148 Principles of Plant Culture. 
A— THE PLANT AS AFFECTED BY ANIMAL PARASITES 
a— By quadrupeds and birds. The four-footed ani- 
mals that injure cultivated crops nearly all belong to the 
class known as rodents, which includes mice, gophers, rab- 
bits, woodchucks, moles etc. These may usually be con- 
trolled by trapping, shooting, or poisoning, or by protecting 
the plants. 
272. Damage from Mice to orchard and nursery trees 
is very common. Mice are usually most troublesome on 
sod ground when covered with snow, especially beneath 
snow banks, hence all grass should be removed in autumn 
from the immediate vicinity of the trees. It is well to ridge 
the soil a little, directly about the trees, so that the mice, in 
burrowing beneath the snow, will not be likely to come in 
contact with the stems. Packing the snow immediately 
about the trees is helpful when damage is discovered dur- 
ing winter. The stems of orchard trees may also be wrap- 
ped in heavy paper or inclosed in fine wire netting. If 
tarred paper is used, it should be promptly removed in 
spring, or it may injure the bark. 
Stored seeds of almost all kinds must be carefully guarded 
against mice.. 
273. Gophers are often troublesome in eating planted 
seeds, and in burrowing about the roots of young orchard 
trees. They may be poisoned by placing about their holes, 
corn, soaked in water containing strychnin in solution. 
274. Rabbits are especially troublesome in nursery 
trees, when the ground is covered with snow. The most 
satisfactory protection is to inclose the nursery with a fence 
of poultry netting, which should be banked up a little at the 
