FESTS 99 



all the birds which are most harmful to them at any 

 time of the year ; but it should be noted that this does 

 not authorise them to employ more than one gun 

 for the purpose without a gun licence, whatever the 

 extent of their holding may be. 



Ground Game. — Rabbits and hares, the latter espe- 

 cially, may do much damage in a young plantation, 

 by barking and killing the trees. Various substances 

 are sold for smearing over the stems and branches 

 to prevent such attacks, but it is very questionable 

 whether any of them can be used without injury to 

 the trees. Wire netting appears to be the only safe 

 means of prevention. In the case of standard trees, 

 a strip of netting may be loosely rolled round the 

 tree, and fastened to the stake : this is much better 

 than tying gorse and other bushes round the stems, 

 for these harbour all sorts of insects, and keep the 

 stems wet, thus rendering them susceptible to attacks 

 by fungi. With bush trees, the only satisfactory 

 method is to wire in the whole plantation. The 

 mesh should not be wider than two inches, and, if 

 hares are prevalent, the netting should be 4 feet 

 high : another 6 or 12 inches of it should be buried 

 in the ground, but not vertically ; it should be 

 bent outwards, and covered with soil, the rabbits 

 then will be prevented from burrowing downwards, 

 and getting underneath. 



Whenever trees have been damaged, the wounds 

 should be trimmed, and the exposed wood painted 

 with tar (see p. jG). 



Spn?ig Fi'osts. — The loss suffered by fruit growers 



