536 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



It is to be hoped that something definite can be undertaken, 

 as the experiment will be valuable not only in eliminating 

 future moth troubles, but in establishing a coniferous forest on 

 an extensive scale, which economically and sesthetically would 

 prove of great interest. 



Moth Work in Boston. 



When the moth-suppression work was placed under the 

 supervision of the State Forester in 1909 the city of Boston 

 was one of the worst infested districts in the State. The city 

 up to that time had not attempted the work of suppression on 

 a scale sufficient to make any permanent impression upon the 

 insects, and the State had taken the attitude that the funds 

 were not sufficient to be able to compel the city to do what 

 the law requires. With these conditions, it inevitably followed 

 that the trees were stripped bare of their leaves in various 

 sections, and a great many trees died that might have been 

 saved. 



The following year, in 1910, this department began a system- 

 atic campaign of co-operative work with the city, and that 

 work has progressed until at the present time we are happy to 

 announce that the Boston trees are being as well cared for as 

 any, and that hereafter the State's financial assistance will be 

 relatively small if any. During the past five years the reim- 

 bursement from the State to Boston has been $82,000, and the 

 city has also been at a very heavy expense. Now that the 

 city superintendent, Mr. Wm. F. Long, has the work well in 

 hand with modern spraying equipment, and a corps of trained 

 men, this work should henceforth be kept up to its present 

 standard at relatively small expense. It certainly would be 

 suicidal to allow any indifference to creep in that would tend 

 to lessen this work in Boston in the future. Trees are certainly 

 one of Boston's greatest assets, and now that the conditions 

 are so favorable, it is to be hoped that all Bostonians will up- 

 hold the work of Mr. John H. Dillon, chairman. Park and 

 Recreation Department, and Mr. Wm. F. Long, the moth 

 superintendent. 



