Injuries from Rabbits and Mice. 295 
bits injure trees chiefly in cold winters, when the 
amount of green food is scarce. They are apt to be 
especially bad in new countries. The best preventive 
of injuries from mice is to see that there is no mate- 
rial, as dead grass or weeds, close to the base of the 
tree, in which the rodents can nest. If the litter is 
not taken away, it should at least be tramped down 
tightly before winter sets in. The best preventive of 
injury by rabbits is not to have the rabbits. If the 
brush piles and old fence-rows, in which the animals 
harbor, are cleaned away, there will commonly be 
little trouble; and, at all events, a smart boy who is 
fond of hunting will ordinarily solve the question 
without help.* 
If mice are very serious, it may be advisable to 
put eylinders of wire netting about the trees, as al- 
ready .recommended. Rolls of birch bark are some- 
times used in regions where the paper-birech grows. 
It should be borne in mind, however, that such cov- 
ers for the bodies of trees interfere with clean culture 
about the base of the tree, and they are apt to afford 
a most excellent place for the lodgment of borers and 
other insects. The common notion that wire screens, 
and tarred paper, and mounds of ashes, and the like, 
prevent borers from working, is unfounded, and is, 
in fact, likely to be the very opposite of the truth; 
for a wire sereen, which soon fills with grass and 
litter, is a most inviting place for the congregation 
of insect life. 
*Various washes and other devices for preventing the injuries by mice, 
rabbits and gophers may be found in “The Horticulturist’s Rule-Book.” 
