448 REPORT ON TREES NOT LIABLE TO BE DESTROYED BY RABBITS. 



or rendering the surface " reel," as it is termed, and the conse- 

 quent destruction from rabbits, an instrument termed the bore- 

 bill, a peculiar sort of footpick, is used, which does its work 

 most efficiently ; is much in preference to pitting, and answers 

 all the purposes of trenching (save extracting the roots of trees), 

 and adds to the expense of an acre of 5000 plants about 20s. 



Larch, spruce, and Scots pine, &c, are all planted in a similar 

 way, and the only difference in cost consists in the difference of 

 the price of the plants, which vary from Is. to 2s. 6d. per 1000. 



Compared with the above practice is the following old but 

 common one : — Pitting at 4J feet apart, and planting with 2-year 

 seedlings 2-year transplanted Scots pines, cost from L.3 to L.4 

 per acre ; while planting an acre as above recommended costs 

 less than half, and at the same time secures a proper crop of 

 trees. 



Preparatory to planting moorland under a head of rabbits, the 

 heather should be burnt, say three years before planting. By 

 this means it is greatly sweetened, and the rabbits are equally 

 fond of young heather as of pines ; hence if the plants are not 

 higher than the young heather, which they should not be when 

 planted, they thereby escape injury for a time. 



Hedge Plants. 



Much difficulty is experienced in growing hedges from the 

 disposition of rabbits to destroy the plants, and it is a matter of 

 serious consideration in planting which sorts of plants to use, in 

 order to avoid disappointment. After long experience, observa- 

 tion, and experiment, the following appears the order in which 

 rabbits show their preference for the various plants of which 

 hedges are usually composed. Beginning with those for which 

 they appear to have the strongest liking, these are — 



First, The crab-apple, when planted either in a hedge or as a 

 single plant, is the first to be attacked and unbarked. Its young 

 shoots and leaves are also much relished. The crab-apple is 

 therefore a plant which should not be planted unprotected in 

 the vicinity of rabbits. 



Second, The common white thorn, of which our general hedges 

 are composed, is very liable to be destroyed by them. The young 

 shoots and leaves are preferred to the bark ; but in winter, when 

 a snow-storm prevails, the bark is readily peeled off and devoured. 

 Owing to its extreme liability to have its young shoots eaten, 

 it is not to be depended upon as a hedge in the neighbourhood 

 of rabbits. 



Third, The beech suffers much from them, and has the peculiar 

 disadvantage, that when once eaten on the top, it is a long time 

 before it fully recovers itself. The terminal bud of the beech is 

 that from which emanates the only strong shoot ; and if this bud 



