296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, [Pub. Doc. 



first a serious pest in Massachusetts. Its ravages have been somewhat 

 lessened at the present time, as the farmers have learned how to destroy 

 it ; but Professor Femald, who has obtained the most accurate figures 

 from farmers in all parts of the State in regard to the cost of the Paris 

 green applied to the potato crops to hold this insect in check, estimates that 

 the tax upon the farmers who use Paris green for this purpose is seventj- 

 six thousand dollars annually in Massachusetts. 



In view of the well-known destructiveness of imported insects in this 

 coimtry, with such knowledge as we have of the habits and destructive- 

 ness of this insect both here and abroad, with due consideration of the 

 progress already made toward extermination, it would seem the part of 

 Avisdom and economy to continue the work with the most liberal appro- 

 priations, until the gypsy moth is extinct in Massachusetts. 



Respectfully submitted, 



E. H. FORBUSH. 



Entomologist's Report. 



To the Members of the Oypsy Moth Committee, 



Gentlemen : — During the past year I have made frequent visits to 

 the territory infested by the gypsy moth, and inspected the work of 

 destroying the pest as carefully as possible. 



The critical studies that have been made on the habits of these insects 

 by the field director and his assistants, as well as by myself, have led to 

 quite different methods for their destruction from those in general use 

 with our native insects. Some of the methods that I at first recom- 

 mended did not prove successful, because they were not adajjted to the 

 habits of this particular insect. I had at that time studied it only in 

 confinement, and it was necessary to observe its actions on the trees, 

 where it is entirely free, in order to learn its true habits and select such 

 methods as prove most useful for its destruction. 



When I first visited the infested territory in Medford, in Seiitember, 

 1889, there was a region of considerable extent where the branches and 

 trunks of the trees were yellow with the clusters of eggs. This fall I 

 spent three days with Mr. Forbush and four of his most experienced 

 field hands searching for eggs, and we were able in all this time to find 

 but two clusters, and no one who was not acquainted with the facts 

 would have been aware that any uncommon insect occurred in all that 

 region. 



