Few of these methods for the protection of individual trees in orchards
or elsewhere are applicable to young woodlands or forest plantations
where trees grow close together. In these cases the only remedy is the
destruction of the animals or their exclusion by wire nettings.
Clean cultivation, generally, possesses advantages in preventing rabbit
depredations, since it reduces the number of places of refuge for the
animals; but rabbits go long distances in search of food, especially in
winter, and clean cultivation can not be applied on the western plains,
where dense windbreaks are essential to successful orcharding.
Feeding rabbits in winter to prevent their attacks on orchards has been
practiced successfully, on the theory that it is cheaper to feed than to
fight them. One plan is to leave the winter prunings of apple trees
scattered about the orchard. Another is to furnish corn, cabbage, or
turnips in sufficient quantity to provide food for the rabbits during
cold weather. These methods have considerable merit, particularly the
first, which seems to give satisfactory results when both mice and
rabbits are present.