WOODS AND PLANTATIONS. 425 



water, very soon get washed off by rains, and of course are of no use. 

 Where trees have attained some size, certain of these mixtures may be 

 applied without danger as, for instance, in the case of trees of from four 

 feet and upwards in height, and where deer, hares, and rabbits may be 

 eating the bark from off the lower portion of the stem. I have applied 

 Carson's lead-coloured paint largely in cases of this kind, and find it very 

 effectual for a time. 



This is a paint manufactured by Messrs "Walter Carson & Sons of 

 London, and costs 28s. per cwt. It is sent in the form of a powder, and 

 has to be mixed with oil specially prepared for it, eight gallons of which 

 are required for each cwt. of powder. It becomes a very cheap paint 

 for many purposes. In applying it to young trees, I had it put on the 

 bark of the stem only not on the branches to from twenty-four to 

 thirty inches in height from the ground. Some which was applied 

 three years ago still remains, and the plants do not show any symptoms 

 of having suffered from the application. It will be found valuable in 

 preventing deer from barking trees in parks ; but it requires to be 

 repeated, as it does not remain long on the bark, and these repeated 

 applications become expensive. 



Some years ago, several of the young plantations on this estate were 

 very much infested with rabbits, and the crops were in many cases very 

 much destroyed by them. I first tried some of the mixtures already 

 named, but found they were not effectual ; I therefore adopted the plan 

 of protecting with wire-netting the young plantations from those sides 

 where the rabbits chiefly came from. This I procured of the size called 

 No. 19 wire, two-inch mesh, and was two feet high, and galvanised. This 

 cost 4|d. per yard, delivered at our station. Where no fence existed, and 

 we found that the rabbits came from older plantations to feed on the 

 young trees adjoining, we erected the wire netting by driving light posts 

 into the ground and tying the netting on with light wire about the thick- 

 ness of bell-wire. These posts were cut three feet long and driven into 

 the ground one foot, and were placed about six feet apart. Staples were 

 at first used in fixing the netting to the posts ; but I found that when 

 the netting had to be removed when the trees were out of danger, there 

 would be more trouble and expense in drawing the staples than there 

 was in the simple untying of the small wire. 



When the young plantations were thus protected from the outside by 

 the wire netting, I next proceeded to have all the rabbits killed that 

 were in the young plantation itself; and then I had all their burrows 

 shut up, so that afterwards any fresh openings might be detected, and 

 means taken to remove the intruders. I haye found this a most effec- 

 tual plan, as the plantations have not suffered since ; and now they are 



