154 



PREPARING FOR WINTER 



can be obtained for a small cost from the United States 

 Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. This bait must be 

 used on the day it is prepared. 



One piece of bait is sufficient for every 10 square feet of 

 orchard cover, both under and between the trees, and out to 

 100 feet on every side of the field. The bait must always be 

 covered. It is effective in 24 hours. This treatment should 

 be made in late fall after all apples are picked up. Although 

 the apple cubes make a very good bait and conveniently decay 

 after a few days' exposure, a mixture of grain may be used 

 instead if there are many windfall apples left under the tree. 

 One treatment a year is satisfactory, provided that no nQW 

 mice come in from outside of the orchard. If the orchard is 

 surrounded by hedgerows, stone walls, etc., it may be advisable 

 to treat the outer two or three rows several times. 



4. Protect Trees from Mice and Rabbits. Grass, litter, 

 and trash of all kinds should be hoed away from the base of 

 young trees before winter comes. Mice seldom molest trees 

 not in sod, if they must come out into the open to do so. 



If a mound of clean soil is hoed up about the base of the 

 trees and thoroughly packed down, this in itself is a good 

 insurance against injury by mice and is the only treatment 

 given by many fruit growers. It may not be sufficient, how- 

 ever, for sod orchards or for outside rows in cultivated orchards 

 surrounded by meadows or hedgerows. Mice sometimes do 

 damage under such conditions even during the growing season, 

 especially in the fall. 



Protection then best takes the form of some material 

 wrapped about the base of the trees and shoved down into 

 the soil so that there is no vulnerable spot above ground. Tar 

 paper is effective, but should be removed each spring as there 

 is sometimes evidence of injury to the bark when it is allowed 

 to remain. The continued repetition of this operation makes 

 the practice an expensive one. Wood veneer strips are also 

 used, and even newspapers or building paper are quite effec- 

 tive. 



