I frequently "cut across lots" in going to the "corners," and thus pass through a neighbor's young orchard, where he has put wire netting around the base of his trees to keep the mice away, and it occurs to me that this would be a good way to keep the borers away also. Would it not be practicable to grow small fruits, grapes, and even cherries under wire netting to protect them from birds ? Strong posts might be set up and light rails laid across their tops, and the netting spread on the rails, also around the sides of the plot. Such posts should be high enough to allow a horse to walk freely under the netting, say eight feet high. The cost would not be very much to enclose even a half-acre, and if the wire was galvanized it would last a lifetime. The meshes might be one inch square. Portions of the netting around the sides might be arranged to allow of its being rolled up or down to allow insect-eating birds to enter during the forepart of the season; but when fruit began to ripen it would have to be closed. Would it pay ? I think it would.

At any rate, the fruit-grower would have the satisfaction of picking and eating fruit that had not been mutilated by the birds, and he could allow it to remain on the plants until it was fully ripe. - J. T. Macomber, Vermont.