134 



QUINCE CULTURE. 



fond. The bark may be protected by smearing it with 

 blood, or rubbing it with liver, or smearing it with 

 tobacco water, or lime water, with enough copperas 

 added to turn it green. A little cheap glue will make 

 the wash stick to the bark. Thick paper around a tree 

 will keep them from gnawing the bark. Charles Down- 

 ing recommends a paint made of a handful of flowers of 

 sulphur, half a spadeful of soot, a spadeful of fresh cow 

 dung, with a spadeful of hot slacked lime, applied on a 

 dry day. He says English gardeners set up swabs dipped 

 in melted sulphur among the trees in their nurseries. 

 2. MEADOW MICE (Mus arvicolce). Meadow mice are 



Fig. 121. 



SAVING GIKDLED TREES. 



Kg. 122. 



known by various names in different parts of the country, 

 such as short-tailed field mice, ground mice, etc., and 

 are sometimes called moles, although they are very dif- 

 ferent from them. They are covered with long gray 

 hair, have very thick heads, and very short tails. They 

 all burrow in the ground. The greatest damage done by 

 meadow mice is gnawing off the bark of fruit trees. 

 They do this most when the ground is covered with 

 snow. Like the rabbit, they multiply rapidly. Their 

 hiding places may be found in brush heaps, under stacks 

 of grain and hay, and similar places. 



Remedies. Burn the brush heaps. Set the rails up on 

 end so as not to make a shelter for the mice, and keep 



