REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 249 



examination of these nests that they contain on the average be- 

 tween five and six hundred eggs. This single tree was carrying 

 through the winter a prospective increase of one million and thirty- 

 five thousand caterpillars in one year. It has been found that 

 ten full-grown caterpillars weigh an ounce, but allowing twenty 

 to the ounce, the above number would weigh more than one and 

 one- half tons. The}' are omnivorous, eating the foliage from every 

 known tree, plant, and vegetable. They commence hatching about 

 the twentieth of April, and continue until the middle of June, and 

 feed until the last of Juh*. 



Strong colonies, if undisturbed, will kill most deciduous trees in 

 two years, and evergreen trees in one year. They not only destroy 

 the first foliage, but continue as the trees put forth new foliage to 

 devour it until the last of July. 



The difficulty, if not the impossibility, of controlling this insect 

 by ordinary methods has been illustrated in many instances. Gen- 

 eral Lawrence, of Medford, stated before a committee of the Legis- 

 lature that he spent more than three thousand dollars in a single 

 season in his efforts to protect his own premises, but failed, and 

 was obliged to call on the State employees for assistance. 



Congress, at its last session, passed an act requiring the United 

 States Department of Agriculture to make an investigation of the 

 gypsy moth in Massachusetts. In accordance with that act, L. O. 

 Howard, the head of the Entomological Division, has spent several 

 weeks in making a thorough examination of the whole territory 

 and the methods of work employed by the Committee for the ex- 

 termination of this insect. His report is now in the publisher's 

 hands, and will soon be issued, and may be relied upon as the 

 judgment of one of the most expert economic entomologists in the 

 country. 



This war on the gypsy moth is not for the protection of Massa- 

 chusetts alone, for if the work is discontinued, and they are allowed 

 to increase along the highways and railroads, they must inevitably 

 be carried into other States ; and, judging from our experience in 

 Massachusetts, we shall have tlie most dangerous and destructive 

 national insect pest ever introduced into this country. 



E. W. Wood, 



Delegate. 



