No. 4.] GYPSY MOTH. 217 



KEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON GYPSY MOTH, INSECTS 

 AND BIRDS.* 



[Read and adopted at the Public Winter Meeting, Dec. 6, 1904.] 



To the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. 



Yoiir committee on the gypsy moth, insects and birds 

 presents herewith its report for the year 1904. As in recent 

 years, the work of this committee has been restricted, 

 through lack of funds, to observino- and recordins; the in- 

 crease of the moth, informing local authorities of the 

 appearance of new colonies, and advising citizens concerning 

 the best means for combating outbreaks of the gypsy and 

 brown-tail moths. Owing to the great increase in these 

 pests, this latter feature of our work, conducted largel}^ 

 through the office of the secretary of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, has grown to considerable dimensions. Several 

 hundred letters of advice have been written in answer to 

 inquiries, while many more applications have received per- 

 sonal attention at the office. While the calls for assist- 

 ance were most numerous during the early summer months, 

 when the caterpillar outbreak was in full force, there has 

 l)ecn a steady and constant demand throughout the year 

 for advice concerning the best means for destroying the 

 insects. 



In response to the general demand for detailed information 

 as to remedies for these two pests, the secretary of the 

 Board issued a special article on the " Gj'^psy and brown- 

 tail moths," in the Massachusetts Crop Report of July, 1904. 

 This article, widely reviewed by the press of the State and 

 illustrated by excellent cuts of the insect, gives a full state- 



* House Document, No. .3, 1905. 



