46/ GYPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. [Jan. 



ences, with the approval of His Excellency the Governor, an 

 agreement was made whereby this office, from its appropriation, 

 the town of Manchester and the city of Beverly and the north 

 shore residents, would all contribute to a fund to be deposited 

 with the Honorable State Treasurer. It was also arranged 

 that the expenditure from this fund for the purpose of sup- 

 pressing the gypsy moth in the north shore woods should be 

 under the direct supervision of this office. The total amount 

 thus expended, and the sources from which it was obtained, 

 are given in a financial statement on another page. This ar- 

 rangement seemed most desirable, for many reasons. There 

 is no more valuable area of woodland in the entire State or in 

 New England than that which lies between Beverly and Glouces- 

 ter. Here large sums of money — often running into the thou- 

 sands on a single estate — have been annually expended by 

 property owners to protect their trees from the moths. As 

 long as adjoining woodland areas were not freed from the moths, 

 the work of such public-spirited citizens was annually undone 

 by caterpillars swarming in from without. Again, the resi- 

 dents of this section have built many miles of excellent wood 

 roads for carriage driving, and thrown tbem open to the pub- 

 lic. This section being so much frequented for shore driving, 

 the danger here of spreading the moths through the dropping 

 of caterpillars on vehicles is particularly great. Furthermore, 

 it seemed particularly to the advantage of this office to co- 

 operate liberally with these municipalities and citizens, when 

 they were in the mood to make large contributions for the pur- 

 pose of controlling the moths. 



We treated the scattering infestations and began thinning op- 

 erations in the woodlands on March 19, with 25 men, gradually 

 increasing this number, until on May 10, 420 men were em- 

 ployed in the work. About 20 bad colonies had been located 

 by the scouts where thinning operations were necessary, cover- 

 ing an area of approximately 1,100 acres. These colonies were 

 freed from underbrush and dead trees, leaving the greater part 

 of the conifers standing. Some gypsy moth egg clusters were 

 treated in the worst infestations, and dead wood removed from 

 trees where it seemed necessary. As soon as the foliage ap- 

 peared, the thinning of woodlands was gradually stopped, since 



