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Show SERIOUS INJURY BY RABBITS Most Damage Is Done by Gnawing Unprotected Bark of Fruit Trees During Winter Season. CBy WALTER B. LEDTZ.) Considerable interest attaches at present to rabbits and hares especially espe-cially on account of the great damage which they may commit upon cultivated cultivat-ed crops, and also on account of the profits which may be secured under ! favorable conditions from the breed- ing of some races, especially the Bel-' Bel-' gian hare. Rabbits and hares are universally uni-versally hunted for game and their 1 Where Danger Lurks. meat makes a very pleasant and desirable de-sirable change in the diet. In localities where these animals have bred in the wild state to such an extent as to become an agricultural nuisance they have been killed in great numbers and their meat used in canning. Large shipments are annually annual-ly made from California, Colorado, and other western states where the jack-rabbit jack-rabbit has multiplied in large numbers. num-bers. Perhaps the most serious injury is done by rabbits in gnawing the bark of unprotected fruit trees in winter. When other food Is scarce rabbits may destroy whole orchards by girdling the trees. Various methods have been adopted for the extermination of rabbits rab-bits in such localities, and for the protection pro-tection of fruit trees against their attacks. at-tacks. The methods employed for this purpose pur-pose include hunting with firearms or with ferrets, trapping, and driving Into corrals by means of regularly organized or-ganized parties of mounted hunters. The attempt to destroy rabbits by spreading contagious disease among them has thus far not proven very successful.' The use of poisons, such as strychnine and phosphorus, has certain cer-tain disadvantages, on account of the fact that the jack-rabbits do not burrow, bur-row, and consequently the poisons must be scattered on the surface ol the ground and. be a source of danger to other animals. The protection of fruit trees and vineyards against rabbits may be accomplished ac-complished by means of rabbit-proof fences made of woven wire, or by special spe-cial protection for each tree or vine. Young trees and vines may be pro- These Will Serve a Better Purpose on the Farmer's Table, Than Alive In an Orchard of Unprotected Trees. tected by wrapping them with strips of burlap, gunny sacking, coarse cloth, wire netting, pasteboard, orrli nary newspapers, or by banking the 1 trees with soil or cinders.. Newspapers Newspa-pers wrapped around the trees and fastened by a cord not too tightly serve as good protection against rabbits rab-bits and mice. |
