May 19, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



TREES AND SHRUBS versus HARES AND 

 RABBITS.— No. 2. 



TREES AND SHRUBS MOST SUBJECT TO THE ATTACKS OF 

 HARES AND RABBITS. 



MUST in the first place £tate my firm con- 

 viction that the prevailing opinion that there 

 are no trees or shrubs which hares and rab- 

 bits will not eat or hark, is only a popular 

 error. The Lime is the first that I shall 

 name as being a great favourite of hares and 

 rabbits ; but of all trees there is none they 

 bark so effectually and destructively as the 

 Laburnum. To Apple, Crab, and Pear trees 

 they are partial, and they not only bark the 

 Oak but nibble off all the tops of it they can reach. Larches 

 have their leaders cut off, if not too tall, and the stems 

 come in for a terrible gnawing unless they are protected 

 by long grass. Silver Fir they eat down to the ground, 

 the stump only being left in the earth. Norway Spruce 

 is a favourite, and the youDg leaders suffer much. Scotch 

 Firs, if so small as to be within reach, lose their leaders 

 for ever. Balm of Gilead Fir does not escape, and White- 

 thorns are ringed. Holly is taken freely, and Laurus- 

 tinus has all its tender shoots cut off, along with the leaves. 

 Aucubas are the first to fall, nothing being - left of them 

 above ground. Austrian Pine leaves are eaten, but the 

 growing points mostly escape. The tops of Privet are 

 taken; Poplar and Horse Chestnut are barked; English 

 Elm, so tough, is torn ; and the Plum and Almond are not 

 permitted to flourish. 



TREES AND SHRUBS INTERFERED WITH ONLY IN VERY 

 SEVERE WINTERS. 



Sycamore very seldom. Black and White American 

 Spruce, the Weymouth Pine, and the Corsican Pine are 

 not often eaten or barked ; Ash sometimes, likewise Moun- 

 tain Ash ; Beech and Spanish Chestnut generally pass 

 without great harm. Common Laurel is not much cared 

 for, and Thorn Acacia rears its head without much inter- 

 ference from the hares. Roses and Briars must be placed 

 in this list, and Berberis Aquifoliurn, Box, Yew, and 

 Broom. 



TREES AND SHRUBS NOT INTERFERED WITH. 



Alder and Birch which on swampy ground it may not 

 have been possible to approach, Hornbeam, and Wych 

 Elm, English and Norway Maple, Turkey Oak, Willow. 

 Weliingtonia gigantea, Cedrus Deodara, C. Libani, and 

 C. atlantica, Cupressus Lawsoniana, Thuja Lobbii, Ame- 

 rican Arbor Vita?, Thujopsis borealis, Portugal Laurel, 

 Juniperus communis, Pinus Cembra, Pinus excelsa, Lilacs, 

 Gorse single and double ; Ribes, none doing better than 

 the Black Currant in strong soil or damp ground ; Rhodo- 

 dendron, Azalea, common Berberry, Guelder Rose, Dog- 

 wood, Snowberry, Hazel, Sweet Briar, Blackthorn, Coton- 

 easter microphylla, Weigela, Spiraeas, Rhus Cotinus, Rhus 

 typhina, Canadian Gooseberry, Ribes album, Bird Cherry, 

 Butcher's Broom, Spurge Laurel, Euonymus, Deutzia sea- 

 bra, St. John's Wort, and Elder. 



I do not affirm that hares and rabbits will not eat nor 



No. 477.— Vol xvm. New Series. 



bark any of the last-named trees and shrubs, but that I 

 have not seen them interfered with. The observations 

 have been made where game abounds, and in what may be 

 called ornamental game coverts, or belts and groups in 

 the park and adjoining the garden. Of the garden part it 

 would be needless (o write, as the game have not free 

 access to it, and from its proximity to the mansion they 

 do not make prolonged visits. 



A few hints may not prove unacceptable to some who 

 have to form and get up as quickly as possible groups, 

 belts, or screens in parks and parts that are adjuncts to 

 the garden. In the first place, it is desirable to plant only 

 those kinds of trees and shrubs which hares and rabbits 

 are least disposed to attack, and yet they may be unsuit- 

 able to the soil, or some of them, and others which are 

 most liable to injury may be indispensable for affording 

 the desired effect : hence the necessity of employing them, 

 though at the risk of losing many. I think it is useless 

 to plant any of the trees in the first list, and not many of 

 those in the second list, without taking means to keep off 

 the destroyers, either by planting larger trees, or placing 

 round them fencing which will effectually prevent an entry 

 being made. 



Planting trees and shrubs of larger size than usual may 

 seem a very objectionable mode of attaining the object in 

 view, for there is the greater cost of large trees as com- 

 pared to small ones : besides, all experience proves the 

 smaller the trees and shrubs are the better they grow. 

 I may say that planting Scotch Fir, Austrian Pine, and 

 similar nursling trees 12 to IS inches high has often to 

 be repeated half a dozen times ; or if they escape, as they 

 may do when planted in spring, and the growth of the 

 grass is so rank as to cover them, the progress they make 

 the first half dozen years is very insignificant, in many 

 cases not rendering them equal in size to those I would in 

 the first instance plant. Planting mere switches of " hard 

 woods," though they may be 3 or -1 feet high, is little 

 better than planting the Scotch Fir and Larch a foot and 

 18 inches high respectively. They are either cut down by 

 the game, or the growth of the grass keeps them small. 

 The planting of small trees is simply planting with a 

 prospect of a great deal of filling up, and waiting half a 

 dozen years for them to show above the grass, and then 

 the plantation can hardly be said to be safe. 



As regards the objections to planting larger-sized trees 

 than usual, I think the expense is not greater than plant- 

 ing those of small size ; for if the work be done at a 

 proper time with proper plants the failures will be few. 

 The great impediment to planting larger trees than are 

 usually employed, is the difficulty of procuring properly- 

 transplanted plants. By planting trees of a good size at 

 the commencement, we have at the end of twelve months 

 compassed seven years' growth of small trees, and as for 

 then - not doing so well afterwards as young trees it is 

 simply an unproved notion. 



I advise, therefore (and I practise what I advise), in- 

 stead of employing Oak, Lime. Beech, Elm, Horse Chest- 

 nut, and all kinds of " hard woods " 3 to 4 feet high at the 

 time of planting, to have them from (i to 8 feet in height, 



No. 1129,-VeL. XLITI., Old Series. 



