160 Injuries from Animals. 



The practice is forbidden altogether in young woods, until the 

 growth has reached a size that would prevent injury from being 

 done. 



643. As a general rule, sheep and goats do much more harm than 

 horses and cattle, and in some countries they are altogether ex- 

 cluded at all times. The fattening of swine upon acorns and nuts 

 is considered of no injury to large trees. The pasturage of steep 

 mountain slopes is much more injurious than upon level land, and 

 has tended to produce immense injuries by exposing the soil to 

 erosions, as elsewhere more fully noticed. 



644. It is an admirable practice to plant groves of trees in pas- 

 ture grounds, to provide shade for stock, but such groves must be 

 protected by fences until the foliage is above the reach of cattle, 

 and the trunks of the trees are so large that they would not be liable 

 to injury. 



Injuries to Seeds, Seedlings, and Trees, by wild Animals. 



645. In noticing the agencies for the distribution of seeds, we 

 have elsewhere given credit to birds, and especially to squirrels, as 

 planters [ 125]. We must, however, guard against the latter, in 

 keeping nuts in heaps for spring planting. The liability to injury 

 by moles and mice in winter, is a principal reason for our delaying 

 to plant nuts, acorns, and other seeds till spring, instead of planting 

 in the fall, as is done in nature. [ 130.] 



646. These animals do injuries to nurseries and plantations in 

 winter, especially when the snows are deep. Rabbits are very fond 

 of gnawing the bark from young trees, and where these animals are 

 kept, it is necessary to -guard against their injuries by stone walls, 

 laid from below the reach of their burrows, or by wire screens. 



647. Fruit and shade trees may be protected by binding tarred 

 paper around the trunks near the ground, and by treading down 

 the snows around them in winter. . Hedgehogs will feed upon the 

 bark and twigs of the hemlock in winter, and certain birds may do 

 injury to trees by biting off the buds. 



648. The gopher (Geomys bursarius) is one of the most trouble- 

 some pests in the Western States, from its eating off the roots of 

 young trees; and a single animal has been known to follow a line 

 of newly set osage orange hedge, in the soil soft from recent plant- 

 ing, and destroy the roots for many rods. They may be poisoned 



