MOLASSES. 



MOLE. 



these national results, let him, too, remember, 

 that no neighbouring lands are impoverished, 

 no organic matters are drawn from one field 

 to enrich another; the dead, the deep-buried 

 earth is merely brought to the surface, and that 

 which is utterly profitless in the mass diffuses 

 riches and gladness when spread over the 

 farmer's fields. 



MOLASSES (Port. Melasso}. The saccha- 

 rine principle in the dregs or refuse drainings 

 from the casks, &c., of sugar, and the uncrys- 

 tallizable part of the juice of the cane sepa- 

 rated from the sugar during the process of 

 granulation. It consists of sugar prevented 

 from crystallizing by acids, saline, and other 

 matters. All cattle are fond of sweets, and 

 thrive well upon substances which yield a 

 large proportion of saccharine juice, of which 

 no better proof can be afforded than the con- 

 dition of the cattle and swine of the West 

 India Islands, which are fed mainly on the tops 

 and refuse of the cane after the juice has been 

 expressed for sugar. Mr. E. Waters (Com. to 

 Board of dgr. vol. vi. p. 30) gives the result of 

 a very satisfactory experiment as to the ad- 

 vantage of feeding live-stock with molasses. 

 There can be no doubt that when this sub- 

 stance can be had cheap, its use must prove 

 very beneficial in improving the condition of 

 cattle. 



MOLE. A species of the genus Talpa, com- 

 mon in England and other parts of Europe. 

 This quadruped exhibits in perfection that 

 modification of structure by which the mam- 

 miferous animal is adapted to a subterranean 

 life. Its head is long, conical, and tapering to 

 the snout, which is strengthened by a bone, and 

 by strong gristles worked by powerful muscles. 

 The body is almost cylindrical, thickest behind 

 the head, and gradually diminishes to the tail. 

 There is no outward indication of a neck, that 

 part being enlarged to the size of the chest by 

 the massive muscles which act upon the head 

 and fore-legs. These, which are the principal 

 instruments by which the mole excavates its 

 long and intricate bu>cows, are the shortest, 

 broadest, and strongest, in proportion to the 

 size of the animal, which are to be met with in 

 the mammiferous class. The food of the mole 

 consists of worms, insects, and the roots of 

 plants ; its voracity is great, and it soon pe- 

 rishes if food be scarce or wanting. The sense 

 of sight is very feeble, the eyes being minute 

 and rudimental; but the other faculties of 

 smell and hearing, as being more serviceable 

 in its dark retreat, are extremely acute. The 

 female prepares a nest of moss, dry herbage, 

 roots, and leaves, in a chamber commonly 

 formed by excavating and enlarging the point 

 of intersection of 3 or 4 passages. The young 

 are brought forth to the number of 4 or 5 in 

 April, and sometimes later. 



The farmer views the operations of the mole 

 as destructive to his crops, by exposing and 

 destroying their roots, or by overthrowing the 

 plants in the construction of the mole-hills ; 

 his burrows, moreover, become the haunts and 

 hiding-places of the field-mouse and other de- 

 structive animals. The mole is also accused 

 of piercing the sides of dams and canals, and 



letting out the water, and of carrying off quan- 

 tities of young corn to form its nest. Hence 

 every means are devised to capture and destroy 

 it, and in Europe men gain a livelihood exclu- 

 sively by this occupation. Some naturalists, 

 however, plead that the injury which it perpe- 

 trates is slight, and that it is more than coun- 

 terbalanced by the benefit which it produces by 

 turning up and lightening the soil, top-dressing 

 pasture-land, and especially by its immense 

 destruction of earth-worms, slugs, grubs, wire- 

 worms, and many other noxious animals and 

 insects which inhabit the superficial layer of 

 the ground, and occasion great injury to the 

 roots of grass, corn, and many other plants. 

 The soundest practical conclusion lies pro- 

 bably in the mean of these opinions ; and 

 the enlightened agriculturist, while he takes 

 prompt measures to prevent the undue in- 

 crease of the mole, would do well to reflect on 

 the disadvantages which might follow its total 

 extermination. The Ettrick Shepherd (James 

 Hogg), from a course of 30 years' hard-earned 

 experience and observation, speaks of the per- 

 nicious effects of destroying the moles on sheep 

 pasture. He alleges, that besides the inferior 

 pasturage which the soil affords when moles 

 have been exterminated, the pining and the 

 foot-rot, two baneful diseases, come in their 

 place to annihilate the stock. 



There can be no question that moles do much 

 injury to gardens, by destroying the neatness 

 of the beds, rooting up onions, tulips, and other 

 tubers; but in the wide-spread surface of the 

 field it is a question whether he does not do 

 more good by his teeth than injury by his 

 snout. 



The animal so well known in the United 

 States under the name of mole, belongs to an 

 entirely different genus of quadrupeds from the 

 common mole of Europe. The late Dr. God- 

 man has designated the American, the shreu*- 

 mole, and given, in his Rambles of a Naturalist, 

 a most interesting account of its habits, &c. It 

 is the scalops aquatints of naturalists. Whether 

 the true mole has ever been found in the 

 United States, appears doubtful. Moles live in 

 pairs, and frequent soils of loose textures most 

 abounding in earth-worms and insects. They 

 exhibit great dexterity in skinning the worms, 

 which they always do before they eat them, 

 stripping the skin from end to end, and squeez- 

 ing out all the contents of the body. 



In the United States where professional mole- 

 catchers are not yet to be met with, other means 

 of destroying the pest are resorted to. Dogs 

 are sometimes found very expert in digging 

 out moles. Mole-traps are also used, and for a 

 good design of one see Ellsworth's Report. It is 

 found that if fine shreds of fresh lean beef are 

 placed in their furrows, the moles will eat 

 them, if found soon after deposit ; and if poison, 

 arsenic or strychnine, is placed on these shreds, 

 they are frequently killed. The trap most re- 

 commended is one constructed on the principle 

 of that, a figure of which is given in the Culti- 

 vator. Wherever the mole shows itself in 

 I numbers, it is a pest of no small magnitude. 

 I For accurate descriptions, with drawings, of 

 I the various animals known in the United 

 4 A 829 



