A TREE'S WORST ENEMY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 141, 4 February 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

A TREE'S WORST ENEMY.

It s a common error to think of t tree trunk, that is the wood, as beii of the lirst importance to man. As matter of fact, man derives a lar number of valuable commodities fro that pait of the tree 1 have been d scribing Not only is the bark of gre importance in the case of trees whit bear what we call ''cork," but imm diately beneath it there is a veritab storehouse of treasures to be found a vnret.v of trees —indiarubher, reeii tiirpctiii". .gum, starch, various liqui< for flavouring food and drink, med cinal drugs, dyes, and so on. Unfo tunately, a number of animals othc than man know all about this store house, and, unless they are prevents pillage it ruthlessly.

Winter is the time of their clv.c activity, because then the supply c fresh green food has either failed altc get her or has become less palatabh Most people know something of th enormous amount of damage rabbit do to young saplings. Unless step are taken to ward off their attack whole plantations may be entirely ruin ed. There are no half and half mea sures in what they do. Old trees witl strong bark do not attract them, bir when they can find a young tree ir which the outer bark is tender thoj set to work to strip it all round for so far as thev can reach.

Rabbits cost the forester many n thousand pounds, but they are by no means the only offenders. In foreign lands there are a number of rodents which net in this way. With us, probj ably tho greatest sinner after the rabbit is the horse. Cattle, having no teeth in the upper jaw, can do little harm, and 1 was .surprised to see it stated the other day that they did. They may break off twigs and small branches, much as squirrels will nibble the young shoots in the spring—thousands of squirrels are slaughtered in| Scotland every year for this offence —j but the hardened trunk is beyond them.

It is not so in the case of ahorse. His powerful teeth are able to pierce bark of many years growth, and lie j will do whenever lie gets the chance. Even during the summer there are cases in every district of horses indulging this taste. It seems to become almost a vice, and during the recent summer I came across an unfortunate elm, a mighty tree, understand, Iron? which a couple of horses had stripped the bark so far as they could reachThere is only a narrow section of it left, that portion of it which abuts on to the road. It, fortunately, is beyond them, and it may be that sufficient sap will flow up the narrow channel to keep the tree alive. It. is astonishing how small a strip \v:ll sometimes serve, but when once :t has been too far encroached upon the case is hopeless. Even geese will act in this way if cirscly confined. They naturally can onlv iniure young trees, but the persistency with which they nibble away the outer bark in order to got at the shreds of fibrous bark beneath is irrefutable evidence of the 1 king so many an mals have for this class of food. There are, of course, a number of things that can be done to pioteet the trees. Iron guards 'ire olten placed round them or evil-last :i ; preparations are smeared oil the inui is. The pity is that the axerage farm, r has not time to trouble about sii.'h inaUcrs' as a result, if you luvp your eyes open ytiu will often see proof of what < said that the most terrible bomb ov:r atviM'd by man is not as deadly to u tree as some of the iiiMgniliM'lt ■ tile ti»e- ---■ iren which are alv. ivs on tne !o>:k out to attack it.