60 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 13 
December, 1919 
Massachusetts. 1900 square miles 
New Hampshire. 20 square miles 
New York 
Schenectady area. 500 square miles 
Western area. 400 square miles 
Too much emphasis should not be placed upon the apparently very 
great extension the past season owing to the fact that the insect was 
certainly present in New York areas in 1918, and very probably at 
least a year or two earlier. There are some who believe the borer 
may have been in most of these areas for nine years or thereabouts. 
We would prefer additional data before accepting such an estimate 
without reservations. 
It was believed at first that the European corn borer was brought 
into this country with hemp imported for the use of rope walks near 
Boston, though there is a possibility that it may have been introduced 
with broom corn and in this connection it is interesting to note that 
there is a broom factory at Everett, Mass., an extensive broom industry 
at Amsterdam, N. Y., and at least one small broom factory at Irving, 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. It should be noted that the New York 
infestations have excellent rail connections with the older infested 
territory north of Boston. Since the European corn borer may be 
carried in the larval stage in the stems of a considerable variety of 
plants, these outlying infestations and in fact the presumably original 
one near Boston may have originated through the shipment of any one 
of a number of infested plants. It has even been suggested that green 
house plants may have been the original carrier, though hemp and 
broom corn are presumably the more probable mediums of trans¬ 
portation. It is a little remarkable that all infested places at the 
somewhat distant points are directly west and none southwest of 
Boston. The infestations directly south of Boston were probably 
brought about by the shipment of green corn to summer hotels. 
Conferences and Hearings 
1918 
September 6, conference at Boston, Mass., attended by a number 
of entomologists and agriculturists from the northeastern United 
States, together with representatives of the Federal Bureau of 
Entomology. 
1919 
February 7, conference at Albany, N. Y., attended by representa¬ 
tives of the New York state commission of agriculture, official 
