100 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



The tops of these small mounds are usually kept quite bare by 

 the sweeping force of the winter winds, even if there be several inches 

 of snow on the ground. Mice will not venture out on these expo- 

 sures to feed on the bark of the trees ; and burrowing into the freshly 

 packed soil is not likely to be attempted in the winter, even in open 

 weather. 



The mounds may be left throughout the year, but they should 

 be tamped hard and repaired by the addition of fresh soil each 

 autumn. 



Where cinders are available these are a most excellent and in- 

 expensive material with which to mound the stems of all kinds 

 of fruit trees. Mice will not burrow through the cinders as they do 

 through soil. 



The Wire Screen. This is the ideal and complete, all-round 1 

 protector and it is, therefore, given first place among the mechanical 

 forms. True, it is more expensive than many others, but it is lasting 

 and thoroughly effective against all kinds of rodents which prey 

 upon the stems of young trees. Being so light and open, it presents 

 the least obstruction to strong winds ; the air and sunshine are freely 

 admitted; no dark and secure places of concealment, such as invite 

 woolly-aphis and other forms of insect life are afforded. 



This protector is made of galvanized wire cloth of one-quarter 

 inch mesh (four 22 gauge wires to the inch) which may be pur- 

 chased from the larger supply houses in rolls of one hundred lineal 

 feet and in any width from twenty-four to thirty-six inches. 



For apple trees the 24 inches width is usually the more conven- 

 ient size. This is cut crosswise with tinners' snips or shears into 12- 

 inch sections, making pieces 12x24 inches in size. These sections 

 are carefully bent or rolled over a small, round piece of wood (a 

 section of broom or fork handle will answer) shaping them into 

 cylinders 2% to 3 inches in diameter. It is well to allow the edges 

 to lap about one inch". 



The cylinders are placed about the stem of the trees where their 

 own tension will close them securely. 



Small Meshed Poultry Netting. This protector is made of ordi- 

 nary weight, galvanized wire poultry netting of one inch mesh. 

 This is quite as effective against rabbits as the closer-woven wire 

 cloth, but will not protect the trees from mice. This netting may 

 be purchased in bales of 150 lineal feet and cut and shaped just as 

 described for the wire cloth. These are very neat and sightly and 

 do admirably for cultivated orchards, or wherever the method of 

 culture or the environment does not favor the presence of field mice. 

 In combination with a slight mound of soil about the base of the 

 tree, mice will rarely prove troublesome. 



Standard Poultry Netting. It often happens that the planter 

 of a few trees has at hand a quantity of old poultry netting of stan- 

 dard or 2-inch mesh. From this stock in hand quite serviceable 

 protectors can be made by cutting out sections 18x24 inches in size 

 and rolling them around a section of broom handle as- 

 described. The mesh being so large, the pieces are cut six inches 



