Winter moth. 847 



above the sticks, or the attachment of the guards, is the safest 

 course. 



By means of the grease-banding, vast numbers of moths 

 were stopped in their upward traffic, wherever the plan was 

 properly carried out ; still the difficulties have to be watched 

 for and remedied, which were laid before me in 1889, by 

 Mr. Sutherland, chief reporter to the ' Worcester Herald,' 

 relatively to jxissage of stray moths across the sticky hands, and 

 passage of caterjnllars in spring over the dried hands. 



** It is now suggested that a wider band of the grease- 

 composition is necessary, and that it should be supplemented 

 by lime-washing the trunks in spring. One grower tells me 

 that he captured thousands of moths on the grease-bands 

 last autumn. Some, however, were quite on the upper edge 

 of the band, which may be taken as an indication that some 

 others got over the grease altogether. On the other hand, 

 other moths, after going a short way in the grease, turned 

 back, and laid their eggs on the trunks of the trees below the 

 band. Tiny caterpillars have been discovered on the trees 

 over the grease, showing that they must have been hatched 

 in the upper part of the tree ; and again it is suggested that 

 the fully-developed eggs in the dead bodies of the moths cap- 

 tured on the grease-paint may be hatched, notwithstanding 

 their position." 



Capt. Corbett also mentioned: — " We put bands of grease 

 in the autumn round our Plum trees (we do not like tar), and 

 killed thousands of moths ; still a few eggs are to be seen on 

 the branches, and a good many helow the band of grease. We 

 are dealing with them now in this way : we mix up a quantity 

 of clay (as the basis), well tempered with soot, lime, cow- 

 refuse, and water, and paint the whole of the stem of the 

 trees with it, working it well into the cracks, and we hope 

 that this will destroy the eggs." Capt. Corbett also placed in 

 my hands a slightly different recipe, which was used similarly 

 to the above, that is, the trees were painted with it in March 

 from the ground to the branches. This consisted of well- 

 mixed clay, 4 parts ; cart-grease, 1 part ; and soot, 1 part. 



Soft-soap and mineral-oil wasJics and emulsions. — On appli- 

 cation to Mr. J. Fletcher, Entomologist of the Dominion of 

 Canada (requesting his advice as one of the very best author- 

 ities, as to prevention of caterpillar attack), regarding the 

 surest way of destroying eggs left as above noted, he wrote as 

 follows : — "For washing the trunk, to destroy all eggs which 

 may have been laid during the winter, a kerosene emulsion 

 may be used. This should be done in the end of March." — J". F. 



The following recipes give directions for preparing the 

 emulsion, and with us paraffin oil may be substituted for 

 kerosene oil throughout : — 



