RABBIT PROOF FENCING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4043, 20 February 1892, Page 2

RABBIT PROOF FENCING.

■AJMnotMm The remarkable activity and cunning of the. rabbits iu getting over or through the fences, built' for the purpose of excluding them from the pastures is (says the Hamilton Tribune) illustrated by an experiment madeby Messrs Watson' and •' Ingljs, of- Stonyford, Estate. When the firm purchased the estate some years ago the whole, of the 13,000 acres, contained in it was literally given oyer, to the destructive vermin. Trapping was tried in conjunctioa with rooting out the ferns and clearing p£f the stones, bat w&s' ti'n'attefided with succ'es, and the partners then determined 'to fence' the property with a rabbit proof wall, . and bill the rabbits inside".the paddocks, ; A stone wall 6ft Gin high 1 from the surface of the ground, and' .sunk 18 ihbbeg into the 1 soil, with a l> ard projecting outwardfl t 6 inoheß from tho

top, was; erected-at-a cost of about £265 a mile, ;T&o stones were so closely fitted that a mouse could not have penetrated the wall, and yet when the whole of the rabbits had been ..cleared off ahd th'B'gM was growing in the paddocks, the. starring animals managed to get over the fence irotn the outside, 'Finding that the wall was practically useless, the owners pulled down a portion of it and erected a wire netting over t'no top 2ft 6in high. 1 Once more the paddocks were cleared, and again the rabbits got in. from the outside,* An examination proved that the clever little animals ran up the face of the wall and then climbed the netting,using the wires of the mesh for steps and so dropped into t h e good grass on the inside; Mr Watson stated that this fenoe clearly proved that what is known as " Goveroment netting " is a distinct failure when erected as a perpendicular fence, Not to be beaten \he enterprising land owners pulled down the fence a second; time and rebuilt it, slanting outwards, with the wire netting at an angle of nearly 45 degrees, and at last the rabbits are bafflod, for they oannot olinib the leaning wire, and a thoroughly rabbit proof fence has been made, after an experiment costing over £BOOO.