No. 4.] THE GYPSr MOTH. 241 



ten years since. The woodland which is thus more or less 

 infested probably covers fifty square miles of the central and 

 north-central portions of the infested district. 



In the attempt to exterminate the gypsy moth it was early 

 ascertained that the species was spread over a region many 

 times greater than that which was at first known to be 

 infested, and that it was not confined to lands under cultiva- 

 tion, but had penetrated to some extent into the woodlands. 

 These discoveries made it certain that extermination would 

 be extremely difficult, requiring years for accomplishment 

 even under the most favorable conditions. The best methods 

 known and used at first were not eftectual in securing exter- 

 mination, and the methods which later proved effective were 

 so expensive that they could not be carried out over so large 

 an area without larger appropriations than those which have 

 been granted. 



Although the extent of the infested region, the existence 

 of the moth in woods and the great expense of extermina- 

 tive methods have been all repeatedly presented to the Legis- 

 lature in the annual reports of this Board, the amount appro- 

 priated for each of the past two years has been only about 

 two-thirds of that recommended by the Board as absolutely 

 necessarv to do all that could be done to advantage under 

 the circumstances. 



The law requires the Board ' ' to use all reasonable meas- 

 ures to prevent the spreading and to secure the extermina- 

 tion" of the moth. The Board has apparently been success- 

 ful in preventing the spread of the moth and has consider- 

 ably lessened the area known to be infested. It has never 

 had an appropriation sufficiently large to do all that might 

 have been done in one year toward the extermination of the 

 moth. If the work is to be carried on under the present 

 statute and the policy of extermination is to be continued, 

 we believe that two hundred thousand dollars should be 

 appropriated for the work of the coming year. 



The committee believes that the work of extermination 

 should be continued, but is also firmly of the opinion that, if 

 the Legislature is unwilling to appropriate the sum necessary 

 for an aggressive campaign for extermination, the law should 

 be cbansred so that the Board of Ao;riculture shall be re- 



