TREATING TREES“ THAT: HAVE" BEEN 
PPI Deby NICE OR -KABBIETS.* 

N. O. Booru. 

So many inquiries have been received by the Station as to the 
proper method of treatment for trees that have been injured by 
mice that it has been deemed advisable to issue this circular. 
From the investigations carried on by different ornithologists 
on the feeding habits of birds, it is evident that one of the rea- 
sons, perhaps the chief one, for the presence of the great number 
of field mice is the indiscriminate killing of hawks and owls. 
While some species of these birds, now very seldom found, de- ° 
stroy many chickens and beneficial birds, the hawks, and cer- 
tainly the owls most commonly killed, live almost wholly on 
field mice and similar pests. The average hunter and most 
farmers’ boys do not distinguish between them, but shoot every 
hawk and owl on sight. And it is an unfortunate fact that 
some of the most beneficial kinds of these birds are the least 
_able to protect themselves and consequently are most liable to 
be killed. 
Mice and rabbits injure trees in the winter by gnawing the 
bark. One of the most commonly used and most successful 
methods of preventing injuries from mice is to mould the earth 
up around the base of the trees in the fall. Mice can reach 
trees thus prepared only by climbing this conical mound, which 
they will rarely do. Any trash around the base of a tree will 
invite mice, and trees so situated are more apt to suffer from 
their depredations. Raking and burning whatever trash there 
is in the orchard will be beneficial as mice will not remain on 
open ground or in places where they cannot get food and shelter 
*Reprint of a circular. 
tSee U. 8. Dept. of Agr., Year Book, 1894: pp. 215-232. ‘‘Hawks and Owls from the Stand- 
point of the Farmer.”’ 
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