1898.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 105 



carefully banded with heavy paper and painted with Morrill's 

 tree ink early in the spring, when the first females began to 

 ascend the trees, and the painting was repeated as often as 

 necessary. It was found that the ink would often harden on 

 the trees even during the night following the application, and 

 remain hard on the shady side long enough in the morning 

 for some of the females to ascend the tree on that side, so 

 that this method did not prove to be a perfect protection. 

 The cost of the materials and of their application averaged 

 about fifty cents to each tree. 



The oil troughs are also quite expensive, and often leak so 

 that the rain displaces the oil and then evaporates, allowing 

 the females to ascend the trees ; or spiders spin their webs 

 across beneath the overhanging protection, forming a bridge 

 on which the moths may easily pass, so that this device does 

 not form a perfect protection. 



Two years ago these trees were sprayed with Paris green 

 in water, in the proportion of one pound to one hundred and 

 fifty gallons, at a cost of five cents a tree, allowing fifteen 

 cents an hour for labor. There was a strong wind blowing, 

 and more time was required to do the work than would 

 otherwise have been the case. Last year the same trees 

 were sprayed with Paris green, in the same proportion as 

 before. At this time it was nearly calm, and the cost of 

 spraying was three cents a tree. The contrast between these 

 trees and those on adjacent lots were very marked, for the 

 sprayed trees retained their foliage and yielded a full crop, 

 while the unsprayed trees were stripped of leaves, and bore 

 no fruit. These trees were sprayed but once, and this 

 method appears to have been more efi^ectual and far cheaper 

 than the others. In case of rain it might be necessary to 

 repeat the spraying, but even then it would be the cheaper 

 method. 



