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matter necessary to maintain the fertility of the soil, and often increases
the run-off or erosion. 
Fencing may be ruined as a result of uncontrolled burning. 
Rabbit and Mouse Damage 
Every fall and winter, and particularily during severe winters rabbits and
mice cause con- 
siderable damage to game food and cover. Almost all of the trees and shrubs
herein listed have 
been found damaged by these rodents. 
The cottontail favors Sumac, Black Cherry, Wild Plum, Apple, and Juneberry.
He prefers a 
newly planted pine and may wipe out the young spruces. A snowshoe hare will
eat the seedlings 
of both conifers and hardwoods. Rabbits make a single, chisel-like angled
groove larger than the 
scar made by a mouse. 
Mice damage varies from year to year. Injury to plantings occur during the
peak of population 
cycles which happen at 4 year intervals. When over abundant, heavy losses,
particularly of fruit 
trees, occur as the result of barking and girdling. Mice may climb and girdle
plants from the 
base to the tip. Double grooved gnawings at the base of the tree generally
indicate mice. Look 
for mice droppings. Mice leave finer tooth marks and do a neater job than
rabbits. 
Species quite free of rabbit and mice damage are Red Cedar, Dogwood, Grape,
Woodbine, and 
Elderberry. 
Newly planted stock must be protected to insure proper growth and survival.
Injury may 
be prevented by the use of various kinds of repellent washes. A cylinder
wire netting of 1/4 inch 
mesh encircling the tree to a height of l inches or more and set 2 inches
in the ground will 
prevent damage to the bark. The guard should protect the tip of the plant
if not out of reach, 
otherwise the plant may be killed. The rodent eating hawks and owls hold
down the mice populations. 
Those kinds beneficial to the farmer should be protected. 
Livestock damage 
Cattle are destructive to the soil, young trees, ground cover, and wildlife.
Cattle will 
clean out all water cress. Although some trees are browsed only under heavy
grazing (Shagbark 
Hickory, Dogwood, Black Walnut and Hawthorn) all of them may be destroyed
by rubbing and trampling. 
All stream-bank plantings in pasture land must be fenced. A fence within
a pasture is more 
subject to livestock damage than a field boundary fence, hence the need for
a 4 strand barbwire 
"horse high, hog tight and bull strong" to enclose the planting
area. A fenced in bank should