera- 

 tions until February 22, when the force was again put at 

 work completing the cutting and thinning of infested wood- 

 lands. Since the expenditure authorized by law for the 

 month of January was deducted from this appropriation, 

 only $13,333.33 remained for prosecuting the work. This 

 balance sufficed to carry on operations with a force num- 

 bering about three hundred men until about jSIarch 9, when 

 the field work was again discontinued, The history of pre- 

 vious years was repeated, and the main appropriation of 

 $170,000 did not become available until April 15. Thus 

 over a month of valuable working time was lost, at a season 

 when operations against the moth can be carried on with 

 especial advantage. 



The unfortunate interruptions of the work in the spring 

 months had two equally undesirable results: (1.) The 

 clearing up of large areas of infested woodlands, a prepara- 

 tory measure absolutely essential to the effective treatment 

 of those regions, was perforce neglected until nearly the 

 hatching time of the eggs, after which this measure was im- 

 practicable. (2.) With the spring demand for labor, a 

 number of our skilled emploj^ees, men whose experience 

 made them especially valuable to the work, had sought and 

 obtained other and more permanent situations, and their 

 services were thus lost to the Board. 



Where woodlands are infested, it is of prime importance 

 to destroy the egg-clusters in the fall and winter. The 

 economy of this practice will be understood, when it is re- 

 called that the destruction of a sinjjle eo-g-cluster saves the 

 labor that otherwise would be required the following sum- 

 mer for searching out and killing l)y hand the five hundred 

 or more caterpillars that would hatch from the cluster. 

 Further, the winter work of cutting underbrush and dead 

 and worthless trees does away with the hiding-places of the 

 insect, and drives the caterpillars to the remaining trees for 

 food and to the burlaps for shelter, where they are readily 

 found and killed. Another economy is effected by the re- 

 duction in the number of trees on a given infested area, 



