PAPER-BANDING. 
61 
Stakes and tree-guards need attention. — Where young trees are 
fastened to stakes, tar is about the best application to stop traffic up 
these, and thence to the tree, which could be used; something of 
course must be done, either by removal or prevention of passage, and 
the ropes or ties of any kind by which the young trees are fastened 
will need attention relatively to possible infestation; where bundles 
of rough sticks are tied round the stems to prevent these being gnawed 
by animals, these guards will probably be a most fertile source of 
caterpillar-attack at hatching time in spring, unless well looked to, 
either by removal of the sticks or by re-smearing the stem of the tree 
above the part where they touch it. 
How to guard the bark .—At present the simplest and cheapest plan 
that I have notes regarding the trial of is that which was largely used 
at Toddington last autumn. The material employed is the kind of 
tough paper which is made use of by grocers for wrapping up butter, 
lard, and the like, and is known as “grease-proof” paper. This is 
applied by a band as many inches wide as is thought fit (the wider the 
better) being passed round the stem of the tree. The band should be 
cut long enough for the ends to overlap well, and these are fastened by 
paste, and the whole is made secure by a piece of bast-mat or anything 
that will not cut the paper being tied round the paper near each end. 
This work can be rapidly and well done by women. On the paper 
bands the grease or application may be spread in any way preferred, 
but the best way is considered to be to lay it on with a thin, flat bit of 
wood, and plentifully, both as to width of band and thickness of layer. 
In this way, when I saw the managers in the autumn, 80,000 Plum- 
trees and about 40,000 more of other kinds were being treated at the 
Toddington Fruit Grounds. 
The following note, which I was favoured with on Nov. 17tli from 
Mr. Ernest R. Cheesman, of Bough Beech, Edenbridge, Kent, gives a 
slightly different method of banding, with note of success, and also of 
the small cost of the application :—“ Now the course I have followed 
is this: I have first placed bands of impervious paper (such as is used 
by grocers for butter and other greasy substances) of about seven inches 
in width round the trees, a foot from the ground, first removing loose 
and rough bark so that the bands should lie quite close ; on this I have 
placed a similar width of glazed calico lining, and tied tightly with 
strong string at an inch from both top and bottom of band, so that 
wind or rain cannot move it in the least; I have then used a mixture 
of cart-grease and soft-soap, mixed to the required consistency with 
train-oil, and laid on to the bands with ordinary paint-brushes; this 
was done by October 16th, and they have been served in the same 
way every week since, so as to keep them always sticky; and this 
1 shall continue as long as the moths are being caught, and again in 
