1972-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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I 38 Report of the Tree Warders �! To the Honorable Board of Selectmen j and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: I hereby submit my report for the year ending December 31, 1972. Previous work of spraying of the brown tail and tent cater- pillars seems to be paying off, they seem to be getting scarcer. The gypsy moth was not quite as bad this year as the two pre- vious years, of course in some small spots they are quite prevalent, ' but they have not cleaned the leaves all off of the trees as in former years and left the trees practically bare. The pine looper has infested thirty-five hundred acres of our pine forest and two thousand acres of Falmouth and Otis Air Base, who are our neighbors. 3 I have talked with Charles Hood of the Department of Natu- ral Resources. He and the District Supervisor quoted the cost per acre for aerial spraying to be from three dollars to three dollars and twenty five cents. Mr. Hood made it quite clear that they do not have any money available for the town for this type of effort. I have talked with tree wardens of other towns and they say ! it is difficult to make a comprehensive plan of control on this vicious insect because of the uncertainty of the amount of destruc- tion by its natural enemies. About the best we can do is to get a I special appropriation and apply it with an aerial spraying, costing j in the neighborhood of one thousand seventy-five dollars and if the looper doesn't show the money will revert back to the General Treasury. The little oak leaf skeletonizer, about a quarter of an inch II long, yellowish in color, that moves along like an inch worm and j comes down over your patio or cookout, will be taken care of this year on call or complaint, but will still have to be paid for to the Town Treasurer. Our new Town sprayer works like a charm, whether throwing a strong spray or a heavy fog.