378 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



No fall inspecting and cleaning for eggs has as yet been 

 done, owing to pressure of work in outer towns. However, 

 the whole town is now in a most excellent condition. To 

 maintain this condition it is of the greatest importance that 

 a thorough inspection and destruction of all the remaining 

 egg-clusters be made before the hatching period in 1900. 



Winchester. — This town has been generally infested by 

 the moth, but the present condition of the colonies as com- 

 pared with that of previous years is very satisfactory. Only 

 about one-third as many caterpillars were found in the town 

 this year as in 1898. The greater number of these were 

 found in the south-eastern part, in or near the Middlesex 

 Fells reservation. Repeated examinations of a large number 

 of formerly infested estates failed to reveal the presence of 

 the moth. Several of the woodland colonies are extermi- 

 nated, while in others but a few caterpillars were found. In 

 each of two colonies in which there were found respectively 

 1.941 and 2,988 caterpillars in 1898, no form of the moth 

 was found in 1899. This town has been entirely inspected 

 or burlapped during the past year, and is now in excellent 

 condition for exterminative work. 



Summary. 

 The statement of the condition of the infested cities and 

 towns is based upon data obtained from a personal exam- 

 ination of all the important colonies, supplemented by a 

 considerable amount of inspection (and in many cases re- 

 inspection) by expert employees, working independently of 

 the general force. That the entire infested district was never 

 so free from the gypsy moth since the beginning of the State 

 work as at present is evident from facts which all may obtain. 

 It is fortunate that the evidence showing the relative scarcity 

 or abundance of the gypsy moth is of a physical nature, and 

 may be apprehended by a reasonable exercise of the senses. 

 Serious devastation by the caterpillars cannot pass unnoticed, 

 neither can the masses of effof-clusters — the natural result 

 of the insect's increase — remain concealed. Should critics 

 of this work pay more attention to this simple principle, 

 much misinformation and misrepresentation would be avoided. 

 The condition of the infested region in past years is well 



