DEPREDATION BY GROUND GAME. 65 



man. All this adds greatly to the initial cost. Again, 

 when plantations are wired, the keeper's sense of duty 

 becomes dulled. He considers that the responsibility 

 has been taken out of his hands, and he consequently 

 allows both hares and rabbits to increase at will. We 

 have always found that ground game increases with 

 the increased use of wire. 



The keeper's interest and the forester's are an- 

 tagonistic. The one is anxious to show good sport 

 (and although a good sportsman is satisfied with an 

 ample supply of feather, the young and inexperienced 

 novice requires an ample supply of ground game to 

 whet his appetite, which it pays the keeper to foster), 

 the other is anxious to obtain healthy timber as fast 

 as nature will permit unhindered by the injurious 

 bite of these rodents. However, as we have stated, 

 the two cannot exist together, so landowners must 

 take this matter into consideration when they count 

 the cost of planting. 



Another plan often adopted (done, too, generally 

 after the mischief) is to tar the stem ; this, in our 

 opinion, is most injurious to young trees, rendering, 

 as it does, the bark hard and inelastic, and inducing a 

 hide-bound condition detrimental to tree-life. The 

 patent mixtures sold for the purpose of protection 

 from bite of rabbit we have found useful if newly 

 applied at least once a year. The caustic effect of tar 

 is not apparent. 



Of the two, hares, when in excess, are more injurious 

 than rabbits ; their depredations are more widespread, 

 and to young larch especially they are most destruc- 

 tive. They are not satisfied with a nibble here and 



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