QUAIL PROPAGATION METHODS 23 



good protection against birds of prey, enabKng the stock to 

 hide. An open enclosure had better be at least, say, 60 

 by 40 feet, as birds are less Hkely to try to escape from a 

 roomy place. 



Making Fence Vermin Proof. Weasels and rats are 

 terribly destructive, and are so small that some are said 

 to get through i-inch mesh, or even the f-inch size. More- 

 over, they can cUmb wire. To make a fence absolutely 

 impervious to them would require great expense, as follows: 

 A fence 8 feet high, with ^-inch mesh 2^-feet up, then a strip 

 of tin about one foot high, and above this i^-inch mesh. 

 Without the tin there would have to be fine wire all the way 

 up, and an overhang on top, made by nailing an arm of 2 x 4 

 to the top of each post, and on it a strip of §-inch mesh a 

 foot out and hanging down 6 inches. To prevent digging 

 under, ^-inch wire would have to be buried, running down, 

 say, 9 inches, and out horizontally 9 inches more. This all 

 costs so much that few would go to such extreme. 



Practical Fence. For ordinary practical purposes most 

 people will prefer to depend partly upon trapping, and build 

 a fence that will keep out most vermin, taking some sHght 

 chances. For such a fence to an enclosure open above, I 

 would suggest f - or i- inch wire 2^ to 3 feet up, and then 5 or 6 

 feet of i|-inch mesh, without any overhang. It would be 

 well to buy the rolls of the finer wire not less than 3 feet wide, 

 and run about 6 inches underground. With traps set along 

 the wire, and with watchfulness, there will seldom be any- 

 thing that will dig under. In many cases no burrowing is 

 ever attempted. It is well to watch for the beginnings of 

 vermin digging, and set traps. Some persons only run the 

 wire down perhaps 4 inches, or even not at all, and take 

 chances. 

 Change of Pen. The axiom or pivotal proposition 



