83 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



berry-boxes all over the country, that some enterprising horticuUnrist has not 

 long before conceived the idea that here was an abundant supply, and cheap, 

 of a material altogether superior in points of cheapness, durability, and effect- 

 iveness, for the purpose of entrapping these worms to anything heretofore 

 devised. 



RULES FOR USIKG THESE BANDS. 



They can be put upon the trees at any time in the winter, or early spring, 

 whenever there is leisure to do it. But if not put on before,, they must be in 

 place from 32 to 36 days after the last blossoms have fallen, as it takes about 

 that time for the worms to grow to maturity. The trees should be fully 

 enclosed by the band. If one will not reach around, two or more can be 

 used. Some of my trees require three. These bands of mine are only 17 to 18 

 inches long, so that one will only encircle a tree of some six inches in diameter. 



This trap of Mr. Weir's that I show you, the inventor recommends that 

 two or more be put on each tree. But with this sort of band, if the tree is 

 enclosed, one is all-sufficient. I have found that I catch as many in one as in 

 several on one tree. I believe that they are all caught that go up or down the 

 tree if the band is properly put on. 



After the season approaches for the worms to appear, it is well to watch the 

 traps a little, and see when the first go in. This will be in this latitude from 

 the 20th of June to the 1st of July. Then, when two weeks are passed after 

 the first worms are found, the traps should all be taken off, the worms killed, 

 and then replaced, and so every two weeks thereafter, until towards fall, when 

 three weeks may intervene, as the transformation becomes slower. One point 

 is very important — not to let them run too long. These bands make a very 

 secure place for these worms, in which to go through their change, and unless 

 we attend to killing them, we will help to multiply instead of destroy them. 

 Even the birds will be debarred in a measure from doing the good they might, 

 if the worms had to seek shelter — as without the bands they would — in the 

 scales of the bark, and other uncertain hiding places. Though these 

 feathered friends of the fruit-grov/er do not propose to be cheated out of their 

 natural patrimony by the ingenuity of man, as you may see by the holes in 

 these bands made by the striped woodpecker and the chickadee. 



It may be adduced as an evidence of the value of birds to the fruit-grower, 

 that in the older portions of the prairie regions of the west, as in Illinois, 

 where orchards have long been planted, these insect depredators have been 

 much more troublesome and destructive than in our own State, owing, no 

 doubt, to the comparative small number of birds in those open countries; 

 needing, as they do, the shelter of woods for safety, and the proper conditions 

 for multiplication. This is no small argument in favor of shelter-belts around 

 our farms and orchards, and should have much greater consideration with us 

 than it does as yet. 



I will suggest also that it may often be important to clean the trees, 

 especially old trees, of moss and rough bark, so that the worms will fail to find 

 a suitable place to spin up in, and go through their change, so they will be all 

 the mo)"e sure to seek the trap, and I have no doubt but a wash of lime or lye, 

 or both, would be a great assistance. 



It must be borne in mind that the work of subduing this pest, if it is sub- 

 dued at all, must be taken hold of by the fruit-growers as a body, and not by 

 one or two in a neighborhood. I may use all energy and rid every worm that 



