794 CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENT STATION REPORT, I907-I908. 



bark is also an effective barrier, but unless the eggs are destroyed 

 below the band before hatching, the young larvae will crawl 

 through the meshes and up the tree. 



Cost of Banding Trees. 



The sticky bands of tarred paper and cotton batting such as 

 have been described in this paper were applied to trees on the 

 station grounds in October. All trees, including fruit trees, 

 were banded, nearly one hundred in number, and averaging 

 rather small. "Tree tanglefoot" costs from twenty-four to thirty 

 cents per pound according to the quantity purchased, and is put 

 up in one, 'three and twenty pound cans. Tarred paper costs 

 seventy-five cents per roll, cotton batting ten cents, twelve-ounce 

 upholstery tacks ten cents per package. 



On the basis of these figures the bare cost of banding the trees 

 was a little more than ten cents per tree, of which about half 

 was for labor and half for materials. The cost will vary, of 

 course, with the size of the trees and the cost of materials and 

 labor. 



Summary. 



Canker worms have caused damage to trees in New England 

 for more than one hundred years, according to our records, and 

 from time to time during that period they have been injurious. 

 Many orchard, shade and woodland trees were stripped in 1908. 

 In the early days it was known that the females were wingless, 

 and that they crawled up the tree's to lay eggs, and tar bands 

 were recommended as a remedy. 



Though it was known that some of the adults appeared in fall 

 and some in spring, they were at first supposed to belong to the 

 same species, and it was not until 1874 that Dr. Riley published 

 an accurate and detailed description of their characters, thus 

 showing them to be distinct species. 



The spring canker worm, Paleacrita vernata Peck, has long 

 been destructive in the Southern and Middle Western States. The 

 adults emerge from the ground during March and April and the 

 females lay their whitish eggs, about fifty in number, in loose 

 irregular clusters, usually under the edges of the rough bark. 

 The eggs hatch early in May and the caterpillars feed upon the 

 leaves. They are green, brown or dark gray in color, marked 



