WOKK IN THE STATE OP NEW HAMPSHIRE. 53 



WORK IN THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



The first infestation of the gipsy moth in New Hampshire was discov- 

 ered in 1905 by inspectors from the Massachusetts state office, loaned 

 by agreement between Mr. Kirkland and the New Hampshire experi- 

 ment station. Three experienced men were detailed and the experi- 

 ment station sent Mr. W. P. Flint, an assistant in the entomological 

 department, to make an examination of the trees along the roads in 

 the coast towns from Seabrook to Portsmouth. Egg clusters were 

 found in these towns and also in Hampton Falls, Hampton, North 

 Hampton, Rye, and Greenland. Additional scouting was done in 

 Exeter and Nashua, but no evidence of the moth found. 



The brown-tail moth had already thoroughly established itself in 

 southern New Hampshire and was causing great injury to orchard, 

 shade, and forest trees. 



No state funds were available for moth work. In 1906 a request 

 was made for assistance from this office, soon after the first appro- 

 priation was available, but it was too late to do any effective work 

 against the caterpillars, and as no serious outbreak of the pest was 

 evident, scouting was deferred until winter, when an examination 

 showed that the gipsy moth was present in 36 municipalities in the 

 southeastern part of the State. 



At the 1907 session of the legislature a law embodying some of the 

 principal features of the Massachusetts law was enacted, and $12,500 

 appropriated for each of the years 1907 and 1908. The enforcement 

 of the law was placed in the hands of the governor and council with 

 authority to appoint a state agent, if it was deemed necessary. Dur- 

 ing the first year the burlap work was let out by contract, and Mr. 

 G. E. Merrill, of Hampton Falls, N. H., was employed to inspect the 

 work of the contractors. 



All trees within about 100 feet of infested trees in the towns east of 

 Pelham along the Massachusetts border, and the coast towns to 

 Portsmouth, were burlapped and tended, and although some benefit 

 resulted, the amount of money available was entirely inadequate to 

 accomplish satisfactory results. At the close of the year Col. Thomas 

 H. Dearborn, of Dover, was appointed state agent, and has since that 

 time had charge of the moth work. 



The appropriations made by the State have not been increased, 

 although the scouting operations of the Bureau of Entomology have 

 resulted in the discovery of the gipsy moth in more than 100 cities and 

 towns. All of Rockingham, Strafford, and Belknap, most of Hillsboro 

 and Merrimack counties, and a few towns in Carroll County are 

 infested — an area of about 3,000 square miles. All the roadsides 

 and orchards in this entire territory have been examined, and similar 

 work has been done in a tier of towns surrounding the infested region, 



