RABBITS 169 
falfa are favorites. In the Southwest they are 
quick to seize upon garden-patches, and in 
parts of Texas cantaloupes cannot be grown 
unless well fenced. 
Rabbits, however, are most feared by tree- 
planters. They injure trees and shrubs in two 
ways—by cutting off the ends of branches 
and twigs, and by tearing away the bark, often 
until the tree is entirely girdled. The differ- 
ence between the work of rabbits and that of 
field-mice may easily be detected by the large 
tooth-marks of the former, and by the height 
(16 to 18 inches above the ground) of the 
wound. 
Newly planted orchards are especially liable 
to injury from rabbits, and few are now set out 
without provisions for winter protection from 
these animals. The losses of orchard and nur- 
sery stock in one neighborhood in Arkansas 
during the mild winter of 1905-6 were reported 
at $50,000. 
Laws protecting the rabbit. In New Eng- 
land and the Middle Atlantic States the rabbit 
is protected, while throughout most of the West 
and South no restrictions are placed on hunt- 
