DAMAGE CAUSED BY ANIMALS. 103 



Any effort at annihilation of large swarms of mice can only 

 take place in woodlands for the protection of nurseries, and are not 

 feasible for the safeguarding of the whole of the young crops. 

 Destructive measures are limited to poisoning, for' the setting of 

 traps of any sort would cause so much trouble as to be seldom 

 applicable, and would at the same time not yield results com- 

 mensurate with the labour and supervision requisite. The general 

 method of poisoning consists in laying grains of wheat, meal, 

 flour, or bread pills in the holes, or in drain-pipes to protect them 

 from damp, after they have been soaked in, or specially prepared 

 with, phosphorus, arsenic, or strychnine. But the great draw- 

 back of this method is, that the mice which have been poisoned 

 with phosphorus or arsenic usually wander away from their holes 

 in search of water, and in thus dying in the open, tend to spread 

 death among useful birds and animals, like Owls arid Weasels. 

 Eecently, therefore, the use of precipitated carbonated barium, 

 kneaded together with meal or flour, and dropped into the holes 

 in pieces the size of a bean, has been much recommended, as it 

 produces an immediate paralysis of the animals poisoned. 



In conclusion, it may also be remarked that saplings of broad- 

 leaved species which have been much damaged by gnawing should 

 be cut off close to the ground early in spring, so as to be 

 stimulated at once to energetic reproduction from the stool ; for if 

 the operation be delayed, the reproductive power is prejudiced, in 

 consequence of a certain portion of the reserve of nutrients being 

 dissipated in the development of the stem above the injured 

 part. 



54. Damage done ly Squirrels and Tree-mice. 



Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), when numerous, can do no incon- 

 siderable damage to woodland growth. 



They are fond of devouring the seeds of many kinds of trees, 

 especially acorns and beech-nuts, but also chestnuts, hornbeam 

 seed, and the seeds of conifers, which they procure by picking the 

 cones to pieces. Yet even the young seedlings of Beech and Oak 

 are not safe from their attacks, as by devouring the cotyledons of 

 the former, and by rooting up those of the latter from the ground, 

 squirrels can be very troublesome. 



"When there is any scarcity of seeds, the terminal and the 

 flowering buds of conifers also constitute a favourite food-supply 



