No. 4.] WORK OF GYPSY MOTH COMMITTEE. 237 



infested region, and to test some of the principal means of 

 control and destruction which liave been utilized in this 

 country and in Europe for this and similar insects, and these 

 have proved utterly inadequate. While this was being dem- 

 onstrated, experiment, observation and invention were sup- 

 plying us with new resources, and soon extermination by 

 localities became not only a probability but an accomplished 

 fact. 



Twice the success of the undertaking was endangered by 

 a lack of funds, and this has been the most discourairinof 

 feature of the case. It may be said that your committee 

 should have asked for more means ; but it must be remem- 

 bered that the area infested was found to be at least eio^ht 

 times as great as was at first represented, and that in view 

 of subsequent developments the committee could not })ossibly 

 have estimated the expense accurately beforehand. As many 

 means of destroying the moth have been tried, and a few 

 have proved useful and may assist the farmer in dealing with 

 other insects, I will briefly describe some of them. 



Spraying avith Aesenites. 

 At the first meeting of the present management the opinion 

 of the majority of the experts called in was that extermina- 

 tion could be secured only by spraying with arsenites. This 

 method had also been recommended to the orii>ina[ commis- 

 sion, and I presume there never was so much Paris green 

 used for such a purpose in two seasons, under one manage- 

 ment, as has been used within the limits of this infested dis- 

 trict. Altogether some three and one-half tons have been 

 sprayed over those devoted towns. The experiments which 

 had been made with Paris green and London purple resulted 

 in a verdict in favor of Paris green, as it gave the more uni- 

 form results and was less injurious to the foliage. The 

 effect of these poisons on the caterpillars of the gypsy moth 

 was not uniform, but it may be stated as a rule that both 

 destroyed the young caterpillars, but failed to kill those that 

 were larger and more vigorous. Critics may say that the 

 poisons were adulterated, that they were carelessly or im- 

 properly applied, and that for these reasons the older cater- 

 pillars were not killed ; but our Paris green was several 



