THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 25 



will not leave it altogether to their wives and daughters, as is generally 

 done, but will assist them in preparing a nice place to grow vegetables 

 and small fruits such as I have mentioned, with a well selected spot 

 therein for the cultivation of roses and flowers of most all descriptions, 

 which can be grown in this Province, and nowhere better than on clay- 

 soil. 



NOTES ON THE MOUSE. 



BY L. WOOLVKRTON, M.A., QRIMSBY. 



Wee, sleekit, cowrin, timorous beastie, 

 O, what a panic's in thy breastie ! 



m » It » 



I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve ; 



What then ? poor beastie, thou maun live ! 



» * * ♦ 



That wee bit heap o' leaves and stibble 

 Has cost thee mony a weary nibble ! 



Robert Burns. 



If we knew no more about the mouse than what we find under 

 the name in an old copy of Webster's dictionary, we, as fruit grow- 

 ers, would have reason for gratitude. The definition is : "A small 

 animal of the genus Mus, inhabiting houses." ! Unfortunately for us, 

 the mouse does not confine its devastations to the houses, but plays 

 havoc among our trees out of doors as well. The Hebrew word is 

 Achbar ; and the mouse seems to have been an article of food in an- 

 cient times, for Isaiah, in chap. 66, v. 17, reproaches the Jews of his 

 time with eating the flesh of mice and other things that were unclean. 

 It is also stated that during the siege of Jerusalem by the Eomans, 

 mice, together with rats and dogs, were a common article of diet ! 

 Doubtless, however, as in the case of the locust, some other mode of 

 extermination will better suit Canadians than that of serving them as 

 a dainty dish at the breakfast table. 



The mouse, which belongs to the sub-kingdom vertebrate, class 

 mammalia, group rodenta, has, in common with other members of its 

 group, no canine teeth, but two enormously developed incisors, with 

 several molar teeth possessing flat crowns, exhibiting curvilinear 

 plates of enamel; and the jaws work backward and forward in place 

 of up and down. The house mouse (mus musculus) is quite distinct 

 from the field mouse, of which thefre are many speoies, Aroicola Aits- 



