A LARGER APPROPRIATION URGED. 67 



plan will in the aggregate cost more than the former, but, as the 

 work need not necessarily be all done at once, and as it could be 

 done in connection with the other work of the department, utilizing 

 the time of the men in the winter and early spring, it may be the 

 best plan to pursue.* 



The committee had undertaken to secure as full informa- 

 tion as possible in regard to European experience with the 

 gypsy moth and the methods used in Europe to combat it, 

 as well as the probabilities regarding its future in this coun- 

 try and the destruction which would be caused by it if it 

 were allowed to spread unchecked except by individual 

 effort. The information thus gained was tersely embodied 

 in the report to the Legislature, as a warning to show what 

 might be expected in the future. Tables of damage done to 

 crops in the United States by insects were presented in the 

 field director's report. The entomologist, who had at first 

 grave doubts of the possibility of complete extermination, 

 stated in his report that he had been led to believe that such 

 a thing was really possible, provided the work were continued 

 for several years with sufficient appropriations to keep the 

 entire territory under careful supervision. The State Board 

 of Agriculture, approving the action of its committee, urged 

 that the appropriation recommended be granted, and that 

 every effort be made at once to rid the State of the pest. 



* Report of the State Board of Agiiculiure on the Extermination of the Gypsy 

 Moth, January, 1893, page 7. 



