THE FAILURE OF ORCHARDS, AND ITS REMEDY. 215 



fruit-trees are protected by some effectual means, they will 

 gnaw nearly every particle of green bark from the body of 

 the tree, for several inches from the ground; and some- 

 times, when deep snow is piled high around fruit trees, 

 mice will dig holes through the drifts until they arrive at 

 the trees, and girdle them several feet from the ground. 

 Mice seldom gnaw trees that are not surrounded by a bank 

 of snow at least several inches deep. They never work 

 above the snow, nor girdle a tree that is not surrounded 

 with grass or some other material that will serve as a pro- 

 tection to them while they are committing their depreda- 

 tions. Trees that stand so exposed to the wind that all the 

 snow, grass, leaves, and other rubbish will be swept away, 

 are never in danger of being injured by mice. 



The usual means employed to protect trees from mice 

 consists in raising a mound of earth around each tree a 

 foot or more high, as shown by Fig. 68, p. 166. As the 

 marauders work along beneath the grass or snow, the bank 

 of earth turns them away from the tree. When trees are 

 standing in grass-yards or lawns, where the earth is smooth 

 around the bodies, sods may be transported from some 

 other place and fitted closely to the trees, and then re- 

 moved before the growing season commences. If the snow 

 falls deep around trees, or drifts are formed around the 

 bodies, by stamping the snow all around the trunk of each 

 tree, mice will turn away from the snow that has been 

 packed closely, and not dig a road through to the tree. 

 These remedies have been found effectual, for many years 

 past, wherever the means have been employed. But the 

 labor of packing the snow, when it is deep, around all the 

 trees above the mound of earth is often neglected, to the 

 ruin of many trees. 



Another remedy, which has recently been employed with 

 sati^ctory success, is winding coarse paper or old cloth 



