NOTES AND QUERIES. 105 



N.B. — This foreman should either be a first-rate nurseryman, 

 or he should have a first-rate nurseryman under him, for the 

 financial success of the undertaking will depend mainly on 

 efficient nursery work in the first instance, and on the economical 

 transfer of the plants from the nursery to the new plantations. 



R. C. MuNRo Ferguson. 



Note on Damage to a Young Coniferous Plantation 

 BY Water- Voles. 



The attack occurred in April and May of 1907 in a five-year- 

 old plantation of Scots pine, spruce, and larch, with an ad- 

 mixture of hardwoods, on the Broxmouth Estate of His Grace 

 the Duke of Roxburghe, and was brought to my notice by 

 my assistant on that property. A burn flows through the 

 plantation. 



Recognising at once the work of voles, I instructed my 

 assistant to at once set traps in their underground runs, and 

 to try poisoned bait set in drain tiles ; and as I was returning 

 home that day, I desired him to send me a specimen of his 

 catch. I was agreeably surprised the following morning when 

 a water-vole [Arvtcola amphibius) arrived by post. 



A couple of dozen Scots pine and several spruce and larch 

 plants were damaged, the damage consisting in the smaller 

 roots of these plants being entirely eaten, and the bark stripped 

 off the larger roots and underground part of the stem up to the 

 collum. 



The underground runs of the water-vole are about two and 

 a half inches in diameter, and close to the surface of the ground. 

 A curious point in this case is in regard to the means taken by 

 these animals to dispose of the excavations from so large a 

 hole, as no trace of these could be found. The voles are very 

 fond of sunning themselves on a warm day, and may at these 

 times be surprised and killed by an active man with a stick. 



As already mentioned, the plans adopted to destroy the 

 animals were poisoned bait set in drain tiles and steel traps. 

 The former was not a success, possibly owing to the bait used 

 being bread. Had grain been used instead, better results by 

 poisoning would probably have been obtained. 



Trapping, however, was so successful, that poisoning was 



