

1806 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



of that method; and the probability, or rather certainty, of a transplanted oak 

 making a tree as large or larger, and in less time, than a tree from the acorn 

 sown or planted in the place where it is intended finally to remain. In the 

 forests mentioned, the short-tailed, or field, mouse, the rooks, and various 

 vermin, took the acorns out of the holes, and caused a great deficiency in the 

 plants at first coming up ; but the destructive ravages of that little animal the 

 field mouse were not fully known till the third year from the commencement 

 of planting the acorns. Great quantities of the small oak plants from the 

 acorn were then found barked and bitten off, particularly where the grass was 

 thick; and nearly all the ash that had been planted in the wet and moist grounds 

 were barked all round the stem in the same manner as the oaks; only more 

 so, as the mice seemed to be fonder of the ash than of the oak bark. The hares 

 were first supposed to have done the mischief; but, on examining the plants 

 more minutely, quantities of the excrement of the field mouse were found near 

 every plant that had been barked or nibbled, except in the case of those 

 plants which were not surrounded by grass or herbage of any kind. All such 

 plants remained untouched by the mice; and the reason is, that, where the mice 

 had not the shelter of grass and herbage, they were exposed to their natural 

 enemies, the hawk, the owl, &c. Attempts were made to catch the mice by 

 " cats, dogs, owls, poison, traps, baits," &c., but with very little success ; till 

 at length it was discovered by accident that, when a mouse had got into a hole 

 in the ground with perpendicular sides, it could not get out again. In con- 

 quence of this discovery, holes about 18 in. deep, and somewhat wider at bot- 

 tom than at top, were dug, at 20 yards apart each \va.y, over a surface of about 

 3200 acres. " The holes were made from 18 in. to 2ft. long, 16in. or 18 in. deep, 

 about 10 in., or the breadth of a spade, wide at the top, 14 in. or 15 in. wide at 

 the bottom, and 3 in. or 4 in. longer at the bottom than the top : if the ground 

 was firm, so much the better. Some holes were made in a circular form ; but 

 this was only a work of fancy, which cost more trouble than the oblong holes, 

 as either sort answered, provided they were well made, the sides firm and even, 

 and that they were 3 in. or 4 in. wider every way at the bottom than at the top; 

 otherwise the mice would run up the sides, and get out again, if they could find 

 any footing. But, if the holes were well made, when the mice were once in, 

 they could not get out again ; and, what is very extraordinary, they would 

 really eat each other when left long in the holes." (Facts, &c., p. 42.) In wet 

 or stormy nights, the mice got into the holes in the greatest numbers; but in 

 calm, dry, or frosty nights, very few entered them. New holes were more 

 attractive to the vermin than old ones. Baits of various kinds were put into 

 them ; but the baited holes were never found to contain more mice than the 

 unbaited ones. Fifteen mice have been taken in a hole in one night. " Some- 

 times the holes were made in the bottoms of the drains, where there was not 

 a constant run of water, as the mice appeared to run along the drains; and a 

 great many were caught in these holes. The people who made the holes, of 

 course, looked after the mice, and were paid for them by the dozen. They 

 were obliged to attend to the holes to take the mice out very early in the 

 mornings, otherwise the crows, magpies, hawks, owls, weasels, and other ver- 

 min, attended very regularly, and made the first seizure. Several of these 

 depredators were caught in the fact, by the men dropping on them suddenly. 

 We soon caught upwards of 30,000, that were paid for by number, as two per- 

 sons were appointed to take an account of them, and see them buried or made 

 away with, to prevent imposition." (p. 43.) Mr. Billington found oak trees 

 cut down by the mice of 7 ft. and 8 ft. high, and 1 in. in diameter at the place 

 bitten off, which was just at the root, within the ground, and, as it were, between 

 the root and the stem : in short, at what botanists call the collar. " When 

 examining for the thick part of the root, below where it was bitten off," he 

 says, " I never could find any part of it left ; so that it is very probable it must 

 have been eaten by them." (p. 45.) Mr. Billington also found the mice 

 pretty numerous, and very troublesome, in the royal forest at Chopwell; more 

 especially before the great snow in 1823, which destroyed many of them, and 



