40 



FIELD WORK AGAINST GIPSY AND BKOWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



of tanglefoot to the trunks of the trees before the eggs hatch. (See 

 fig. 11.) Eough-bark trees should be scraped where this material is 

 to be placed, so that the surface will be smooth enough to apply the 

 band evenly with a wooden paddle. Care should be taken not to 

 remove the inner bark so that the living wood will be exposed. If 

 the tree tanglefoot can be applied evenly, no scraping should be done. 

 This material will remain sticky for several weeks, and prevent the 

 caterpillars from ascending, but the best practice is to draw a comb 

 through the band as the workman walks around the tree. This 

 brings fresh material to the surface and removes any foreign sub- 

 stances which may have collected. The caterpillars are obliged to 

 feed on what low growth remains on the ground and if this has 

 been well sprayed they are soon destroyed. Aside from the roads 





Fig. 9. — Roadside where thinning operations are being carried on ^showing tools and equipment used in 



the work. (Original.) 



already mentioned a considerable amount of roadside work was done 

 in the towns of Maiden, Lynnfield, LjTin, Peabody, Woburn, Lex- 

 ington, Burlington, Waltham, and Belmont, and the strips cut out 

 during the fall of 1906 and the spring of 1907 and prepared for 

 spring and summer treatment aggregated about 65 miles. Late in 

 April and early in May, 1907, the trunks of the trees in all these 

 strips were banded with tanglefoot to prevent the caterpillars from 

 climbing the trees, as well as to keep such larvae as migrated from the 

 woodland back of the strips from destrojdng the foliage. After the 

 caterpillars hatched the strips were sprayed with arsenate of lead, 

 which was used at the rate of 10 pounds to 100 gallons of water. 

 Pre"vious to this time one small and three large spraying machines 

 operated by gasoline engines had been secured. Owing to the lim- 



