34 JACK RABBITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



witli sand paint. He also reports that a substitute for fencing is noTT 

 being tried at tlie substation at Nampa, Idaho, liabbits are A^ery trou- 

 blesome at tliis place, and in past years have destroyed almost the 

 entire crop of alfalfa. Last spring, instead of building an expensive 

 rabbit-proof fence, a band of alfalfa 30 feet in width was sowed around 

 the field, which was inclosed simply with three strings of barbed wire, 

 the idea being that jack rabbits, which usually feed around the edges 

 of the field, will obtain sufticient food from the outside strij) and not 

 molest that within the fence. He says ''we can grow rabbit feed in 

 the form of alfalfa cheaper than anything else." 



In Australia fences have proved the best means of protection, and 

 many miles of rabbit fences have been built by the government. One 

 fence, running from Narromine, on the Macquarie River, to Bourke, on 

 the Darling Eiver, and thence to Barringun, is 291 miles in length and 

 cost on an average £82 per mile. It has recently been extended to 

 Corowa, making the total length 703 miles. Another fence has been 

 built from the INIurray River northward along the western boundary 

 of New South Wales for a distance of nearly 340 miles, at art average 

 cost of a little over £75 x'er mile. These fences were built of 17-gauge 

 wire netting 42 inches in width and having 1^ or 1^ inch meshes. The 

 fences are looked after by 'boundary riders,' who live in huts about 

 30 miles apart. Altogether the government has erected 1,049 miles of 

 fencing in New South Wales, while the amount built by individuals 

 has been estimated at about 15,000 niiles.^ 



In Queensland about G75 miles of fences have been built by the 

 government- and in New Zealand £12,530 have been expended for the 

 South Canterbury fence. 



PROTECTION OF SINGLE TREES. 



Where the expense of a fence is too great, young trees may be pro- 

 tected by wrapping the stems with strips of burlap, gunny sacking, or 

 coarse cloth an inch or two wide. These strips should be securely tied 

 at the top and bottom. Small cylinders of wire netting, heavy paste- 

 board, or other material are sometimes used, aiul a device known as 

 the 'tule-tree protector,' made of the dried rushes or tules, whicli grow 

 so abundantly in the San Joaquin River swamps in California, has been 

 patented for this express purpose. Recently cylinders made of thin 

 strips of yucca wood {Yucca arborescens), with the edges fastened 

 together by wire, have been placed on the market. They come in sev- 

 eral sizes and are readily i)ut in position. While they shield the stems 

 from the sun their value in ])rotecting the trees from jack rabbits is 

 oi)en to (question. 



SMEARS. 



Some orchardists advocate i^ainting the trunks of the trees with 

 mixtures distasteful to rabbits. Whitewashing is said to prove effect- 



' Coghlan, Wealth and Pros^ross of New South Wales, 1894, Vol. I. p. 356. 

 - Yeai' Book of Australia, 18'Jl, p. 145. 



