78 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



On June 19 the executive committee of the State Board of 

 Agriculture petitioned for an additional appropriation of 

 $65,000, but the petition was referred by the Legislature 

 to the next General Court. 



The work of destroying the eggs of the moth had been 

 carried on, whenever the weather permitted, in January, 

 February, March and April. During these months the Leg- 

 islature had been considering the advisability of making the 

 appropriation recommended by the committee in charge of 

 the work. On March 6 the committee held a joint meeting 

 with the Metropolitan Park Commission. Arrangements 

 were made so that the work of the Board of Agriculture in 

 the Middlesex Fells might not conflict with the plans of the 

 Park Commission. The public forest reservation controlled 

 by the Park Commission and situated in Maiden, Medford, 

 Melrose, Stoneham and Winchester, includes most of the 

 Middlesex Fells. 



On May 1, the appropriation of 1893 having been ex- 

 pended, all field work was discontinued. Nothing was done 

 in the field from that time until May 23, when the Legis- 

 lature appropriated $100,000. More than three weeks of 

 the best working time of the season were thus lost. Those 

 portions of the infested region in which it had been planned 

 to destroy the eggs or young caterpillars were left entirely 

 unguarded and the caterpillars hatched and scattered over 

 the surrounding country. Thus the delay of the appropria- 

 tion made the work far more costly. Trained and experi- 

 enced employees were obliged to seek positions elsewhere, 

 and the indirect loss and delay occasioned were as detrimen- 

 tal to the work as the loss of time when the men were laid 

 off. * * This enforced suspension of the work was most unfort- 

 unate, occurring as it did when the men were destroying 

 the egg-clusters at the rate of thousands per day. Before 

 work was resumed the remainino; eo- org had hatched and the 

 larv88 had scattered. Had the work not been thus inter- 

 mpted, it would have been possible in many places to 

 destroy these young larvae en masse by means of burning." * 



* Fourth Report of the Board of Agricultui-e on the work of Extermination of the 

 Gypsy Moth, January, 1S95. 



