8 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture. 



Each State has its own organization which is attempting 

 to reduce the infestation within its borders, and much effec- 

 tive work has been accomplished as a result. The work of 

 the Bureau of Entomology is so ordered as to avoid duplica- 

 tion and prevent conflict with that carried on by the State 

 authorities, and as these matters have been arranged in 

 advance, little difficulty in this respect has been experienced. 



The work which is being carried on in New England to 

 prevent the spread of these insects is of the utmost impor- 

 tance to other States. It has been well said that " an ounce 

 of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and this can be 

 no better demonstrated than in the experience which Massa- 

 chusetts has had with the gipsy moth. During the time 

 when an attempt was made by the State to exterminate the 

 insects in the nineties, the largest amount of money expended 

 by the State in any one year was $200,000, and there is good 

 reason to suppose that if this work had been continued the 

 annual expenditure at the present time would have been 

 materially decreased. The year after the work was resumed 

 and thoroughly organized, an expenditure of nearly one- 

 half million dollars was necessary, and the amount expended 

 annually during most of the years since that time has been 

 even greater. This was paid by State appropriation and by 

 contributions required by law from infested towns and cities 

 and from the owners of infested property. While recently 

 the expenditure has been reduced somewhat, over a half 

 million dollars is the yearly expenditure in Massachusetts at 

 the present time, the money being raised by the same method. 



The New England States are carrying the greater part of 

 the burden of moth infestation because from them come 

 mainly the funds for control work and they are suffering 

 from the injury caused by the insects, but the money appro- 

 priated by the Federal Government, while assisting these 

 States in some measure, is also providing insurance to the 

 uninfested States, and that at a very low rate. 



To illustrate the necessary expenditure by towns and 

 cities in the infested area in order properly to control the 

 gipsy moth, a few examples are cited. These are all taken 

 from towns and cities in Massachusetts, where the infesta- 

 tion has been rather heavy during the last few years. The 

 information in regard to population is based on the United 



