LARGER APPROPRIATIONS NEEDED. G5 



that larger appropriations were needed. They believed that 

 they had now learned by experience how to eradicate the 

 moth. A large number of colonies had already been exter- 

 minated, and it had been proved that the moths could be ex- 

 terminated wherever they were found. The committee in its 

 annual report to the Board recommended that an appropri- 

 ation of $165,000 be granted for the work of 1893. The 

 report was accepted by the Board, and presented to the 

 Legislature of 1893. The report begins as follows : — 



In presenting the report of the gypsy moth department of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, in accordance with the provisions of 

 chapter 210, Acts of 1891, the committee desires to call attention 

 to the fact that this effort to exterminate the Ocneria dispar is the 

 first attempt on a large scale ever made in this Commonwealth to 

 destroy a species of insect, consequently there was no trustworthy 

 experience to guide the work. As it was an imported insect, its 

 habits and peculiarities in this country had to be ascertained 

 before the most effective methods of destruction could be deter- 

 mined. 



Much of the work that has been done may be considered as in 

 a measure experimental. As we have become more familiar with 

 the extent of the territory invaded by the moth, the magnitude of 

 the task has become more apparent. When the Legislature made 

 the first appropriation, it was supposed that the m^oth occupied 

 but a small part of one town. Careful inquiry has shown that it 

 infests thirty cities and towns. From our observations we have 

 no doubt that it was in nearly everyone of these localities in 1890, 

 when the campaign of extermination was commenced.* 



During the year much had. been done toward inspecting 

 the towns on the borders of the infested district. Of this, 

 the committee reports : — 



Much effort, involving a large expenditure, has been devoted to 

 the inspection of territory outside the infested limit. Numerous 

 letters have been received from different parts of the State and 

 from adjoining States, to the effect that supposed g3'psy moths 

 had been found. These notices have in all cases led to an inspec- 

 tion of the suspected locality. The towns just outside those 



* Report of the State Board of Agriculture on the Extermination of the Gypsy 

 Moth, January, 1893, page 5. 



