After the larvte have collected under the bands they must be killed 

 or the bands will become a positive aid to the insect. The usual 

 method of examining- the bands- is as follows: One end is removed 

 from the nail and rolled back upon itself around the tree. As the 

 cocoons, larvw, and pupai are exposed they are cut in two with a 

 sharp knife or crushed. Man}^ methods have been devised l)y which 

 these bands can be collected in wagons and brought to a central place, 

 where they are put in hot water, run through wringers, or some other 

 device used to kill the larvaj; but in view of the fact that many of the 

 worms will crawl out in transit, and comparatively few of them 

 remain attached to the bands, these methods must give way to the 

 one described. Another important point is the leng-th of time which 

 should intervene between the examination of bands and the killing of 

 the larva?. This time depends entirel}- upon the length of time which 

 it takes the larva to emerge as a moth after having left the fruit. In 

 the warmer sections of the West (5 or T days has been recommended. 

 B}^ extensive experiments carried on b}' Professor Gillette and the 

 writer it was found that practically none of the moths issue until 

 after 11 days from the time the}" entered the bands. The data upon 

 which the recommendation of 6 or 7 daj's w^as based have in some 

 cases been found to be quite inaccurate. When the trees were exam- 

 ined not all of the larvie were killed, and the second week afterwards 

 some of them were found to have emerged, and from this the conclu- 

 sion was reached that some of them went through the cocoon stage in 

 6 or 7 da3^s. The experiments by the writer and Professor Gillette 

 have been found in practice to allow a small number of moths to 

 escape. A person examining bands frequently can easily tell whether 

 the time is too short or too long. If the time is too long, man}^ 

 empty pupa cases will be found projecting from the band, whereas if 

 the time is too short most of the insects will be found in the larval 

 stage, not having had time to transform to pupa3. 



EXPENSE OF BANDING. 



When compared with the cost of spraying, banding is comparatively 

 expensive. One man can examine the bands and kill the larvfe on 

 about 300 trees in one day. Counting his wages at $1.50 per da}^ we 

 find that it costs about $5 a thousand trees for one examination, which 

 is about half the cost of one spraying. The bands should be placed 

 upon the trees in the spring at about the time the earliest larva? of the 

 first generation begin to leave the fruit. This time is usually about 

 two weeks after the first wormy fruits have been noted, and in south- 

 ern Idaho is about June 15. It is always well to apply the bands a 

 week or so earlier than there is an}^ necessity for. The bands should 

 be e?^amined every ten days and the larv^ie which have collected in 

 them killed. This makes about ten or eleven examinations of the 

 bands in the course of the season. Examination after the first week 



