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United States Department of Agriculture 

 Bureau of Biological Survey 



Wildlife Research and Management Leaflet BS-14 



.._ 



Washington, D. C. * August 1935 



PLANTING FOR WILDLIFE IN THE CORN BELT 



By W. L. McAtee, principal biologist and technical adviser 



Office of the Chief 







Among uses to which land taken out of corn production may be put is 

 planting for wildlife. Farmers as a class enjoy hearing the cheery call of the 

 bobwhite, seeing the cottontail timorously come out to browse at dusk, or in 

 other ways sensing the presence of the wild things that help to make farm life 

 attractive. For those who wish tc hunt or to permit hunting on their lands, 

 there are the additional rewards for good wildlife management — game brought to 

 bag or revenue derived from the sale of shooting privileges. In some cases 

 receipts from this source pay taxes, and where due attention is- given to the 

 matter, larger revenues are possible. 



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Planting for wildlife should be planned with reference to two of the 

 greatest needs of furred and feathered creatures; namely, the need for cover 

 and the need for food. Important and indispensable as food is, yet cover 

 must receive first attention, for regardless of the presence of a plenteous 

 food supply, wildlife cannot persist on land without adequate shelter from 

 its enemies and where there is no cover where the young may be safely reared. 



Cover for the majority of the small forms of wildlife means low, dense 

 vegetation, some of which should be tangled, or stiff and thorny, so that in 

 time of need, the pursued can dive into it to escape the pursuer. Weedy 

 fields, for instance, provide fairly good concealing cover but are much im- 

 proved for wildlife by the presence of rose or berry brier patches, plum 

 thickets, or honeysuckle tangles. 



Planting to improve cover can well be made to serve a double purpose 

 by using food-producing vegetation, and a triple use by carrying it on where 

 erosion control is needed. If only gullies and waste corners of the farm are 

 planted, much can be done to increase cover for wildlife. Cover plants for 

 the Corn Belt that are useful both as soil binders and food producers include 

 greenbriers or catbriers, blackberries, dewberries, bittersweet, grapevines, 

 trumpet vine, Virginia creeper, and Japan honeysuckle. 



Fruit-bearing shrubs or small trees that can be used to provide cover 

 on any available land include redcedar and other junipers, wild roses, thorn 

 apples, balckberries, dewberries, raspberries, wild plums, sumacs, wild grapes, 

 buf falober: n y, dogwoods, blueberries, huckleberries, elderberry, blackhaws, 

 and honeysuckles. 



