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the amount was cut down in the Senate and part of it given for the or- 
nithological work, thus requiring the discharge of a number of those 
already engaged, and restricting the work of the De partment in ento- 
mology. 
BANDAGES AROUND THE TRUNK. 
There is always danger that a tree once sprayed or disinfected will 
get reinfested from the insects that have not been reached upon ad- 
jacent plants or upon the ground, and which in time may crawl upon 
the trunk. Any of the sticky bandages used for the canker-worm will 
check this ascent, but when the sticky material is placed directly on 
the trunk it may do more harm than good. It should, therefore, be 
placed upon strips of tar paper or other stiff paper, tied by a cord around 
the middle, the upper end flared slightly outward, and the space be- 
tween it and the trunk filled with soil to prevent the young insects from 
creeping beneath. Cotton should not be used for this purpose, as birds, 
for nesting purposes, carry away particles of it which may contain the 
young insects and may thus help to disseminate them. 
LEGISLATION. 
Next to the destructive locusts which occasionally ravage our grain- 
fields no other insect has perhaps been more thoroughly legislated 
against than this Icerya in California. Indeed, the manner in which 
the people of this State have taken hold of this insect question and 
have endeavored by all legislative means to enforce such action on the 
part of fruit-growers as best subserve the interests of the whole State, 
is highly commendable. Yet, while much good has undoubtedly re- 
sulted, the laws have too often proved inoperative, either through the 
negligence or ignorance of those appointed to execute them, or still 
more often through the indifference or opposition of individual growers, 
or unwillingness of the courts to enforce the laws with vigor. And 
while the greatest co-operation should be urged, and, if possible, en- 
forced, in battling with these insect pests, yet, so far as this particular 
species is concerned, no human endeavor can now exterminate it from 
the country. It has come to stay, and nothing has more fully forced 
itself upon my conviction than that, in the end, with all our laws, each 
orange-grower must depend upon his own exertions. It is, therefore, 
fortunate that the pest may be controlled by such individual exertions. 
While, however, we must admit that it is beyond our power to fully 
eradicate it from those districts in which it has obtained a foothold, the 
case is quite different when it comes to restricting its spread, and it is 
in this direction that wise legislation, and the strict carrying out of the 
legislative measures you have adopted, or may adopt, will be productive 
of much good. 
Recent history has furnished very good evidence of the power of 
stringent measures adopted by governments, whether to prevent the 
