28 The Bulletin. 



WARDING OFF MICE AND RABBITS. 



A simple but by no means trifling drawback to orcharding in moun- 

 tain regions is the destructive attacks of mice and rabbits. In a 

 single winter's night one hungry rabbit will completely girdle and 

 destroy trees that it has taken several years of labor and expense to 

 produce. A few of these rodents, if not checked, will in a few weeks 

 in winter entirely ruin valuable orchards. They seem to prefer apple 

 bark to that of natural forest growth. The extensive timber lands of 

 mountain regions afford harbor for rabbits, and an isolated orchard 

 runs great risk. Small boys, with the usual desire for a dog and a 

 gun and an appetite for rabbit pie, will do much to allay the trouble, 

 but every careful orchardist should take special pains to protect his 

 trees. The rabbit is a vegetarian, and blood and animal matter 

 smeared on the tree trunks will do much to ward off his attacks. I 

 have found, however, that the safest method is to wrap about the tree 

 trunk a wooden veneer and fasten it securely with a wire. (See 

 Fig. 3). This may take a little more trouble than other methods, but 

 I have always found it a sure cure. 



The injury of mice to trees would to the uninitiated appear to be 

 trifling, but the harm they do to young trees is usually much more 

 serious than that clone by rabbits. Fig. 4 shows a young tree two 

 years old set in a mountain orchard, the roots of which have been 

 entirely eaten off by mice. -In this orchard, which was not cultivated, 

 several hundred trees were destroyed. There is but one practical cure 

 for the mice trouble, and that is clean cultivation. 



SPRAYING. 



Under present orchard conditions spraying is an absolute necessity 

 in successful fruit production. It is practically impossible to raise 

 good fruit now without spraying. One might as well try to raise 

 fruit without planting the trees as to try to raise clean, marketable 

 fruit nowadays without spraying. On account of the widespread 

 culture of apples and the ever-increasing acreage of orchards it is 

 only natural that the insects and diseases which prey upon the apple 

 crop should be more numerous than they were a generation ago. To 

 raise clean fruit one must spray, and spray persistently. That it 

 pays to spray no one who has ever once tried it will for a moment 

 question. Spraying is one of the necessities of the fruit business just 

 as much as tillage, fertilization or marketing. It is not the purpose 

 of this Bulletin to discuss methods of making spraying mixtures or 

 their application. Numerous bulletins on all phases of that subject 

 have been published and can be had on application to this Depart- 

 ment. 



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