CHAPTER VI. 

 INJURIES FROM ANIMALS. 



The forest as a whole suffers relatively little from animals, 

 their influence on its character being much less important than 

 that of insects. Probably the most destructive wild animal is 

 the porcupine, which in the northern woods girdles a great many 

 trees, especially spruce. As these animals are very fond of old 

 pork barrels they are often found in the vicinity of abandoned 

 lumber camps, and, although in some states there is a reward 

 for killing them, it is a question whether more harm is done by 

 the porcupines or by the class of men who profit by this reward 

 and are responsible for many forest fires. 



While deer may damage some farm crops in parts of New 

 England, it will be a long time before our forest management will 

 reach that degree of intensiveness which has been reached in 

 Germany, and which takes remedial measures against the occa- 

 sional nipping of a forest bud or stripping of the bark from a 

 saphng. 



Squirrels, rabbits, and mice often nibble the bark from young 

 trees and occasionally girdle them. The writers have seen 

 plantations of locust and pitch pine in Connecticut killed in this 

 way. Moles also injure the roots of trees and wounds of this 

 kind furnish an easy entrance point for fungous spores. The 

 greatest damage from these rodents is, however, in the forest 

 nursery, where the seeds are often eaten in large numbers, 

 especially the nuts and larger pine seed. Small birds, such as 

 sparrows and goldfinches, frequently cause serious damage in 

 forest nurseries by eating the seed just after germination and 

 thus destroying the young plants. Provision against such dam- 

 age can be made by coating the seed before sowing with red lead, 

 a powder which will remain on the seed for a year and which is 



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