EXTERMINATION. 



249 



the exigencies of the case might seem to warrant such a course. 

 Therefore burlapping, banding, spraying and other means, 

 less expeditious and in the end more expensive than fire, 

 have been resorted to. These means call for larger appro- 

 priations than have yet been made, and without such appro- 

 priations, promptly granted, the extermination of the moth 

 can never be accomplished. Though a continual advance in 

 the work of extermination has been made annually in the outer 

 towns of the infested district, though some of them appear 

 quite and others nearly cleared of the moth, there is a section 

 of woodland in the inner towns which is probably in a worse 

 condition than it was in in 1891. 



Larger Appropriations Needed, 



While the agents of the Board have been engaged in pre- 

 venting the spreading of the moth and prosecuting the work 

 of extermination in the outer towns of the infested region, 

 they have been unable to do much more with the means pro- 

 vided than to check the moth's annual increase in the central 

 towns. This partial policy, the inevitable consequence of 

 the inadequate appropriations, has necessitated in the inner 

 towns an annual repetition of the work and expense with- 

 out any considerable advance towards extermination in those 

 towns. As a result, while extermination has been success- 

 ful over large areas, principally in the outer towns, the 

 moths have increased in the comparatively neglected wood- 

 land in the central towns. The Board is required by law 

 to do all possible toward preventing the spread and securing 

 the extermination of the gypsy moth in this Commonwealth. 

 All possible with the means at hand has been undertaken. 

 All the evidence obtainable goes to show that the spread of 

 the moth into territory outside the region infested in 1891 

 has been prevented, and that extermination has been accom- 

 plished both locally and over a considerable area, greatly 

 reducing the infested territory. Our only hope of prevent- 

 ing the spreading of the moth lies in doing everything possible 

 to exterminate it. Therefore, whatever imperils the success 

 of extermination, renders the prevention of the moth's dis- 

 semination less certain. The expense of extermination has 

 been greatly augmented and success retarded and gravely 



