296 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



Depredations of stock and birds. Injuries of trees 

 can be prevented in sheep pastures and hog pastures 

 by giving the animals plenty to eat and especially 

 plenty to drink. They are very likely to gnaw the 

 trees for the moisture which they secure. If, how- 

 ever, the animals begin to injure the -trees, the only 

 recourse is either to take them out or build wide 

 racks about the trunks ; but any sort of rack or 

 fence about the tree prevents the proper care of the 

 tree. 



The incursions of birds upon cherries and small- 

 fruits can usually be prevented by planting in suffi- 

 cient quantity that the birds may get their fill with- 

 out ruining the plantation. Cherry orchards may 

 sometimes be protected by planting a number of trees 

 of very early sweet cherries around the outside of the 

 plantation. These will be sufficient to satisfy the 

 birds. In some cases, however, it is impossible to 

 save the fruit unless fire-arms are used ; but it is 

 usually sufficient to fire blank cartridges a few times 

 to scare the birds away, and thereby obviate the 

 necessity of killing them. 



Small trees and garden plats of small fruits may 

 also be protected from birds by means of netting 

 which is now manufactured in this country for that 

 purpose. Troop reports* as follows upon an experi- 

 ment in this direction : 



"The past season we had several varieties of the 

 Russian cherries which were fruiting for the first 

 time, and wishing to test the practicability of cov- 



*James Troop, Bull. 53, Indiana Exp. Sta. 125 (1894). 



