Tree wrapping
I see this fairly often in Japan - a tree with a belt of rice straw fixed with a hemp rope wrapped around its trunk. The idea is that the belt retards the spread of tree-harming insects - insects that feast on the leaves or bore holes in the bark - either by preventing them from ascending the trunk, or else trapping them in one spot. I don't know how well it works, or even if it works at all. Who knows? It could actually be damaging to trees. It could just be some old gardening folklore with no supporting empirical evidence, preserved by the inertia of a conservative society.