418 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



In accordance with another recommendation of Dr. How- 

 ard, the committee plan also to make a special appeal to 

 citizens, resident in or near this extralimital belt, to aid so 

 far as may be in this search work. In his general review 

 of the warfare against the gypsy moth Dr. Howard speaks 

 in the highest terms of the faithfulness and efficiency of 

 those in charge of the work. The following extracts from 

 his report bear directly on the work of the present year, 

 and hence may fittingly be appended : — 



At the present time there can be little doubt that the extermi- 

 nation of the insect is possible, and that it will be only a question 

 of a few years, if adequate State appropriations are continued. 

 The simple fact that it has unquestionably been exterminated over 

 considerable stretches of territory, and that extensive colonies 

 existing in the most disadvantageous territory for the prosecution 

 of remedial work have been so thoroughly destroyed that not an 

 individual has been found for three years with the most rigid 

 annual inspection, is sufficient proof of this possibility ; for what 

 can be done for one section like this can be done for all, if the 

 means be sufficient. 



After a review of the entire work ... it cannot but be ad- 

 mitted that the effort of the State to exterminate the moth has 

 been wise. It is true that a large amount of money has been 

 expended, and it is also true that much more money must be ex- 

 pended before extermination can be accomplished ; but it is un- 

 doubtedly safe to say that the money which has been and will be 

 spent by the State in this work is but a drop in the bucket to the 

 loss which would have been occasioned by the insect had it been 

 allowed to spread unchecked. . . . The question as to whether 

 the State has done the right thing in appropriating for the exter- 

 mination of the insect instead of holding it in subjection, and as 

 to whether the money has been used in the best possible way to 

 forward this end, may both be answered emphatically in the affirm- 

 ative. . . . The writer believes that the condition of the entire 

 infested territory at the present day is such that, with the prompt 

 appropriation asked for by the committee at the beginning of the 

 coming session of the Legislature, the work that will be carried 

 on during 1898 will be of so effective a character that even those 

 who most gravely doubt the policy of the State's efforts will be con- 

 vinced of the efficacy of the work. A continuation of the appro- 

 priations for a few more years is unquestionably a necessity. 

 Were the appropriation to lapse a single year, the work which has 

 been done during the past six years would largely be lost. 



