i So 



Insects and Diseases. 



snow has fallen, with a little pressure and turning about. Fig. 507 

 represents one of these protectors, and Fig. 508 several nested 

 together. 



MICE AND RABBITS. Where these animals exist, they will be 

 sure to do more or less damage in winter by gnawing the bark. 

 The cleaner the cultivation of the ground, 

 the less the danger from mice. If a small 

 mound has not been thrown up around 

 young trees before freezing up (which is a 

 very perfect protection if well performed), 

 then it will be best, after a fresh fall of 



pactly about the bottom 

 of the stems. The mice 

 will not dig through the 

 hard trodden snow. It 

 should be repeated with 

 new snowfalls. Rabbits 

 are kept away by blood 



Fig. 508. 



Fig. 507. 



or rancid grease. Rub the skin of an old piece of pork, or a piece 

 of fresh liver on the bark two and a half feet up from the ground, 

 and their appetite for the anointed bark is spoiled. Blood is apt to 

 be washed off by winter rains, and the application needs repeating ; 

 or the blood should be mixed with clay, which will prevent washing. 

 Another way to exclude both mice and rabbits is to case the foot of 

 the tree with sheathing paper, cording it on, or nailing it on with 

 tacks. A few slits made in the bottom edge will enable it to spread 

 a little, where it should be sunk slightly into the soil. For rabbits 

 sheet iron or tin is best, and should be thirty inches high. 



"It is useful to place a few shocks of unhusked corn on each 

 acre of the orchard," remarks a correspondent of the Country Gen- 

 tleman ; " all the rabbits want is enough to satisfy their appetite, 

 and they prefer corn to apple-tree bark. Lard and sulphur rub- 

 bed on the bark of trees is a good preventive, and does no 

 damage to the trees. Snares can easily be set in the run -ways, 

 and the rabbits destroyed. Sweet apples, cut in the middle, stuck 

 upon a stick, and raised about six inches from the ground, with 

 strychnine pricked into the edges, will be eaten by the rabbits at 

 night, and you will find them dead in the morning. I do not 

 recommend putting out poison while other remedies prove effec- 

 tual." 



