No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxxi 



shipment, if only one of those insects had proved to be a bad 

 one, it might cost the country millions of dollars in a short 

 time. 



Other States are making more stringent laws all the time 

 regarding nursery shipments, and our nursery inspectors 

 have got to meet this by more careful inspections, so that 

 there will be absolutely no danger of shipments of dangerous 

 insects to territories now clean. The Colorado potato beetle, 

 under no inspection, spread w^ith amazing rapidity all over 

 the country, while we have had the gypsy moth for over 

 twenty-five years, and it is still confined to J^ew England, 

 owing to our stringent laws and the good work by those 

 charged with their enforcement. 



Insect Pest^. 



There have been quite a number of serious outbreaks of 

 insects during the past season, the tent caterpillar and brown- 

 tail moth being the worst oft'enders. There is no doubt that 

 the tent caterpillar has been getting worse and worse during 

 the past few years, and the outbreak of this year is only an 

 inkling of what we may expect this coming season unless 

 some of this insect's natural enemies rise up and keep it 

 down. All over southern 'New England this insect made the 

 landscape hideous with its stripped trees and unsightly nests. 

 Apple trees, wild cherry, peach and plum are its natural 

 food, and where no spraying was done the insects had a free 

 course. In order that the damage may not be repeated this 

 year, and to lessen the chance of these pests spreading, all 

 wild cherry trees should be cut down, as well as all apple 

 trees which are not going to be cared for by the owners. 

 Many of the wild and old pasture apple trees which stand 

 too far from the home farm to pay to care for would much 

 better be turned into firewood than left to act as a feeding 

 and breeding place for these insects. 



The forest tent caterpillar was also bad in some places, 

 where their w^ork is often mistaken for that of the gypsy 

 moth. Very serious damage was done late in the summer 

 in some locations by the brown-tail moth, and there seems 



