414 Dr. Wallace on the Oak- feeding 
be carefully inspected and well shaken, and ants should be got 
rid of by repeated blows on the trunk, which have the effect of 
making the ants descend. After all the ants are got rid of, saw- 
dust soaked in gas tar should be placed at the foot of the trunk, 
and wool soaked in the same should be fastened around the collar 
of the tree. Over this they will not pass. Cotton wool is also a 
thorough impediment to the ants, Their little feet get entangled 
in the fine fibres, and they cannot move on. All boughs that 
touch the ground should be shortened, and intermingling boughs 
of other trees cut away. Too many worms must not be placed 
on the tree. It will be found convenient to fasten the stale 
boughs, on which the worms have been transported, to the living 
boughs, with one or two pins. After which the whole may be 
covered with a net to keep off the birds ; but care must be taken 
to keep the net from pressing on the summit of the oak foliage, as 
the worms delight to sleep thereon. If the oak be spindled-shaped 
(tetard), the net may be fastened at the bottom around the trunk, 
in order to keep boughs for two days without changing. Mons. 
Personnat recommends that they should be cut from forty to sixty 
inches long, and then have the cut end placed in water ; otherwise 
he is of opinion that the water is carried up too quickly to the 
leaves, and is injurious to the larva. He used for this purpose 
sandstone jars, half sunk in the ground, having boughs ten feet 
long and more placed therein. In order to prevent these from 
falling under the influence of the wind, he fastens to the boughs 
three cords, having the other ends fastened to wooden pickets in 
the ground, forming a triangle. ‘Thus the upright position is 
retained. A mixture of gas tar and sawdust is placed around the 
jars, and a net is placed over all. Another method is to place two 
boards, one above the other, supported by cross-pieces, having an 
interspace of two-thirds of an inch. They are pierced with cor- 
responding holes, large and small, so as to admit the passage of 
oak boughs, thirty to forty inches long. These boards are placed 
on a trough or bucket on four feet, of the same size as the boards, 
and filled with water, so that the boughs may be plunged therein 
sufficiently deep. A stop-cock at the bottom would allow the 
water to be drawn off, and changed every other day. One great 
advantage of this method would be the possibility of placing fresh 
branches of oak among the stale ones, or by placing a trough of 
fresh food alongside the one containing stale food. But there is 
also this disadvantage, that the boughs, being shorter than in the 
preceding method, keep fresh for a shorter time, and that the 
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