Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1874 — Rabbits Gnawing Trees. [ARTICLE]

Rabbits Gnawing Trees.

MnJR. A. Rf.THT., a well-known linrtjculturist near Alton, 111., thus tells the Western Agriculturist how he prevented the depredat ions of rabbits in his orchard: “ Rabbits do not at all times bark fruit trees, yet are apt to get into the habit at almost any time and to attack almost any kind of tree. They are, however, most apt to commence their ugly tricks when the ground is covered with snow and frozen; when one commences he will teach others in a short time, just as cattle will learn .from each other to browse on shrubs or plants on which they usually do not feed. If the rabbit that does the mischief, is caught or killed the others may not begin the practice. “My practice now is to set traps for them during the winter, and to hunt them when I have time for the latter, and to have them served on the table, where they are quite acceptable when properly prepared. I also keep close watch of tmy trees, and if I see that any of them are being barked, I cut an apple into thin slices and dose it with strychnine and put it near the injured trees, and the next morning I usually find the rabbit or rahbitr that have been doing the mischief laid out near the scene of their depredations. “ Stryclinine-is much better than any otberpoison, because it acts quick, and the rabbit, eating only a part of a slice, is sure to remain within sight of the spot where he ate it; and no animal will get poisoned by eating it, for I have not been able to get either hog, dog or cat to eat the flesh when given whole or skinned and cut up. With arsenic or other poison the work is not so quick and there is some danger that such a poisontd rabbit might be Caught or shot and used as food by human beings, whose senses of taste or smell are not so acute as with animals, and harm might result.”