THE WOODS INFESTED. 



87 



committee made to the Legislature in former years, namely, 

 that the moths were distributed generally through the wood- 

 land in the inner towns of the infested region, and demon- 

 strated that they might prove a serious danger to wooded 

 parks and forests. Experts were sent into the woods to 

 examine them as thoroughly as was possible during the 

 summer. They discovered that a large portion of the Mid- 

 dlesex Fells was more or less infested by the moth. At 

 least one thousand acres of this reservation now appear to 

 be in this condition. In Saugus a tract of about the same 

 size appears to be similarly affected, and another even larger, 

 situated in Woburn, Lexington and Arlington, is also more 

 or less infested. There are at least three thousand acres of 

 woodland in the foregoing towns that are now known to be 

 infested by the gypsy moth. This condition had been sus- 

 pected, but the appropriation had never been sufficient to 

 watch the cultivated lands and highways and also to care 

 for the forested region. 



Throughout the season of 1895, as in previous seasons, 

 experiments on insecticides were conducted in the field and 

 observations were made on the habits of the moth and its 

 enemies. A small building was erected in the Maiden 

 woods for use as an experiment station, and to facilitate the 

 breeding of parasites and predaceous insects to be used for 

 experimental purposes. In all probability the results ob- 

 tained from observations and experiments in 1895 are more 

 valuable than those of former years. The experiments and 

 their results are treated of in the report of the entomologist. 



In some localities, where the moths were numerous upon 

 valuable ornamental shrubs or trees, the foliage was sprayed 

 with arsenate of lead. Where it was used at a strength of 

 thirty pounds to one hundred and fifty gallons of water all 

 the caterpillars appeared to be destroyed. 



During the season fire was used with good effect in many 

 cases to check the ravages of the caterpillars in waste land. 



At the time of going to press little can be said of the 

 results of the work of 1895. It may be predicted, however, 

 that considering the phenomenal increase of the moths in 

 those sections where egg killing was not done in the spring 

 because of the delay of the appropriation, and considering 



