12 ANNUAL REPORTS 01 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 19 19 
V irlv 125,000 acres were sprayed in New England, New York, and 
Pennsylvania in the spring of 1948, all but about 33,000 acres by air 
craft More than half of this acreage was on Cape Cod. This is th- 3 
largest spray program ever attempted in the gypsy moth infested 
area. The Bureau used one of its C 17 and several N3N 
In N«'w York two State-owned Stearman biplanes were used, and on 
Cape Cod, in addition to Bureau and Air Force aircraft, several I 
of commercial planes and helicopters were operated on cont rack For 
ground spraying 10 mist blowers were operated, 7 of which arc fed- 
erally owned. 
More than 6,000,000 acres in the infested States and contiguous 
area- of Canada were surveyed with the aid of sex-attractant traps, 
and another 2,000,000 acres were surveyed by trained inspectors in 
the summer of 1948. No male gj psy moths were caught in the areas 
surveyed with trap- in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Canada. The 
records of captures in New York and New England were used in pre- 
paring plans for subsequent scouting and spraying. The result 
the surveys indicate that the westward Limits of the infested area have 
been determined. 
Cape Cod initiates its own spray program 
The control program conducted on (ape Cod. Mass., in the spring 
of 194; I was a Significant innovation in that it was initiated by the local 
community. Barnstable County, which is Cape Cod, and the State 
conservation department made funds available for spraying the en- 
tire county. Several towns also gave financial assistance. This Bu- 
reau, in addition to furnishing an airplane and pilot, assigned techni- 
cally trained personnel to help coordinate the program and to check 
results. About 230.000 acres, practically the entire (ape. were 
sprayed, all but 1,400 acres by airplane, included were about 22,600 
acres of Army property, including Camp Edwards and a small area 
at Wellfleet, which was sprayed by the Air Force. Other airplanes 
and also helicopters were used by a commercial spraying company 
under contract. 
Frequent observations during the spray operation, in May and June 
1949, Bnowed tremendous mortality oi gypsy moth larvae. The entire 
Cape will be trapped during the summer to determine the effect iveness 
of the Bpraying. 
The effect oi the spraying on other forest insects, and on tick popu- 
lations was determined by Bureau workers, and State specialists on 
fi-h biology, Wildlife, public health, and reclamation. BS Well BS the 
Massachusetts Audubon Society, joined in the program. 
Collection of (ittrm tout for survey traps inrreosed 
The cost of obtaining attractant from female gypsy moths for use 
in survey traps was greatly reduced, from 6. I cents per trap in 1946 
to 2.2 cent- in 1948, in spite of increased labor costs. This reduction 
was made possible by an excellent collecting season and improvements 
in technique of collection and method of handling the pupae. An 
improved type of trap was also used. 
More than l .8 million female gypsy moth pupae were collected in the 
summer of 1948, and from this record number the terminal segments 
