REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON GYPSY MOTH, INSECTS AND BIRDS.

[Read and adopted at the Public Winter Meeting, Dec. 5, 1905.]

To the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture.

In making its report, your committee on gypsy moth, insects and birds would call attention to its recommendations of a year ago, and to their practical acceptance by the Legislature of 1905. At that time we recommended that the work be placed in the hands of a paid commission, with a large appropriation, to be extended over a number of years with a maximum and minimum amount to be expended in any one year, and the work to be carried on against the insect at all seasons and in all forms.

The last General Court enacted a bill for the appointment of a State superintendent of the gypsy and brown-tail moth work, at a salary to be fixed by the Governor and Council, with an appropriation of $300,000 up to and including May 1, 1907. Of this amount $75,000 could be expended during the present year, $150,000 and any unexpended balance of the previous year during 1906, and $75,000 and any unexpended balance of the previous years during 1907, up to and including May 1. The act also provides for the co-operation of municipalities in the work against these insects, and fixes the amounts which they are required to spend and the reimbursement which they shall receive from the treasury of the Commonwealth.

The only direct recommendation of this committee which did not meet with the approval of the Legislature was that which called for work against the insect at all seasons and in all forms. The act passed at the last session of the Legislature, and under which the State superintendent is now at

work, does not allow of anything being done against either the gypsy or the brown-tail moth in the caterpillar stage, — the most obvious and serious defect of a by no means perfect enactment. It practically limits the work of suppression to eight months of the year, when experience has shown that the entire twelve are none too long if anything of serious import is to be accomplished.

The State superintendent is further hampered by the fact that he has no direct control over the appointment of the board or official to have charge of the work in any municipality, of the hiring of subordinate employees, nor of the time of making appropriations. These facts weaken his authority and work against that centralization of management which is so essential to an undertaking of this magnitude. Your committee would earnestly recommend that the Board use its influence to induce the Legislature of 1906 to amend the law in such a manner as to do away with these obvious and vital defects.

Acting under the provisions of the act above referred to, Governor Douglas, on May 10, 1905, appointed A. H. Kirkland, M.S., the State superintendent of the work against the gypsy and brown-tail moths. Mr. Kirkland was in the employ of this committee at the time it was carrying on the work against these insects, and had been acting director for six months prior to the stopping of the work by the Legislature of 1900. This appointment was made with the full approval and hearty endorsement of your secretary and this committee.

When the work was brought to a close, in 1900, at the end of a fight marked by prejudice and passion on the part of the opponents of the work and of this Board, we felt that patience was all that was needed, and that the vindication of our work, inevitable because of its honesty and efficiency, would come in due season. Five years have gone by, and we see the work resumed along lines marked out by this committee and endorsed by this Board, with one of our most trusted and efficient former lieutenants at its head, surrounded and supported by men trained in the service of this committee, and working along the only lines left for possible

effective work after the long period of cessation of effort against these insects. It is to be regretted that the possibility of extermination no longer exists, and that the only result of future work possible is the prevention of the spread of the gypsy moth and the reduction of the damage it will occasion in the infested territory. Chastened and subdued by the experiences of the past five years, none of the former opponents of the work are now so bold as to claim that the gypsy moth is a humbug, and that with the stoppage of appropriations by the State the damage from the insect would also cease. Those who took part in the campaign for the bringing of the work of this committee to a close are now silent, nor are they at all desirous of being known as active agents in fastening this great annual tax on the Commonwealth and the cities and towns of the infested region for all time.

On June 30, 1905, your committee, together with the executive committee of the State Grange, Superintendent Kirkland and others interested, made a visit of inspection to the infested territory. Enough was seen on that visit to show the constant and increasing menace of the gypsy moth, and to prove that action against it could not have been longer delayed without even more serious and far-reaching consequences. At the park in Arlington we found the trees stripped bare as in winter; great masses of caterpillars gathered on the trunks and festooning from the limbs; the seats covered and in places the ground literally carpeted with the crawling insects, migrating in search of the food destroyed in that particular place by their own voracious appetites, — all this in spite of a very active and intelligent campaign carried on against the gypsy moth by the citizens of the town, probably more work and better concerted effort having been put out here by the citizens than in any other municipality. The park was practically useless for park purposes, in such condition that no one would frequent it unless compelled to do so, and not likely to be of any permanent value as a breathing spot for the public in the future, or at least for some years to come. The same conditions prevailed in many other parts of the territory, as

shown by our visit of inspection. The stripping of trees was much in evidence, particularly in woodland colonies that had been long neglected, and there were numerous dead and dying trees to be seen, in deciduous varieties as well as among the evergreens.

For the facts and figures which follow as to new infestation discovered we are indebted to State Superintendent Kirkland. At the close of the work of this Board in 1900 there were 359 square miles of territory infested by the gypsy moth. The unchecked spread of the insect during 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904 and the first half of the current year has resulted in the infestation at the present time of 2,083 square miles. To-day the insect is to be found, in Massachusetts, from the New Hampshire line on the north to Cape Cod on the south and Worcester County on the west. One town in the latter county, Southborough, has also been found to be infested during the present year. The infestation south of Boston is light as compared with that on the north of the city, being mainly in scattered colonies of recent establishment, but calls for no less vigorous action on the part of State and local officials.

It would be impossible to state the limits of the infestation by the brown-tail moth with any degree of accuracy. It is known to be in many towns in Worcester County, and is probably even farther west. It has extended well down into Maine, and it is not likely that the extent of its infestation of that State is realized as yet. Its spread to the south and southeast is comparatively slow, and the infestation in those directions light, due in a large measure to the southwest winds usually prevailing during the flight season of the insect. Experience has shown that this insect is much more susceptible of control than is the gypsy moth, and that an energetic campaign during the winter months will always ensure its comparative rarity in any locality the following The unpleasant nettling effects produced upon the skin have also a decided tendency towards making individual property holders more anxious to secure its eradication from their premises, and to this extent simplifies the official work of suppression.

season.

The gypsy moth is known to be in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as well as in Massachusetts; and, from the fact that the infestation extends to the Maine line, there is a strong probability that it will be discovered to be in that State also. With its presence in three States, and possibly in four, the question has ceased to be one for Massachusetts alone, and has developed into what may fairly be said to be a national question. The reluctance of the national government to take up the work is but natural; but when a great national menace to the agricultural interests of the country appears, it is none the less the duty of that government to interfere. The national government does not hesitate to take an active hand in the suppression of foot and mouth disease when it appears among the cattle of any section, and much praiseworthy work has been done by it in stamping out this and other diseases. It may be true that the government has never made a direct appropriation for the destruction of any insect; but a grave crisis confronts us, requiring the creation of new precedents, if necessary. The gypsy moth is slow in its spread; but if left to itself, or limited only by the action of officials bounded by municipal and State lines, it is inevitable that in the course of time it will make its way into all the States and Territories. With such extension of infestation goes the inevitable destruction of our orchards and forests. Animal diseases may run themselves out; the gypsy moth has shown that on this continent its natural control can only be brought about by the establishment of the balance of nature for which centuries are required. It seems to your committee that the time has come for the national government to take up this work, either independently or in conjunction with the State authorities, and no effort will be spared in that direction during the coming winter.

At the annual meeting of the National Association of Farmers' Institute Workers, held at Washington, D. C., Nov. 9-11, 1905, a resolution was introduced by your secretary, at the request of gentlemen from other States, calling on the national government to make appropriation and take an active part in the work against the gypsy moth,