248 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



causing an estimated loss of fully $250,000; had the trouble been handled 

 in its beginning, in the way to be presently described, a large part of 

 this loss might have been avoided. 



Another way in which the meadow mice do serious damage is by 

 girdling young trees of all sorts, but especially fruit trees. They gnaw 

 off the bark at the surface of the ground, the girdled area sometimes 

 extending a short distance below the ground, Fig. 157. If the injury 

 be not too great the tree may be saved by piling up the soil over the 

 wound to prevent evaporation until it has time to heal; bridge grafting 

 is sometimes used to save large or valuable trees. While small trees 

 are especially subject to attack, fruit trees of large size are sometimes 

 injured or killed and the damage to a large orchard may amount to 

 thousands of dollars. 



Since the remedies for the meadow mice are about the same as for 

 pine mice, they will be discussed after a brief description of the latter 

 group. 



Pine mice are common over all of the eastern part of the United 

 States, especially in wooded regions, or in fields, surrounded by timber; 

 they are not found in open plains. As has been said they are burrow- 

 ing forms, making trails that can only be distinguished from those made 

 by moles by their somewhat smaller diameter and by the occasional 

 small opening to the surface. Because of this burrowing habit they 

 are almost universally confused with and called "moles," and where 

 they are abundant the farmer usually complains of the damage done by 

 moles. It will be remembered that the mole is an insectivorous creature 

 and is, as a rule, a very useful animal to the farmer since it eats grubs 

 and other subterranean insects that birds ordinarily do not see. The 

 pine mouse may even follow along in the burrows made by the mole 

 and it is he who does the damage while the innocent mole gets the blame. 



By opening the tunnel and inserting a couple of fingers it is usually 

 possible to tell, by its diameter, whether a mole or a pine mouse made the 

 burrow. 



In some sections the pine mouse is a terrible pest; it will follow along 

 a row of newly planted corn and eat every grain for a long distance; 

 sometimes two or three plantings will have to be made before a stand 

 is secured. In the same way potatoes and other vegetables are de- 

 stroyed. In the eastern United States the pine mice perhaps do more 

 damage to orchard and small trees than do the meadow mice. Since 



