DAMAGE CAUSED BY ANIMALS. 95 



and to the introduction of subordinate species (especially Silver 

 Fir, which is greatly exposed to danger) interspersed throughout 

 plantations, smearing with coal-tar has been adopted ; it is 

 applied either with a little wooden spud or else directly with the 

 gloved hand to the leaves of the leading shoot, but due care must 

 be taken not to injure the buds, as if they become coated with the 

 tar they perish, in consequence of which the method is not 

 applicable to the broad-leaved species of trees. The danger to 

 which buds are thus exposed has led to the adoption of a less 

 risky method ; 1 a mixture being formed of 4 parts fresh cow-dung, 

 1 part coal-tar, and as much urine as brings it to the consistency 

 of thick oil-paint when stirred ; this is coated on the leading 

 shoots with a wooden spud, and without any precautions being 

 needed about the buds. Slacked lime has always been success- 

 fully used instead of the tar, as in spring the bud easily breaks 

 through the protective and quite innocuous shell enclosing it. The 

 operation must be repeated each autumn, but the costs are very 

 small, and the success of the manipulation is complete. 



Subordinate species that are interspersed only individually, 

 Larches, Weymouth Pine, and exotics planted experimentally, 

 can be protected against the brushing of roe-buck by binding 

 brushwood round them, by fixing rugged branches near them in 

 the ground, by tying on with a thread little pieces of news- 

 paper, 2 about 4 inches square, that have been cut up at home, at 

 a height of 20 to 24 inches above the ground, or by smearing the stem 

 with any mixture having an objectionable smell, as, for example, 

 lime mixed with bullock's blood and urine. 



In order to prevent the treading and injuring of plants set out 

 in horizontal lines on sloping ground, it has been found advan- 

 tageous to insert pegs or short poles of about 4j feet in length 

 slantingly into the ground every 20 or 30 paces apart ; and as the 

 deer dislike the inconvenience of always having to step aside for 

 these obstructions, they usually change their run. 



Where red-deer and wild-pig are plentiful, nurseries and seed- 

 ling beds must be protected by fences of sufficient height and 



1 This method finds extensive application in Bavaria against both red-deer and roe. 



2 This method was first introduced at Grubenhagen (Hanover), more than twenty 

 1 years ago, by Oberforster Niederstadt, under whom the Translator had the benefit of 



serving his apprenticeship at woodcraft during 1873-1874. The bits of paper were 

 tied with rushes round the topmost buds of Silver Fir in autumn, and generally re- 

 mained till the following autumn, like a collar at the base of the new shoot. Trans. 



