INJURY BY PREDACEOUS ANIMALS 



127 



cost to this material. The stalks should be selected as they 

 come from the field and all of the leaves stripped off. Square 

 the ends of the stalks by laying them on a board or a box and 

 using a large knife. Cut the stalks into pieces about two feet 

 in length. When the stalks are pre- 

 pared five or six of them are bound 

 firmly around the stem of the young 

 tree. 



A combination of the cornstalk and 

 the wire-cloth protector is popular in 

 some sections. This combination 

 protector is made by an eight- or a 

 ten-inch wire-cloth cylinder about 

 the base of the cornstalk protector. 

 If the tree has previously been well 

 mounded up with soil, this combina- 

 tion protector completely baffles all 

 kinds of rodents and makes the trees 

 quite secure from their attacks. 



Cylinders made from either the 

 common heavy wrapping paper or the 

 building paper make a very effective 

 and a secure protection for the trees. 

 The greatest drawback to this pro- 

 tector is its fragility and its short 

 length of life. Only the heaviest 

 wrapping paper should be used, and a 

 good grade of building paper is pre- 

 ferred. These wrappers are placed 

 on the trees either in the form of a 

 cylinder or wrapped spirally around 

 the stem to the desired height. When 

 the spiral method is adopted the 

 paper is cut into narrow strips. Two 

 points in favor of the spiral form are, that a crooked-bodied 

 tree can be more closely and more neatly covered, and 

 that it is more resistant to the strong winds. 



Cultural Control Measures. The control of all pests affect- 

 ing cultivated plants can be materially affected by cultural 

 practices. Certain classes of pests, particularly insects, can 



FIG. 57. A tree protec- 

 tor made by tying corn- 

 stalks around it. (After 

 Ballou, Ohio Agricultural 

 Bulletin No. 208.) 



