1900.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 33. 101 



many. During the past year the chemist of the Gypsy Moth 

 Couimission, Mr. F. J. Smith, made experiments at the 

 chemical laboratory of the insectary, to determine its com- 

 position. These experiments proved very successful, and in 

 consequence raupenleim can now be manufactured in this 

 country at a low cost. This one discovery has been esti- 

 mated as worth half a million of dollars to the farmers and 

 fruit growers of the United States. 



The Gypsy Moth. 



The work of exterminating the gypsy moth, with which I 

 have been connected since 1891, has been carried on during 

 the past year with marked success, and the insect has been 

 reduced to such an extent over almost the entire territory 

 that one who has kept in close touch with the field work for 

 several years past cannot fail to be impressed by the great 

 gain that has been made towards the extermination of this 

 pest. 



There is no longer an}^ question, in the minds of those 

 who have made a careful personal investigation of the work 

 throughout the infested territory, that the gypsy moth can 

 be exterminated. Nearly all of the prominent economic en- 

 tomologists of this country have inspected the work with 

 great care, and have become fully convinced that extermina- 

 tion is possible, if the Legislature each year prom])tly grants 

 the full appropriation asked for this purpose by the gypsy 

 moth committee. The entire responsibility now rests with 

 the Legislature. 



The Brown-tail Moth. 



This insect has now become widely distributed in the east- 

 ern part of this State, and even extends into New Hamp- 

 shire ; it is therefore believed to be impossible to exterminate 

 this pest with any appropriations that the two States in which 

 it now occurs would be likely to make. When attention was 

 first called to this insect, in the spring of 1897, the matter 

 was laid before Governor Wolcott, who sent a message to 

 the Legislature recommonding an a|)propriation of $10,000 

 for the extermination of the pest, which then occurred only 

 in a very limited area. It was believed that this amount 



