REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 47 



ring; 3d. Bandages of various kinds of rag; 4th. Hay ropes; 5th. Pa- 

 per bandages, made of the cheapest kind of straw paper, lolded sev- 

 eral times, and in widths varying from three to six inches. In order 

 to insure the utmost accuracy, these several traps were regularly ex- 

 amined every twelve days throughout the season, and a careful ac- 

 count kept of the worms or chrysalides found under each ; and where 

 it was a question as to the comparative merits of the different traps, 

 they were placed on trees of the same variety. The results of these 

 experiments — not to waste space with the detailed array of figures — 

 may be thus summed up : 



No apple-worms were found until the 14th of June, and, though 

 many other insects had previously taken advantage of the shelter, not 

 a single Plum Curculio was found. While, therefore, there is no 

 harm in having the bandages on as early as recommended last year, 

 in ordinary seasons, little, if anything, will be lost by waiting till the 

 first of June. Where three of the Wier traps were on the same tree, 

 I obtained more worms than where there was but one ; and where 

 there was but one, there was no diiference in favor of position, as 

 regards direction or altitude — taking the season through. The lathed 

 canvas encircling the tree secured, on an average, five times as many 

 worms as any single Wier trap. The rag, paper and hay bandages 

 allured almost as many, and either kind more than the single Wier 

 trap. 



I hope, therefore, that the patentees have already realized the 

 anticipated fortune from their invention ; for while I should be sorry 

 to injure their chances in the least, truth compels me to state that, 

 after a year's trial, I am not quite as favorably impressed with the 

 usefulness of this shingle-trap as I was before trial, and am more thor- 

 oughly confirmed in the opinion expressed last year that, "notwith- 

 standing all the theories of my friend Wier, it must always be inferior 

 to any trap that encircles the tree." I do not wish to detract from its 

 merits one jot, and where old shingles are abundant and other mate- 

 rial scarce, the former will still prove valuable for the reasons given a 

 year ago; and Mr. Wier would dsserve our thanks for showing us 

 how to use them, did he not persist in claiming too much for them, 

 and in making us pay for their use. 



Time, expense and efficiency considered, and so far as one year's 

 comparison will warrant conclusions, I place the difi'erent materials 

 enumerated in the following order of merit: 



1. — Paper bandages. Common straw wrapping paper, 18x30, can 

 be bought for sixty cents per bundle. Each bundle contains 240 

 sheets, and each sheet folded lengthwise thrice upon itself, will give 

 us eight layers, between two and three inches wide, and be of suffi- 

 cient length to encircle most ordinary trees. It is easily drawn around 

 the tree and fastened with a tack, and so cheap that when the time 

 comes to destroy the worms, the bandages containing them may be 



