INJURIES FROM ANIMALS 155 



rabbits, little need be said beyond that these 

 animals are most injurious to young planta- 

 tions, from which they should be shut out by 

 means of wire netting or other fencing, accord- 

 ing to the circumstances of the case. 



In park and paddock, horses injure trees by 

 gnawing the bark and branches. The stems 

 of attacked trees should at once be protected 

 by suitable wood or iron fencing. Wire 

 netting, if placed tightly around the trunk, 

 will offer some protection ; but there is danger 

 of the horses' shoes getting entangled in the 

 meshes, especially when the netting is brought 

 too near to the ground. Several compositions, 

 such as tar, creosote, and carbolineum, have 

 been recommended as preventives against the 

 gnawing of horses ; but the only effectual 

 remedy we have found is to paint the tree 

 stems with liquid clay and asafcetida in the 

 proportion of a teaspoonful of the tincture to 

 half a bucketful of clay dissolved in water. 



Wood pigeons devour not only large quanti- 

 ties of acorns and beech-mast, but will also eat 

 the berries of the elder and holly. Buds of 

 the lilac and plane, as also flowers of the pink 



