430 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



entomologist to the Department of Agriculture in Washing- 

 ton, was sent here by the government to investigate this 

 work. Many visits were made to the infested territory by 

 Dr. Howard, and also by his assistant, Mr. C. L. Marlatt, 

 who investigated the work in a very thorough manner, and 

 their observations and conclusions were published in Bul- 

 letin No. 11, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 Division of Entomology. Dr. Howard again visited the 

 infested territory last fall, spending an entire week on the 

 work, and in a private letter wrote me as follows : — 



I shall not publish the results of my observations during my 

 trip to Boston on October 7 to 14, unless called upon to do so. I 

 have no hesitation whatever in informing you that, aside from the 

 expedition which I took in your company to the gypsy-moth- 

 infested regions of the town of Maiden, I visited many other 

 portions of the infested territory, and I feel that the results of 

 the season's work have fully justified the prediction which I made 

 on page 38 of my Bulletin No. 11. I cannot see how the most 

 critical person could go over the ground now, especially if he had 

 known the conditions of three years ago, without expressing entire 

 satisfaction with the work which has been done and without being 

 thoroughly convinced of the wisdom of the State's policy. 



The prediction which Dr. Howard made in his bulletin, 

 and to which he refers, is as follows : — 



The writer believes that the condition of the entire infested 

 territory at the present day is such that, with the prompt appro- 

 priation of the amount asked for by the committee at the begin- 

 ning of the coming session of the Legislature, the work which 

 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 convinced of the efficacy of the work. 



He further states that : — 



A continuation of the appropriations 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. The $775,000 already appropriated 

 would have been spent in vain. 



The Association of Economic Entomologists held its an- 

 nual meeting in Boston last August, and the members took 



