AQBICULTURAL. 781 



Again, he says, he has " never known mice to attack trees which received a 

 coat of whitewash made of quick lime (unslacked lime), and applied in the fall 

 of the year." Put in some soap, too, as in next. 



III. Fruit Trees— To Protect Against Rabbits.— Dr. Hassby, in 

 the Western Planter, protects his trees from rabbits by a wash " made from air- 

 slacked lime and soft soap, brought to the consistency of common paint, with 

 common flour paste added to make it adhere. 



IV. Again, it is claimed that axle-grease and lard, equal parts, wexl 

 mixed and rubbed upon young trees, protect from rabbits. The rosin in it, no 

 doubt, is offensive to them, as I know the tarred paper is. 



V. Mice and Rabbits— Late Toledo Remedy Agai^iat 

 Girdling Trees, Improved. — A few days after I had prepared these items 

 upon the care of fruit trees, I saw a report in the Blade of a meeticg of the 

 Horticultural Society, of this city, horticulture having more especial reference 

 to garden culture, the word coming from the Latin hortus, a garden, and cultor, 

 a cultivator, as Webster's " unabridged " informs us, wherein the secretary 

 advised washing the lower part of the tree with the following mixture, as a 

 protection against mice and rabbits girdling them: " Carbolic acid, 1 oz., 

 mixed with strong soap-suds, 1 gal.; then diluted with 2 or 3 gals, of water." 



The Improvement.— In place of the "strong soapsuds," the author 

 says, take one gallon of good soft soap and water, not more than one gallon, 

 mixed with the carbolic acid, one ounce. This will give the strength of acid 

 that Mr. Saunders, of the "Washington public grounds, uses on his trees, which 

 is not too strong, (see in pear blight); and it also gives a mixture more like 

 Prof. Cook's, of Lansing, or Michigan Agricultural College, against bark lice, 

 borers, and other pests, given below, insuring according to my best judgment, 

 not only an improvement, but reaUy one of the best, if not the best application 

 ■which can be made against mice and rabbits, against the borers, and all other 

 pests of the trees, as it makes a wash sufficiently thick to adhere well to the 

 bark, leaving such a body of the mixture, too, upon the tree, that neither mice 

 nor rabbits will like as food, for it is for this purpose they seek. Tliis, of 

 course, should be applied late in the fall, before these depredators begin their 

 winter's work. See also among the receipts for sheep, a Wash to Prevent them 

 from Barking Trees. It will be as good against rabbits and mice as sheep. 



Knowledge vs. Ignorance. Their Different Results.— At the 

 same meeting above named, Capt. Nixon said : 



"As a general rule, success was the result of knowledge, failure the result 

 of ignorance," which agrees well with our starting point in this department. 

 The Successful Farmers which see. Then, as the wise man says, "Get knowl- 

 edge, and with all thy getting, get understanding," for these things eradicate 

 ignorance upon any and all subjects. 



Girdled Trees by Mice or Rabbits, to Restore the Bark.— 

 If a tree is not girdled entirely around, make a clay mortar, and apply a good 

 thickness by means of cloths, and you are safe. A loamy soil will do, but if 



