546 



Grease-banding of Fruit Trees. [oct., 



appear when bush trees are banded, and they do not consider 

 the method sufficiently successful to use. Further detailed 

 trials are wanted before any definite statement can be made 

 on this point. 



On the other hand, banding is undoubtedly most essential 

 with standards, which are less easily sprayed, and banding 

 will make arsenical spraying to a large extent unnecessary. 

 As yet we do not know the final effects of arsenical spraying 

 over a long series of years. The insoluble arsenic collected 

 in the soil may become soluble arsenic, and what injurious 

 effect the soluble arsenic has is at present unknown. It is, 

 however, a source of danger, and if we can reduce arsenical 

 spraying by employing grease-banding more extensively and 

 more accurately, so much the better. 



Position where the Ova of Winter Moths are Deposited. — 

 Normally the Winter Moth and its wingless female allies lay 

 their eggs close to a bud or on a pruned surface, but any 

 crevice or shelter may be selected. That is, they normally 

 ascend right up into the trees before commencing to oviposit. 

 Whether a change of habit has brought about an alteration 

 in egg-laying, or whether keener observation has shown an 

 old habit long unnoticed, we cannot say, but the fact remains 

 that the females of the true Winter Moth will lay their ova 

 far from the buds. The eggs have been frequently found, in 

 the last four years, on the trunks of apple, pear, and cherry 

 trees. This was first pointed out to me in Worcestershire 

 whilst visiting Mr. Crane's orchards at Oakhampton. He 

 noticed numbers of red eggs on the trunks of the cherry trees, 

 and when we visited them a few days later there was no sign 

 of the ova. The grease-bands were all more or less sticky, 

 having recently been freshened up, and an examination of 

 them at once revealed hundreds of small Winter Moth larvae 

 caught in the grease. Had the grease not been "tacky," the 

 result of the banding would have been nil, for hundreds of 

 hatched larvae would have ascended the trees. On this 

 account and from previous observations it was thought well to 

 advise low banding, but subsequent experiments showed that j 

 this was not advisable. 



During the last three years two pieces of cord by which j 

 the trees were tied to the stakes have been sent me 

 covered with Winter Moth eggs, and in one instance the top 



