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The main lines of work this year have not been different from those 

 adopted the preceding year, though in some details there have been 

 changes. The greatest attention has been paid to the destruction of 

 the eggs. It was thought that the method of burning the eggs in situ 

 adopted last year was injurious to the trees and that many of the eggs 

 were not only not destroyed but scattered about. Consequently such 

 as were in exposed situations on trees, fences, etc., were cut out and 

 burned. 



The danger of scattering the eggs by this method would not seem to 

 be very much less than by burning them in place. 



For egg masses that could not be collected and destroyed another 

 method has been employed. This is called blazing, and is applied 

 chiefly to stone walls, trunks of old trees, heaps of stone, etc. 



The apparatus used consists of a cyclone nozzle attached to a pole, a 

 brass rod passes through the pole, a line of hose connects the pole with 

 a tank, from which crude oil is pumped. A blaze thus started, a run- 

 ning fire is secured, and it soon penetrates all the cracks and crevices. 

 This seems a useful and effective way of destroying many eggs not 

 readily reached by any ordinary method. The committee and their 

 superintendent place their greatest hope of the extermination of the 

 Ocneria upon the destruction of the eggs ; to an impartial observer, 

 however, the probability of the detection of every mass of eggs scattered 

 over an area of 50 square miles seems very small, especially when it is 

 remembered that they are placed in almost every conceivable situation 

 upon the trunks, branches, and even the leaves of trees and shrubs, 

 upon fences, the sides of houses, under stone walls, piazzas, board Avalks, 

 etc. So far as my observations go the search for the eggs has been 

 carefully done, though I have found masses of the eggs after the inspec- 

 tion of the locality had been completed. Many similar cases have been 

 reported $ they should be considered as a criticism of the method rather 

 than an indication that proper care had not been exercised, for as Prof. 

 Fernald says, "it is not at all probable that one will find all the egg 

 masses even with the most careful searching on the trees in a small 

 orchard." 



Owing to a lack of time or insufficient force some of the most badly 

 infested districts were not inspected during the spring search. 



Early in May the committee turned their attention to destroying the 

 larvae by spraying with Paris green. After the visit of the United 

 States Entomologist, about the middle of June, a nozzle that would 

 throw a mist spray was obtained, an ordinary garden nozzle having 

 been used up to that time. A tendency to cover too much ground in a 

 given time was noticed, and also much unevenness in the effectiveness 

 of the spraying. It is quite possible, however, that this unevenness 

 due to inexperience was inevitable under the circumstances. 



Though this indiscriminate spraying undoubtedly did much good in 

 lessening the ravages of the cankerworms, Orgyia, etc., it certainly in- 



