8 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Active Campaign Planned Against 
the Gypsy and Brown- Tail Moths 
The state commissioner for the sup- 
pression of the gypsy and the brown 
tail moth, for. all that he is not asking 
for as large an appropriation for the 
coming season as he has had in the 
years that have passed, is planning an 
active campaign for continuing the 
work against this pest which has done 
such havoc in Massachusetts. 
He has been quick to avail himself 
of an outside assistance and has al- 
ready entered upon a _ corporative 
scheme with the federal authorities 
of the department of agriculture who 
are engaged in a similar line of work. 
It was recognized at the start that 
there was great opportunity for a con- 
fliction of these two independent bo- 
dies at work on the same line of acti- 
vities. 
lt has been arranged, however, that 
the federal commissioner and his force 
shall work more in the line of doing 
picket duty to prevent the spread of 
the pest over an enlarged area. That 
is the prime argument on which the 
federal appropriation was obtained in 
congress and, therefore, the officials 
of the national department are at work 
arranging for a corps of men who 
shall be stationed at different points on 
what might be considered the most re- 
mote points at which these moths have 
been observed. It will be their duty 
constantly to patrol their given amount 
of area and see that none of the moths 
spread beyond the border line, which, 
in a figurative way, has already been 
established about the infested area, so- 
called. 
This line of federal work commen- 
ces in south-eastern Massachusetts 
and extends outward towards Wor- 
cester county and then swings in a 
north-easterly direction into New 
Hampshire, through that state and 
somewhat into the state of Maine. The 
part of the national authorities in ac- 
cepting this branch of the work has 
left Prof. F. W. Rane, the state com- 
missioner, free from any worry as to 
the spread of the area and has allow- 
ed him to erploy his force and to ar- 
range for the employment the coming 
season in the more pronounced work 
of extermination. 
DIFFERENT SYSTEM ORGANIZED. 
Here again a different system has 
been organized and while in local com- 
munities one may see only city and 
town employees actively at work on 
the actual killing of these pests he will 
realize that they are working under 
the supervision of a district man who 
is continually going about in a certain 
group of towns and seeing that the 
work is properly done and endeavor- 
ing to discover new colonies whose 
destruction ought to be attended to. 
‘These men are in the employ of the 
state under the supervision of Prof. 
Rane and they, in themselves, are 
only the lieutenants of some one high- 
er up, who directs their activities and 
who is in turn responsible to the sup- 
erintendent himself. In former years 
the state has alloted or donated to 
cities and towns a certain sum of mon- 
ey which in many cases was used to 
put as many men at work as possible. 
Now, however, the state has adopted 
a new policy and state money, so far 
as possible, instead of being spent for 
employment of labor is to be used to 
purchase machines and materials. 
There is hardly a town of any 
great size in the infested area which 
does not have at its service a spraying 
machine equipped with a gasoline en- 
gine that will develop power enough 
to force the poisonous liquid to the 
top-most branches of the largest trees. 
While this machine, which represents 
quite a sum of money, is devoted to 
the use of one or possibly two or three 
towns, it is the property of the com- 
monwealth and so far as possible the 
commonwealth money is expended on 
the purchase of articles that will have 
a permanent use and value. This in- 
cludes, of course, a great amount of 
tools, etc. 
The next step in the expenditure of 
the state money is in the purchase of 
the proper poisonous materials to mix 
with water to be used in this spraying 
machine. It is, therefore, the policy 
which has already been worked out 
and considerably extended to depend 
upon the cities and towns to furnish 
the money to pay the laborers who 
have actually been employed in the 
manning of these machines, and even 
there the activities of employment at 
certain periods of the year, sugges- 
tively around election time has been 
frowned upon by the state commis- 
ioner who has taken considerable pains 
to recommend to his subordinates that 
this feature of the employment be cur- 
tailed as much as possible. 
No Buriap ON TREEs. 
Another change in the system of 
former years that is quite noticeable, 
if one will come to think of it, is the 
discontinuance of the old practice of 
putting burlap about the trees. This 
was commendable if the burlap could 
be properly attended to. That is, they 
should frequently be opened and the 
contents removed and destroyed. It 
was found, however, that in many 
cases the whole or the greater part 
of the money would be expended in 
purchasing and in putting this burlap 
on the trees and that subsequently 
they would not be properly looked af- 
ter, so that in the course of time the 
moths found a way to get over this 
part of the protection and reached the 
tops of the trees and fed upon the 
leaves. 
An additional argument for the dis 
continuance of this practice has been 
the improvement in the spraying ma- 
chines which allows the reaching of 
the moths by a more thorough and 
less expensive means and in a way 
which it is claimed achieves as practi- 
cal a result. Again the spraying ma- 
chine has done away with the previous 
high climbing stunts of some of the - 
employees. While this had a some- — 
what dangerous aspect it was not so 
much on that account possibly that it 
was discontinued as it was the matter 
of expense. It was slow work and the 
cost did not warrant its continuance 
when the “high places” could be as 
effectively reached by the employment 
of the gasoline driven sprayers. 
GovERNMENT Arp In Buripine Roap: 
“The plan of enlisting Government 
assistance in the building of roads, as 
outlined in the activities of the Fed- 
eral Aid Good Road Association, is — 
one of the greatest factors in the fu- — 
ture of the motor car industry,” says 
Pres. John N. Willys of the Willys- 
Overland Company of Toledo, O. 
“The object of the organization is a 
highly important one. 
“Though the United States has tak- 
en a world lead in the manufacture of 
automobiles, it has been in spite of 
her highways, rather than because of 
them. And the sooner these conditions 
are remedied—and they can be reme- 
died properly only by the enlistment 
of Federal forces—the sooner will the — 
industry take the forward leap that 
will place it among the foremost com- 
mercial activities of the universe. 
“With Government assistance in 
building good roads, the United States 
can greatly increase its lead in the in- 
dustry and add further glory to its 
standing in the commercial and man- 
ufacturing world. The next conven- 
tion of the association, which will be 
held in Washington, March 6 and 7, 
1913, should be closely watched by 
every motor car manufacturer, dealer 
and owner in America. It is of vital 
importance to each one of them.” 
Mr. Willys is a summer resident of 
Pride’s Crossing, 
