No. 4.] GYPSY MOTH. 223 



work, does not allow of anything being done against either 

 the gypsy or the brown-tail moth in the caterpillar stage, — 

 the most obvious and serious defect of a by no means perfect 

 enactment. It practically limits the work of suppression to 

 eight months of the year, when experience has shown that 

 the entire twelve are none too long if anything of serious 

 import is to be accomplished. 



The State superintendent is further hampered by the fact 

 that he has no direct control over the appointment of the 

 board or official to have charge of the work in any munici- 

 pality, of the hiring of subordinate employees, nor of the 

 time of making appropriations. These facts Aveaken his 

 authority and work against that centralization of manage- 

 ment which is so essential to an undertaking of this magni- 

 tude. Y^our committee would earnestly recommend that the 

 Board use its influence to induce the Legislature of 1906 to 

 amend the law in such a manner as to do away with these 

 obvious and vital defects. 



Acting under the provisions of the act above referred 

 to, Governor Douglas, on May 10, 1905, appointed A. H. 

 Kirkland, M.S., the State superintendent of the work against 

 the gypsy and brown-tail moths. Mr. Kirkland Avas in the 

 employ of this committee at the time it was carrying on the 

 work against these insects, and had been acting director for 

 six months prior to the stopping of the work by the Legis- 

 lature of 1900. This appointment was made with the full 

 approval and hearty endorsement of your secretary and this 

 committee. 



When the work was brought to a close, in 1900, at the 

 end of a fight marked by prejudice and passion on the part 

 of the opponents of the work and of this Board, we felt that 

 patience was all that was needed, and that the vindication 

 of our work, inevitable because of its honesty and efficiency, 

 would come in due season. Five years have gone by, and 

 we see the work resumed along lines marked out by this 

 committee and endorsed by this Board, with one of our most 

 trusted and efficient former lieutenants at its head, sur- 

 rounded and supported by men trained in the service of this 

 committee, and working along the only lines left for possible 



