416 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



thoroughly, for 51. saved by the use of a wire netting 

 but a J inch too large in the mesh may easily mean 

 20L lost in the destruction of trees in a very short 

 time. Wire netting is seldom erected in efficient style ; 

 it is nearly always too low or too wide in the mesh. 

 Figs. 84 and 85 will give you an idea of how to 

 effectively construct a fence of wire netting. 



Nothing lower than 4 ft. can be depended on to 

 keep out rabbits from any ground you wish to protect. 

 I have myself seen rabbits crawl up and jump over 

 3-ft. wire many times. Besides the 4 ft. above 

 ground, you require 1 ft. under the soil to check the 

 rabbits from burrowing underneath ; that is to say, 

 your wire will have to be of a total width of 5 ft. 



The usual sized mesh for wire netting that is em- 

 ployed to protect young plantations from rabbits is 

 l^in. This is too large, as the tiny rabbits will 

 squeeze through this size, and after what we used to 

 call at school ' a good tuck out ' be so increased in 

 bulk that they cannot return. They then remain 

 and thrive, and multiply on the icroncf side of your 

 fence. For this reason 1 in. is the largest mesh you 

 should fix up to shut out rabbits, though you need 

 only have it this size for 1 ft. above ground, as the 

 very small rabbits will not climb or jump like the old 

 ones, and when a few weeks old cannot push through 

 a mesh of 1^ in. diameter, and of which the upper 

 portion of your fence can be constructed (fig. 84). 



