ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 177 



tending the use of tar, and the injury it does to the trees, 

 when allowed to run and remain on the bark, have caused 

 many persons to neglect this method, and some to try vari- 

 ous modifications of it and other expedients. 



" Among the modifications may be mentioned a horizontal 

 and close-fitting collar of boards, fastened around the trunk, 

 and smeared beneath with tar ; or, four boards nailed togeth- 

 er like a box, without top or bottom, around the base of the 

 tree, to receive the tar on the outside. This can be used to 

 protect a few choice trees in a garden, or around a house, 

 or a public square, but will be found too expensive to be 

 applied to any great extent. Collars of tin-plate fastened 

 around the tree, and sloping downward like an inverted 

 tunnel, have been proposed, upon the supposition that the 

 moths would not be able to creep in an inverted position 

 beneath the smooth and sloping surface. This method will 

 also prove too expensive for general adoption, even should 

 it be found to answer the purpose. A belt of cotton-wool, 

 which it has been thought would entangle the feet of the 

 insects, and thus keep them from ascending the trees, has 

 not proved an effectual bar to them. Little square or cir- 

 cular troughs of tin, or of lead, filled with cheap fish-oil, 

 and placed around the trees, three feet or more above the 

 surface of the ground, with a stuffing of cloth, hay, or sea- 

 weed between them and the trunk, have long been used by 

 various persons with good success ; and the only objection 

 to them is the cost of the troughs, the difficulty of fixing 

 and keeping them in their places, and the injury suffered by 

 the trees when the oil is washed or blown out, and falls 

 upon the bark. Mr. Jonathan Denis, Jun., of Portsmouth, 

 Rhode Island, has obtained a patent for a circular leaden 

 trough to contain oil, offering some advantages over those 

 that have heretofore been used, although it does not en- 

 tirely prevent the escape of the oil, and the nails with 

 which it is secured are found to be injurious to the trees. 

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