1896.] ESSAYS. 81 



far as it has greatly reduced the number of insects and tlie extent of 

 territory infested by tbem. More than one tliird of the territory 

 which was found infested in 1891 has been tlioroughly cleared of the 

 motli. The great difficulty which the Board of Agriculture has had 

 to contend with in the work of exterminating the moth has been that 

 their recommendations to the Legislature for the past three years that 

 an appropriation be granted sufficient to do all the work that could be 

 done economically each year, have gone unheeded. Each year the 

 appropriation has been reduced one-third to one-fourth less than the 

 amount recommended. The appropriations have also been so delayed 

 that the caterpillars have been allowed to hatch and spread to some 

 extent each spring before the work could be begun. In the progress 

 of the work it has been conclusively proved that the moths can be 

 exterminated from any locality, no matter what the situation or the 

 difficulties to be overcome. More than a thousand separate and dis- 

 tinct colonies of the moth have been wiped out of existence. 



As the female moth cannot fly, there can be no extensive spread of 

 the moth until its numbers become so great that the caterpillars are 

 carried out of the infested centres in all directions by vehicles and 

 pedestrians npon which they fall. 



Those who are fully acquainted with all the facts in regard to the 

 work believe that the Gypsy moth can be exterminated if sufficient 

 means can be provided by the Legislature for a term of years. If 

 this is not done, there can be no hope of the extermination of the 

 moth. If insufficient means are provided, it will be impossible either 

 to exterminate it or prevent its spread, and it will undoubtedly be 

 distributed not only over Massachusetts but the greater portion of the 

 United States. 



