New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 421 



To secure the greatest benefit the tar papers should be applied 

 immediately after the plants are set in the field. If this work is 

 delayed for several days it gives the flies an opportunity to deposit 

 numerous eggs about the plants. 



The method of applying the card is to separate the two edges of 

 the slit running to the center, slip the card around the plant after 

 it is set, and see that it fits snugly about the stem. The paper pad 

 should then be pressed down firmly so that the under surface will be 

 in contact with the soil, and the radial opening closed. (Fig. 23.) 



In the use of tar pads the more important points to keep in mind 

 are to set good-sized plants, place them on a ridge rather than in 

 a trench, and attach the tar papers at the time the seedlings are 

 transplanted. 



In experimental efforts by truckers to determine the practicability 

 of protecting early cabbage by the above method, we advise that 

 the tar pads be applied to alternate rows, leaving the intervening 

 plants as checks. Under this system the benefit derived from the 

 protectors is likely to be more clearly shown than when the experi- 

 ment is conducted with detached plats. 



