ENEMIES TO JVOODLAXDS AND NURSERIES. 



53 



But much o-reater dama2:e tlian that which is caused 

 merely by browsing or nibbHng can be done by the red- 

 deer when they begin to gnaw and strip the bark from poles 

 of the smooth-barked species of trees. Young spruce and 

 oak are most exposed to this particular danger, wliilst 

 Scots pine, black pine, larch, alder, and birch suffer 



RED-DEER. 



damage least frequently. The woods most liable to be 

 attacked are young healthy spruce plantations from twenty 

 to forty years of age, and oak coppices of fifteen to twenty 

 years. When Scots pine plantations have attained an age 

 of twenty years, they practically outgrow^ the danger, owing 

 to the thickening of the bark ; while spruce crops are 

 liable to attacks up to about sixty years of age. Damage of 



