U2 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ascertain on about how many acres of public land rules pro- 

 hibiting shooting are enforced. Nearly all the park com- 

 missioners have responded to the inquiries made, and 52,234 

 acres of public land have been thns far reported on which 

 all shooting is prohibited. This includes the lands controlled 

 by the Metropolitan Park Commission, those of the Met- 

 ropolitan Water Board, the mountain reservations of Grey- 

 lock, Mt. Tom and Wachusett, all the land controlled by the 

 Commissioners on Fisheries and Game, a new public pre- 

 serve of about 5,000 acres, and the lands controlled by the 

 36 town and city park commissioners. There are in round 

 numbers only about 8,400 acres of municipal parks, against 

 44,000 acres in charge of State, count}^ or metropolitan com- 

 missioners. These statistics do not include the grounds of 

 such public institutions as insane asylums. State farms or 

 reform schools. There are between 50,000 and 75,000 acres 

 (estimated) held in private estates, where the land is posted 

 and controlled and no shooting is allowed. Many of the 

 park commissioners enforce bird protection on their lands. 

 In some cases city officers control the land and stop all shoot- 

 ing. The Metropolitan Park Commissioners have officers 

 under their own control. 



One of the most hopeful developments of the bird refuge 

 idea is the formation of an association for the protection of 

 birds and the propagation of birds, game and fish. This 

 association has been organized, not for the purpose of secur- 

 ing a private game preserve for the use of its members alone, 

 but for the purpose of establishing a State reservation on 

 which all birds and game may be fully protected, and where 

 experiments may be carried on in the methods of attracting 

 birds and in the artificial propagation of game birds and wild 

 fowl. Legislation is needed for the establishment of other 

 preserves of this nature, both public and private. 



Birds that cat the Elm-leaf Beetle. 



The cedar wax-wing, cedar bird or cherry bird (Ampelis 



cedrotuni) is now noted as the " bird that eats the elm-leaf 



beetle." Mrs. Mary Treat tells of a town in which the elms 



had been defoliated for several years by this beetle, but after 



