34 



AN ECONOMTC STUDY OF FIELD MICE. 



Dnmof/rs It]/ peJd mice, as; reported hy nurserymen and fruit growers — Cont'd. 



a Probably not Mirrntiis. 



Some comments on the above table are necessary. In reporting 

 the abundance of mice nearly all the replies refer to present condi- 

 tions. In many places where the animals are not now common they 

 have been numerous in past years. In reporting damages many corre- 

 spondents gave only personal experience, but did not answer the 

 question as to damages in the neighborhood. Few of the persons Avho 

 had sustained serious damages were able to estimate the amount of 

 the losses, while many whose losses were slight made such estimates. 



It will be noticed that in the South the injury from field mice is 

 uot serious, and that in the far West mice are troublesome in fewer 

 localities than in the northern part of the country east of the Missis- 

 sippi River. 



Extracts from replies to the circular are here presented : 



Field mice are abundant here. They have done nie a great deal of damage 

 during the jiast year, principally on overgrown stock that I have not cultivated, 

 allowing grass to grow around the trees. They were also very destructive to a 

 lot of young date palms {Phmri.r conariensis) grown close together in a hed. 



—West Berkeley. Cal. 



Field mice are abundant here. We lost about 200 fruit trees from their 

 attacks ih 1903. Other orchards and nurseries in this section have been badly 

 injured, — Carlton, Mont. 



