51 



however, that our good fortune was only temporary, for four of these 

 five pests have gained a foothold within our borders. 



For several years there has been reason to expect that the imported 

 elm leaf -beetle, which has been so troublesome in other States, would 

 attack the elm trees along our southern borders, although there 

 seemed to be some reason to hope that it would not flourish in the 

 central and northern parts of the State. It was something of a sur- 

 prise, therefore, to receive from Conway Center larvae of this pest, 

 with the report that they had been at work upon an elm tree for at 

 least two seasons. To make sure of the identification, the specimens 

 were sent to Dr. L. O. Howard, who said that they were undoubtedly 

 the imported elm leaf-beetle. If this insect can successfully establish 

 itself in the White Mountain region I can see no reason why it should 

 not become a pest in all parts of the State to the southward. 



For years I have been expecting the advent of the San Jose scale 

 into our State, but have been unable to find any trace of it until this 

 season. The very fact that there are practically no nurseries in the 

 State not only rendered the finding of the pest more difficult, but 

 made it more probable that it would be introduced without our 

 knowledge. At present two infested localities are known, though it 

 is probable that others exist. In the one first discovered the insect 

 apparently was introduced on a tree set nearly eight years ago, the 

 tree having been purchased from the nursery near Boston which 

 appears to have been largely instrumental in spreading this scale 

 through Massachusetts. In the same neighborhood the pest appears to 

 have been reintroduced last spring on trees bought of a local agent, 

 who had purchased them outside the State. The other infestation, 

 which is at Dover Point, originated from peach trees bought of a local 

 greenhouse man who imports trees from outside the State. 



We have as yet no nursery-inspection law in our State, and the 

 scarcity of nurseries would render a law so named something of a mis- 

 nomer. We need, however, and shall probably get this winter, some 

 law that will be helpful in the matter. 



Another pest which appears to have been added to our lists com- 

 paratively recently is the pear-tree psylla, which has been destructively 

 abundant during the season at least in Concord and Newmarket. Very 

 likely we shall hear of it in many other localities in the near future. 



The brown-tail moth seems to have been first introduced into New 

 Hampshire in the summer of L899, probably by a severe gale that 

 blew the adults along the coast northeast from Boston. A winter 

 nest of this insect was found in December, L899, at Seabrook, the 

 southeastern town of the Granite State, by Mr. F. C. Moulton, of tin 1 

 Gypsy Moth Commission, and in the summer of L90J an adult moth was 

 taken at light in Hampton, the town directly north o\' Seabrook. No 

 damage from the pest has been reported, but doubtless its general 

 presence in our southeastern region is only a question of a few years. 



