338 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ing the recommendations of the Massachusetts State Board 

 of Agi'iculture, gave up the work of extermination in that 

 year. Furthermore, it is now evident, to all who understand 

 the habits of these insects, their means of distribution and 

 their rate of increase under favorable conditions that many 

 municipal authorities have been wholly unable to grasp the 

 situation and promptly apply the remedy. Also, the funds 

 supplied by national. State, city and town governments have 

 been absolutely inadequate to prevent the spread of the pest 

 in woodlands. 



The time has come when it is no longer possible by human 

 agency to stop this dissemination. N^evertheless, we must 

 continue the fight, and appropriate even larger sums than 

 in the past, for we can in this way hinder the " wrath to 

 come " by checking the rapidity of the dissemination of the 

 gypsy moth along our highways and railroads. But we must 

 face the fact that all the revenue of the United States gov- 

 ernment will not now suffice to prevent the eventual spread 

 of these insects throughout the forests of ITew England, 

 and perhaps over a large part of the continent. 



In the end we must come to depend more or less upon the 

 natural enemies of these insects, such as meteorological in- 

 fluences, diseases, parasitic and predaceous insects and 

 insectivorous birds and mammals to preserve our forests 

 from destruction by these introduced pests, as they have in 

 the past defended them from the attacks of native species. 

 Our only hope of a final suppression or reduction of these 

 pests in the woodlands lies in a gradual restoration of the bio- 

 logic balance. 



Attempts to breed and introduce parasitic and predaceous 

 insects are to be highly commended. Success may be years 

 in coming, — it may never come ; but nevertheless these 

 experiments should be continued indefinitely, with the ex- 

 ercise of the utmost care and skill. Every effort should be 

 made also to protect the birds, upwards of fifty species of 

 which feed on the gypsy moth, the brown-tail moth or the 

 elm-leaf beetle. Experiments should be conducted to 

 attract such birds to localities where their services are most 

 needed, and perhaps to breed such species as may be arti- 

 ficially propagated. It is perfectly feasible to increase the 



