GIPSY MOTH TREE-BANDING MATERIAL. 13 
PRACTICABILITY OF TREATING GIPSY MOTH EGG CLUSTERS AND 
OF BANDING TREES VS. POWER SPRAYING. 
If a wooded area badly infested with the gipsy moth can be 
sprayed under proper weather conditions during the early feeding 
i periods of the small larvae, the results are usually very satisfactory. 
On the other hand, if there is a lack of power-spraying outfits in 
the vicinity or the work is slowed up by weather conditions until 
three-fourths or more of the foliage of the trees has been consumed, 
it is then evident that other methods should have been resorted to 
earlier in the season. Woodland spraying in 1916 cost about $5.50 
per acre where large areas were involved. 2 It is estimated that the 
cost per acre in 1918 was $10.25, owing to increased cost of materials 
and labor. A further increase occurred in 1919. 
The cost of banding an acre of woodland trees free from under- 
brush with gipsy moth tree-banding material in 1918 was $5.29. 
fe There were 269 trees per acre averaging 7 inches in diameter. The 
estimated cost of treating the egg clusters on these trees in 1918, 
provided the infestation was of a medium degree, is $8, making a 
total of $13.29 for treating and banding. 
Spraying in 1918, in a wood lot that had been thinned, cost $3.04 
less per acre. There are many factors to consider with the two 
methods of controlling infestations of the gipsy moth; for instance, 
spraying, to be effective, must be done within one month (about 
June) ; treating of egg clusters may be done between August and 
April, inclusive (nine months) ; and banding may be done during 
two or three months in the late winter and early spring. No definite 
recommendations can be given for localities and conditions in gen- 
eral, and these figures are merely to assist one in deciding upon a 
course of procedure that best suits the particular conditions. 
RESURFACING OLD BANDS OF GIPSY MOTH TREE-BANDING 
MATERIAL. 
Several experiments have been conducted to obtain data on the 
best method of resurfacing bands one or more years old (PI. IV). 
Turpentine, coal-tar neutral oil, and kerosene have been applied 
with a brush to old bands in the early spring. These oils tend to 
dissolve the hardened surface, but the effect lasts only about one 
month or less. New gipsy moth tree-banding material was dissolved 
in these oils and the mixture painted on the surface with slightly 
more lasting results than in the case of the former method. The 
latter method was made more efficient by the use of a putty knife 
or small wire sink brush (PL V), which thoroughly stirred up the 
surface of the old bands to one-half their depth. Another efficient 
2 WORTHLEY. L. H. SOLID STREAM SPRAYING AGAINST THE GIPSY MOTH AND THE BROWN- 
TAIL MOTH IN NEW ENGLAND. U. S. Dept. AgT. Bui. 480. 1917. 
