ANNUAL REPORTS. . 263 



II. Investigations. 



Brown-tail moths. — During the winters of lOO-A-'Oo and 

 1905-'06 the spread of the brown-tail moth in the state was 

 determined ; during the summer of 1905 its Hfe history and 

 habits were studied, and a bulletin concerning it was pub- 

 lished February, 1906. The spread during the past summer 

 will be determined this year and an account of the present 

 status of both it and the gypsy moths will be immediately 

 published. 



Gypsy Moths. — In the fall of 1905, with the co-operation 

 of the State Board of Agriculture, the existence of the Gyp- 

 sy Moth in New Hampshire was determined and the infested 

 localities, w^hich include all of the coast towns, were par- 

 tially located. The writer has kept in touch with the work 

 being done against this insect by Massachusetts and by the 

 Bureau of Entomology, of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, under a recent appropriation of Congress. A 

 full account of it was published in Bulletin 121, December, 

 1905. The gypsy moth is the most serious insect pest which 

 has ever threatened New England or the East and we are 

 doing everything possible to arouse public sentiment to the 

 danger of apathy in combating it. 



Codling Moth. — Believing that the apple promises to be 

 New Hampshire's most profitable crop, we are making spec- 

 ial study of all insects affecting it. ^ The most important of 

 these is the Codling Moth, commonly called "the apple 

 worm." An exhaustive study of the life history and habits of 

 this pest and extensive experiments concerning the best 

 methods of spraying to combat it have been conducted dur- 

 ing the past season, and will be continued. A full know- 

 ledge of the habits of the pest cannot be secured in a season, 

 but we hope to report fully concerning it in the next bien- 

 nial report. Spraying experiments were conducted with 

 the co-operation of the orchard owners, Mr. Albert De- 

 Meritt, at Durham ; Mr. Wm. H. Weeks, Greenland ; Mr. C. 

 E. L. Hayward, Hancock; and Mr. H. H. Thompson and 

 Prof. F. W. Hooper of Walpole. In all 150 trees were 



