No. 4.] THE GYPSY MOTH. 429 



Extermination by Individuals impossible. 

 A careful consideration of the attempts made by private 

 individuals on their own grounds, as well as those made by 

 the city authorities in Medford before the work was under- 

 taken by the State, is quite sufficient to convince one that 

 private enterprise can never exterminate this insect, nor can 

 such enterprise prevent it from spreading rapidly over the 

 State and country. I have never seen nor heard of a per- 

 son who believed it possible for private individuals to 

 exterminate this insect, even though the strictest laws were 

 enacted to enforce the work. 



Extermination by the State possible. 



The question arises whether it is possible for the State, 

 through the Board of Agriculture, to exterminate this insect 

 by the methods which are now being pursued. A few 

 prominent persons have expressed very grave doubts of the 

 possibility of extermination ; but, after making thorough 

 study and investigations of the entire work and carefully 

 observing the methods and results, they have invariably 

 reached the conclusion that it is possible to exterminate the 

 insect in this Commonwealth. 



During the summers of 1893-94 the gypsy moth commit- 

 tee invited nearly all of the economic entomologists in this 

 country to visit the infested territory and make a critical 

 examination of the work in all its details. Having done 

 this, their reports were published in the report of the gypsy 

 moth committee, and all spoke in the highest terms of the 

 work and expressed the opinion that extermination of this 

 pest is possible. These gentlemen being experts on this 

 subject, their opinions are entitled to the highest considera- 

 tion. In the winter of 1896-97* Prof. J. B. Smith, State 

 entomologist of New Jersey, was employed by the Society 

 for the Promotion of Agriculture to make a critical exami- 

 nation, with the special object in view of determining the 

 possibility of extermination. In his report he expressed 

 the opinion most emphatically that extermination is pos- 

 sible, provided sufficient appropriations are made for that 

 purpose. During the summer of 1897 Dr. L. O. Howard, 



