Injuries from Rabbits and Mice. 295 



bits injure trees chiefly in cold winters, when the 

 amount of green food is scarce. They are apt to be 

 especially bad in new countries. The best preventive 

 of injuries from mice is to see that there is no mate- 

 rial, as dead grass or weeds, close to the base of the 

 tree, in which the rodents can nest. If the litter is 

 not taken away, it should at least be tramped down 

 tightly before winter sets in. The best preventive of 

 injury by rabbits is not to have the rabbits. If the 

 brush piles and old fence -rows, in which the animals 

 harbor, are cleaned away, there will commonly be 

 little trouble ; and, at all events, a smart boy who is 

 fond of hunting will ordinarily solve the question 

 without help.* 



If mice are very serious, it may be advisable to 

 put cylinders of wire netting about the trees, as al- 

 ready recommended. Rolls of birch bark are some- 

 times used in regions where the paper -birch grows. 

 It should be borne in mind, however, that such cov- 

 ers for the bodies of trees interfere with clean culture 

 about the base of the tree, and they are apt to afford 

 a most excellent place for the lodgment of borers and 

 other insects. The common notion that wire screens, 

 and tarred paper, and mounds of ashes, and the like, 

 prevent borers from working, is unfounded, and is, 

 in fact, likely to be the very opposite of the truth; 

 for a wire screen, which soon fills with grass and 

 litter, is a most inviting place for the congregation 

 of insect life. 



'Various washes and other devices for preventing the injuries by mice, 

 rabbits and gophers may be found in "The Horticulturist's Rule-Book." 



