THE FAILURE OF ORCHARDS, AND ITS REMEDY. 217 



is taken to protect the trees 

 against them, careless or- 

 chardists allowing grass to 

 grow about the roots of 

 their fruit-trees, and thus 

 kindly furnishing the arvic- 

 olse with excellent nesting- 

 places in winter, and ren- 

 dering the trees doubly lia- 

 ble to be girdled. In the 

 nurseries in Northern Illi- 

 nois, we have seen whole 

 rows of .young apple-trees 

 stripped of their bark for 

 a foot or two above the 

 ground. Thousands of 

 fruit-trees, as well as ever- 

 greens and other ornament- 

 al trees and shrubs, are at 

 times thus killed in a nurs- 

 ery in one winter. The 

 mice are most mischievous 

 in winters of deep snow. 

 One reason why fruit-trees 

 are most girdled in times of 

 deep snow is, that the mead- 

 ow mice can then better 

 move about, at a distance 

 from their burrows, being 

 protected by the snow, un- 

 der which they construct nu- 

 merous pathways, and are 

 thus enabled to travel com- 

 fortably in search of food, 

 always to be obtained in 

 abundance where there is 

 any kind of perennial grass, 

 or the seeds of annual 

 plants. Aided by the snow, 

 too, they climb up at the 

 sides of the trees to gnaw 

 the bark at a considerable 

 height from the ground. 

 Rabbits are often accused 

 of gnawing bark from trees, 

 when the mischief has real- 



;y been done by meadow mice. All the species alluded to are exceedingly pro- 

 lific. When unmolested, the female will frequently rear three litters in one sea- 

 son, and each litter will frequently number six or seven young mice. The male 

 Prairie-meadow Mice are always very pugnacious, biting and striking at any thing 

 thrust towards them. When much teased in this way, they sometimes turn on 

 their backs, snap with their teeth, and strike with all four feet. When enraged, 

 they utter a low, harsh, creaking note, resembling that of a very young puppy. If 

 hurt, their voices are clearer and sharper. Sometimes they chatter their teeth in 

 anger. 

 The males of nearly every species, when they can not escape into some secure 



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