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The Rural Voice, 1999-11, Page 411 Woodlots weekly are the most effective. Among the products applied once a season, a sachet of Irish Spring soap was easy to make, effective and cheap." (Apparently it is the tallow fatty acid in the soap that repels deer, not the perfume added by the manufacturer.) Tom Hollow, a professional gardener in California, says he has found a way to keep deer away from roses. He mixes a commercial pepper spray repellent called Hot Sauce with an antitranspirant named Vapor Guard and sprays the mixture on the roses. Antitranspirants are used routinely by gardeners to keep foliage from giving off moisture too quickly, but they also coat foliage so the pepper solution sticks and is not washed off quickly by rain. OMAFRA, in its bulletin, Rodent and Deer Control in Orchards, says, "Odour repellents such as blood meal, moth flakes, soap and human hair, have been tried with varying degrees of success. Small nylon mesh bags filled with an egg -sized ball of fresh human hair and replaced every four to six weeks have worked well." Last fall I tried the soap treatment. I called Colgate-Palmolive and learned that they make two tallow - based soaps - Irish Spring and Palmolive bath soap. I bought a dozen bars of Irish Spring (on sale at 48 cents each), cut them in half and drilled a 1/4" hole in each half. (Actually, after the first one, I drilled the holes before.cutting the Kars because it was easier to hold them.) With used baling twine I tied the pieces of soap to the branches of a few walnut trees along one side of the plantation. The result? Success! This past spring I found no evidence that deer had been in the plantation near where I had hung the soap. They had, however, attacked the trees on the other side. I am not prepared to assume that on the basis of a few trees being spared for one year that soap is the perfect solution. In the belief, however, that it is worth trying again, a couple of months ago I bought four dozen bars of Irish Spring soap, cut them in half and tied the pieces in the branches of the walnut trees, 24 GREY BRUCE FORESTRY SERVICE TREE MARKING Benefits of MARKING your woodlot for THINNING: Optimal tree growth Wildlife habitat Health of the stand Species diversity Quality of the stand ....plantations or hardwood stands Ask us about our complete forest management program! A Co-operative Program Between: Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority R.R. #l, Hanover N4N 3B8 (519) 364-1255 svca@bmts.com Grey Sauble Conservation Authority R.R. #4, Owen Sound N4K 5N6 (519) 376-3076 gsca@bmts.com WINGHAM FORESTRY SERVICE R.R. #1, Wingham Ontario NOG 2W0 TREE MARKING FOR TIMBER SALES OR FUEL WOOD CALL (519) 335-6768 MURRAY HALL - FORESTRY TECHNICIAN Lands & Forests Consulting offers a diversity of high-quality natural resource management services LANo f012C-516CONSULT(NCt t Provincially Licensed Tree Markers 1 Sawlog, Fuelwood, Plantation Marking Managed Forest Tax Plan Approvers Aggregate Compliance & Licensing > Cutter/Skidder Safety & Certification >► Fire Suppression, Fire Instructors Jim Eccles (519) 369-5780 Dave Taylor (519) 363-3441 Carl Sadler (519) 371-7041 John Todd (519) 442-3102 Toll Free: 1-888-923-9995 BERNIE McGLYNN LUMBER LTD. BUYER OF HARDWOOD BUSHLOTS Wholesaler - Hardwood Lumber Box 385.RR 2, Wingham. Ont NOG 2W0 BERNIE McGLYNN Ph/Fax (519) 357-1430 SAWMILL - Ph/Fax (519) 357.3777 (519) 367-578 C • • 11.111.0.0 NOVEMBER 1999 37