WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



disaster was threatened in Scotland, where milHons 

 of mice appeared, and gnawed off the young grass 

 at the root just when it should have been in prime 

 condition for the sheep; and when that was all 

 gone they attacked the garden vegetables. The 

 people lost vast numbers of sheep and lambs from 

 starvation, and thousands of dollars' worth of 

 growing food; but, finally, by all together waging 

 war upon them, the pests were partially killed off. 

 The mice did not in either case come suddenly, 

 but had been increasing steadily for years previ- 

 ous, because the game-keepers had killed so many 

 of the " vermin " (as owls, hawks, weasels, snakes, 

 etc., are wrongly called) which are the natural en- 

 emies of the mice and keep their numbers down. 



Farmers are slow to learn that it doesn't pay to 

 kill the birds or rob their nests; but the boys and 

 girls ought to understand this truth and remem- 

 ber it. 



In this country the greatest mischief done by 

 the field-mice is the gnawing of bark from the fruit- 

 trees, so that in some of the Western States this 

 is the most serious difficulty the orchardist has to 

 contend with. Whole rows of young trees in nurs- 

 eries are stripped of their bark, and of course die; 

 and, where apple-seeds are planted, the mice are 



'3 193 



