18 FOREST PROTECTION 



d. — Treatment of injured plants. 



Broad leaved seedlings merely chewed above ground should 

 be clipped back. Oak seedlings, cut off below ground, have 

 been successfully transplanted at Biltmore and have replaced 

 the lost tap-root by a multitude of rootlets. 



IV. — Ground Hog or Wood Chuck. Dr. Fernow reports that his 

 coniferous nurseries at Axton were badly plundered by woodchuck. 

 After Schaaf, white oak saplings are peeled by woodchucks up to 

 five feet from the ground, near fields. Stomach analysis at Bilt- 

 more show only ferns. 



V. — Porcupine or Hedgehog. It peels the bark, especially that of 

 spruce, basswood and hemlock, close to the base of the tree, pre- 

 ferring saplings up to 5" in diameter. 



VI. — Beaver. It is now so rare that the damage done to the forest 

 is insignificant. 



C. — Protection Against Birds. 



I. — Grouse. The grouse bite-off buds and cotyledons, and eat the 

 fruit of certain tree species (buds of birch, maple, cottonwood; 

 seeds of red cedar, beech, witch hazel, calmia and rhododendron). 

 On the whole the damage done by grouse is inconspicuous. 



II. — Wild Turkey. The turkey is useful by eating some noxious in- 

 sects and by scratching the leaves, thus burying certain tree seeds. 

 At Biltmore, however, on Ducker Mountains, plantations of scarlet 

 oak acorns have been practically destroyed by the turkey. In 

 forest nurseries, as well, the turkey is apt to do considerable harm 

 during the winter. 



III. — Pigeons and Doves. Pigeons live during spring and winter 

 on coniferous seeds, beech nuts, buds and cotyledons. 

 Remedies in nurseries are lath or wire screens or coverings of thorny 

 branches. Pigeons may be shot at anise licks. 



IV. — Crows and Bluejays. These birds live on large seeds (acorns, 

 beech nuts, chestnuts) and are especially dangerous in nurseries: 

 They plunder the nests of useful birds. On the other hand, they 

 may assist the forester in destroying mice and noxious insects; 

 they underplant whole forests with acorns, beech nuts, hickory 

 nuts and chestnuts. 



V. — Finches and Cross-bills. The damage done consists in the de- 

 struction of seed plantations of conifers made in nurseries or in 

 the Open. It occurs during the spring migration of the birds when 

 they appear in large swarms. 



The cotyledons are bitten off and eaten as well as the seeds. Some 

 cross-Mis split the scales of coniferous cones into two, withdraw- 

 ing the seed from underneath the scales. 



