CHAPTER XIV 



PESTS AND NUISANCES 



VARIOUS kinds of mammals and birds become plagues and nuisances 

 at times, sometimes destroying plants, sometimes annoying human 

 beings ; and with these may be included mosquitoes and flies. 



Roaming cats are often nuisances that demand control. A tres- 

 passing cat should be considered as much a transgressor as a trespass- 

 ing dog or chicken or goat, and perhaps even more so if the neighbor- 

 hood is choice of its music. Owners of cats are under just as much 

 responsibility to keep their cats at home as to keep their horses or 

 pigs at home ; if they cannot keep them at home, they should not be 

 allowed to have them. 



A clean and tidy place harbors few pests. In general, if the plan- 

 tation is free of litter, and the adjacent fields contain no harbors of 

 brush, mice ajid rabbits are rarely annoying to orchards. In hard 

 winters, with deep snow, these animals are more destructive than 

 in open winters. Rabbits browse young growth of nursery stock 

 and small trees. Sheep and hogs rarely girdle trees if they are 

 given sufficient food and water, the latter being especially important. 



Mice and Rats 



To prevent mice from girdling trees in winter. 



In heeling-in young trees in the fall, do not use straw or litter, in 

 which mice can make their nests. In orchards, see that tall grass, corn- 

 husks, or other dry materials do not gather about the trees in fall. If 

 danger from mice is apprehended, tramp the first snow firmly about 

 the trees, in order to compact the grass and litter so that mice cannot 

 find shelter. 



Where the paper-birch grows, it is a good plan to place sections of 

 birch-bark from limbs or small trunks about the base of the tree. 



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