296 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
Depredations of stock and birds.—Injuries of trees 
can be prevented in sheep pastures and hog pastures 
by giving the animals plenty to eat and especially 
plenty to drink. They are very likely to gnaw the 
trees for the moisture which they secure. If, how- 
ever, the animals begin to injure the trees, the only 
recourse is either to take them out or build wide 
racks about the trunks; but any sort of rack or 
fence about the tree prevents the proper care of the 
tree. 
The incursions of birds upon cherries and small- 
fruits can usually be prevented by planting in suffi- 
cient quantity that the birds may get their fill with- 
out ruining the plantation. Cherry orchards may 
sometimes be protected by planting a number of trees 
of very early sweet cherries around the outside of the 
plantation. These will be sufficient to satisfy the 
birds. In some cases, however, it is impossible to 
save the fruit unless fire-arms are used; but it is 
usually sufficient to fire blank cartridges a few times 
to scare the birds away, and thereby obviate the 
necessity of killing them. 
Small trees and garden plats of small fruits may 
also be protected from birds by means of netting 
which is now manufactured in this country for that 
purpose. Troop reports* as follows upon an experi- 
ment in this direction: 
“The past season we had several varieties of the 
Russian cherries which were fruiting for the first 
time, and wishing to test the practicability of cov- 
*James Troop, Bull. 53, Indiana Exp. Sta. 125 (1894). 
