February, ’24] 
felt: gipsy moth problem 
65 
festations here and there in western Vermont from the southern to the 
extreme northern part, a number being within a few miles of the New 
York border and several very close to our largest timbered area, the 
Adirondacks, would seem to justify such a statement. 
There has been in the past few months an extension of the infested 
area along the New York State line of nearly 150 miles. It is a serious 
situation and means that practically the whole of the proposed barrier 
zone from Long Island Sound north to the Canadian Border must be 
brought under very close supervision at once, if we are to prevent the 
westward spread of this very destructive pest of fruit, shade and forest 
trees. That is, very careful scouting and clean up work must be carried 
on over a strip more than 300 miles long and at least 25 miles wide. 
The physical proportions of the undertaking are enormous. It is no 
less than an actual attempt to arrest the progress of an insect which has 
become established throughout practically all of New England and is 
now pressing westward. The project, though huge, is by no means hope¬ 
less. Its successful execution demands the best that can be given and 
depends upon a thorough understanding of all phases of this exceedingly 
varied proposition and ability to solve early, new and pressing problems 
inevitable in an undertaking of this magnitude. The possibilities of 
changes in food preferences, the feasibility of modifying forest compo¬ 
sition, both very difficult from the investigational side, are two phases 
which may have a very practical bearing upon checking the spread of 
this pest. Residents of eastern New York, for example, are now being 
urged to cut, so far as practicable, the more favored food trees, such as 
pasture oaks, wild or worthless apple trees and both gray and paper 
birch, and to leave less favored trees, such as maples, and thus make 
control work easier. 
The 30-year fight in New England demonstrated the possibility of the 
barrier zone. It is economical, though costly. Investigations the 
past summer show that we may expect less spread through the agency 
of winds than farther east, due to the greater prevalence of westerly and 
southerly winds in eastern New York at the time young gipsy moth 
caterpillars are likely to be carried by air currents. An examination of 
the gipsy moth quarantined areas in earlier years shows that the pest 
extended its range to the Connecticut River in southern Vermont in 1912; 
that two years later the river was the dividing line in both northern 
Massachusetts and southern Vermont and eight years later, 1921, the 
boundary of the infested territory in Massachusetts was practically 
identical with the Connecticut River and that in southern Vermont the 
