THE RABBIT AS A FARM AND ORCHARD PEST. 



333 



uncovered, often until the tree is entirely girdled. The difference 

 between the work of rabbits and that of field mice may easily be 

 detected by the large tooth marks of the former and by the tearing 

 of the bark in strips. The work of mice usually begins at or below 

 the surface of the ground, and the fine tooth marks cover the entire 

 surface that is denuded of bark. Mice, like rabbits, also sever twigs, 

 but the tooth marks are small. In spite of these constant and obvious 

 differences, many orchardists attribute to rabbits much of the dam- 

 age done by mice. (PI. XXXVITI, figs. 1 and 2.) 



A list of the trees and woody shrubs whose twigs and bark are 

 eaten by rabbits would include a large majority of our arborescent 

 plants. Whether certain trees, like the walnut for instance, are abso- 

 lutely exempt from attack is an open question. Usually the ap- 

 parent immunity of a tree from the attack of rabbits is to be taken 

 as indicating that other trees growing near it are preferred; for 

 when an entire plantation is of a single species, its apparent immu- 

 nity often disappears. Thus the incense cedar {Lihocedrus decur- 

 rens) of California, long reputed to be exempt from attacks by 

 rabbits, when planted by the Forest Service in the San Gabriel 

 National Forest was badly injured by cottontail rabbits. 



Newly planted orchards in most sections of the United States are 

 liable to injury from rabbits, and few are now set out without pro- 

 visions for winter protection from these animals. 



INJURY TO NURSERIES. 



In many parts of the country nurseries of young fruit, forest, and 

 ornamental trees and shrubs are subject to injury from rabbits. In 

 some instances nurserymen report losses of from 20 to 30 per cent of 

 their stock in a single winter, the money value reaching several thou- 

 sand dollars. The losses of orchard and nursery stock in one 

 neighborhood in Arkansas during the comparatively mild winter of 

 1905-6 were estimated at fully $50,000. Similar reports come from 

 other sections. In some States the losses of nursery stock frorw rab- 

 bits undoubtedly are increasing from 3^ear to year. 



RABBITS IN rOREST RLANTINGS. 



In Europe young forest plantations are often injured by rabbits. 

 On the Plains of our own country, under the operation of the old 

 timber-culture act, rabbits sometimes proved to be almost as formida- 

 ble obstacles to success as drought. The Forest Service is making- 

 important progress in the work of forest extension. This work, both 

 in cooperative and reserve plantings, is often hampered by depreda- 

 tions of rabbits, especially in wild country partly covered b}^ dense 

 chaparral, which harbors the smaller species. Depredations have 

 been so extensive as to indicate that rabbits, both cottontails and the 



