268 BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



keep it in check. Already a considerable number of parasites is 

 known to infest it. There will be a tendency for them to increase, 

 so that in time serious outbreaks of this pest will probably be only 

 occasional and in limited areas. Such outbreaks could be easily 

 subdued. 



While I believe that a change in the object of the work of your 

 committee seems imperative, I would not consider for a moment 

 the giving up of your warfare against the pest, but would advise its 

 continuance in the following manner : I would suggest no change 

 in the organization for carrying on the entomological work of the 

 State. A committee of the State Board of Agriculture, consti- 

 tuted as is your committee, seems to me to be the most appropri- 

 ate organization for this purpose. I would, however, recommend 

 the broadening of the scope of the work of this committee, so that 

 it should have authority to deal with any serious outbreak of insect 

 pests. I will not presume to indicate in detail the method of con- 

 ducting this work, beyond suggesting that in their more general 

 features the horticultural laws of the State of California might 

 serve as a model. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



J. H. COMSTOCK. 



Extract from the President's Address by L. O. Howard, 

 Entomologist op the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, delivered before the Sixth Annual Meeting of 

 THE Association of Economic Entomologists, Brooklyn, Aug. 

 14, 1894.* 



The work upon the gypsy moth, by the way, which has been 

 done by the State of Massachusetts since 1889, is one of the most 

 remarkable pieces of work, judging by results, which has yet been 

 done in economic entomology. The operations have been carried 

 on by a committee of the State Board of Agriculture, and the 

 means have been furnished by large annual appropriations by the 

 State Legislature. Three hundred and twenty-five thousand 

 dollars have already been appropriated. 



A territory comprising something over one hundred square miles 

 was infested by the insect, which occurred in such extraordinary 

 numbers as to destroy many trees and almost to threaten the ulti- 



* Insect Life, Vol. vii., No. 2, page 59. 



