q8 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



taken from the trees. Olean and healthy portions, f to 1 inch or more in diameter, 

 answered much better than young wood of the previous year, the ends being inserted 

 under the bark above and below, as shown in the figure. The whole of the stem 

 from which the bark had been gnawed was covered with grafting clay (page 125), as 

 was the junction of the scions with the stem ; soft rope was used for binding, and over 

 this hay-bands, which were kept moist. The scions took in every instance by using 

 clean ripened wood of three years' growth, and the trees bore abundant crops of excel- 

 lent fruit. 



Where attacks are likely to happen, the trees may be protected by running a line 

 of string smeared with gas tar around the plantation or along both sides the rows of 

 young trees, fixing it to small stakes thrust into the ground, about a foot high for hares 

 and 6 inches for rabbits. Whilst the tar is fresh they will not cross it. The trees may 

 also be dressed with " Tree Protective Composition," prepared by Messrs. Dickson, 

 Limited, Chester ; this does not injure the bark, but rather encourages its growth* 

 Soot brought to the consistency of cream with skim milk painted on the stems and 

 branches renders them distasteful to hares and rabbits, and Taylor's lime and sulphur 

 mixture (page 191), with the addition of a third part of soot, well mixed, and brushed 

 on the parts within reach of the animals, prevents their barking the trees, and the mix- 

 ture is inimical to insects. 



Mice and Rats. The domestic mouse (Mus domesticus) needs no description ; its 

 characteristics are well known. At times mice destroy young trees and vines by 

 gnawing the bark round the stems just beneath the surface of the ground, and they 

 are fond of ripe fruit, particularly forced strawberries and late grapes. The domestic 

 mouse is easily captured in steel bird-traps baited with a piece of hard cheese secured 

 to the table of the trap, and properly set. This practice, if begun early and persisted in^ 

 will effect a clearance. 



The short-tailed field mouse or vole (Arvicola arvalis) differs from the house 

 mouse in having a short tail, scarcely one-fourth the length of the body and blunt at 

 the tip, a shorter head, rounder body, shorter legs, and fur of a reddish tinge. These 

 voles are very destructive to young trees in peeling off the bark, nibbling straw- 

 berries from the trusses and piling them in heaps, eating only the seeds, before the 

 fruit is ripe. Voles are not easily caught. They, however, cannot resist tasty 

 cheese, but they must be baited in advance of the fruit-forming seeds. Once they 

 acquire the habit of taking cheese, the bird-traps before-named duly set in their haunts 



