52 



FARM VERMIN, HELFfUL AND HURTFUL. 



nation generally, cannot possibly reap the advantages which 

 otherwise would be theirs, if they were allowed to avail 

 themselves of the full productive capacity of the soil, in 

 place of having to suffer a diminution of each year's harvest 

 through the game preserve, for the amusement of their land- 

 lord and his guests. 



But even where woods are grown on purely sylvicultural 

 And financial principles, the amount of damage that may be 

 done can sometimes become very serious. 



LARGE GAME. 

 Red-deer {Cervus claplms). 

 Red deer bite off the top buds and young succulent shoots 

 in plantations, often causing the im.mediate death of young 

 plants, and prejudicing the development of those of greater 

 age and sturdier growth. This is more particularly the case 

 during the late autumn and the winter months, when there 

 is a want ^of good grazing ; but it is also occasionally 

 noticeable during the summer months. The trees which 

 suffer most in this manner are ash, aspen, willow, 

 beech, hornbeam, oak, maple, sycamore, hazel, larch, and 

 silver fir ; whilst birch, elm, Scots pine, and spruce are 

 much less exposed to damage. But it is almost invariably 

 the case that any particular species of exotic tree which 

 may happen to be a rarity in the neighbourhood, and 

 which is introduced among the other trees in individual 

 specimens onl}^, seems to offer specially toothsome attractions 

 to deer. 



The extent to which the nibbled plants are prejudiced in 

 growth differs according to the species of the tree. Oak, 

 beech, and hornbeam exhibit a stronger recuperative 

 power than ash, maple, or sycamore ; whilst amiong 

 conifers the silver fir overcomes the damage most easily. 

 Owing to their far smaller supplies of nutrient reserves, the 

 conifers are, on the whole, much more exposed to serious 

 damage than the broad -leaved species of trees. 



