146 NUT GROWING 



spring. Instead of gnawing like other rodents they 

 tear off long strips of bark in such a way that bridge 

 grafting for purposes of repair is next to impossible. 

 The steel trap and rifle do pretty well for wood- 

 chucks. A combination of boy, dog, and stone wall 

 is also helpful at times. Rabbits may be kept away 

 from young nut trees by wrapping the trunk of each 

 tree with galvanized netting in such a way that the 

 netting will unfold as the tree grows. This mate- 

 rial may be left in place for several years and it 

 guards against the attacks of field mice also in a 

 way. Field mice, however, do a good deal of girdling 

 of trunks and of roots below the surface of the 

 ground. A good many of these little pests may be 

 killed with grain soaked in a weak solution of strych- 

 nine to which enough saccharin has been added to 

 modify the bitterness of the strychnine. If poisoned 

 grain is placed in a small drain tile hidden under a 

 heap of mulch by the side of each tree the mice will 

 find it and the tile will prevent birds from getting 

 into trouble. Mice will not gnaw the trunks of 

 young trees which have been painted or white- 

 washed. Tar must not be used. It often kills trees 

 with tender bark. I did not know that white-footed 

 mice worked beneath the ground like field mice and 

 pine mice until one night when four of them were 

 caught in a cage trap set below the surface of the 

 ground in a pit which was covered with a board. 



The walnut weevil, Conotrachelus juglandis, pre- 

 sents a curious instance of change of natural habit 

 in the presence of exotic trees. Originally this 



