304 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



destroy, such as oak, ash, sycamore, maple, 

 beech, and hazel. The soft-barked ash they 

 attack most of all, and this tree is never at 

 any age safe from their onslaught during snowy 

 weather. Often they almost clear the ground 

 of seedlings and young coppice-shoots in the 

 open woods, while natural regeneration and 

 reproduction are vigorous in adjoining patches 

 protected for experimental observation. Coni- 

 fers are on the whole less liable to be damaged 

 than broad-leaved trees owing to the resin they 

 contain, but larch, spruce, and silver fir are 

 the most toothsome among them while still 

 young and smooth in the bark. Pines gene- 

 rally, and the Corsican pine especially, are less 

 liable to be attacked than any other trees. 



It is questionable, indeed, if many landowners 

 have ever calculated, in cold blood, and without 

 any sort of preference or prejudice whatever, the 

 true debit and credit of their rabbit account. It 

 would be interesting to know how much the 

 rabbits actually do cost on many estates in loss 

 of income from and damage to woodlands, and 

 in expenditure for wire fencing and maintenance 

 of rabbit-proof fences. The first cost of wire- 



