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



The leaves of the common beech are fondly relished in the 

 early part of the season, but as summer advances they are less 

 coveted, and in autumn and winter remain untouched. The 

 purple and copper-coloured varieties are less relished than the 

 common sort. 



The elm is much relished by rabbits, and they prefer the 

 English to the Scotch variety. Its leaves, branches, and bark 

 are all fondly relished, both during summer and in winter, so 

 that it cannot be recommended as at all safe under rabbits. 



The horse chestnut, in case of young plants, is occasionally 

 peeled in winter, but older trees are not injured, neither are the 

 leaves eaten ; hence this tree may be safely grown amongst rabbits, 

 if planted of considerable age and size. The sweet chestnut is 

 liable to damage of the bark in winter, and to have its leaves eaten 

 during summer, hence cannot be recommended to plant near 

 rabbits unless protected. 



The walnut is not liable to injury from rabbits ; they neither 

 eat its leaves in summer nor its bark in winter. 



The sycamore may be considered the safest of all the common 

 hard-wood trees to plant under a head of rabbits. During sum- 

 mer they seldom eat or injure the leaves or young wood, and as 

 seldom peel the stems in winter. The sycamore has been 

 esteemed by the writer for many years as decidedly the safest 

 of the hard-wood class to plant under the above circumstances, 

 and he therefore with confidence recommends it for that purpose. 

 The common ash. is so well known as choice food of rabbits, 

 that it needs no comment ; and even the varieties embracing the 

 weeper and entire-leaved ash are if anything still more pre- 

 ferred. Ash is quite unsuitable under rabbits. 



Being unable to satisfy myself as to the preference which 

 rabbits have for the different varieties of oak, I cut branches 

 from them and stuck them into the ground during snow-storms, 

 and found as the result that the Lucumbe oak was the first which 

 had its twigs eaten and the branches barked ; next in succession 

 and degree w r as the Turkey oak, next the common oak, and 

 lastly, the scarlet oak. This experiment was carried out with 

 tame rabbits with similar results. 



The alder is by many persons considered quite distasteful to 

 rabbits, which unfortunately is a wrong impression. A gentle- 

 man near Inverness planted alder extensively two years ago, in 

 good faith of its not being injured, but was disappointed at finding 

 last spring, after the severe preceding winter, that nearly all the 

 plants were peeled and destroyed. I planted a row of silver 

 alder (Alnus incana) in a nursery row, between sweet chestnuts 

 and oaks. A rabbit having inadvertently got into the nursery, 

 ate the bark off some of the alders in preference to the other trees. 

 The writer having closely examined the work of barking and 



