THE STRAWBERRY OCTOBER 1906 



the season. That is to say, either grow 

 in single or double hedge row, and when 

 either of these rows has reached the ideal 

 state, restrict the plants by keeping ofF all 

 surplus runners. When this is done it 

 does not require the heroic treatment to 

 which he refers and is in every way a su- 

 perior method of carrying on the work. 

 The advantage ro the remaining plants 

 where the runners thus are removed is 

 beyond estimate, and the process results 

 in increased yields and vastly improved 

 fruit. 



Mice in Strawberry Fields 



FROM so many sources are coming 

 reports respecting the damage done 

 by field mice, or ineadow mice, 

 that we are impressed with the growing 

 menace to successful horticulture, aye, 

 even to field agriculture, from these ubi- 

 quitous and increasingly numerous pests. 

 How shall we get rid of these pests.? is a 

 frequent inquiry now coming to The 

 Strawberry, and it is a question of large 

 importance. 



Prof. D. E. Lantz, for a long time con- 

 nected with the Kansas Agricultural Col- 

 lege, now assistant in the bilogical survey 

 of the Department of Agriculture, has 

 given much thought and study to this 

 matter, and in the Yearbook of that de- 

 partment for 1905 (a book, by the way, 

 that every tiller of the soil should secure; 

 and it may be had by asking your con- 

 gressman or senator at Washington for it) 

 Professor Lantz has a chapter on the sub- 

 ject which gives some very interesting ex- 

 periments and some very wise conclusions. 

 On pages 373-374 Professor Lantz 

 tells of a call he received in 1903 to an 

 orchard and nursery in Kansas, and re- 

 lates: 



"As an experiment, the writer placed 

 some wheat poisoned with strychnine at 

 the base of about 50 of the badly dam- 

 aged trees. This was done late in the 

 evening, and on the following morning a 

 considerable number of dead meadow 

 mice and white-footed mice were found. 

 An examination of the stomachs of both 

 species showed that only the meadow 

 mice had eaten the bark of the trees. 

 The poisoning experiment had proved so 

 effective that the owner of the orchard set 

 his men to distributing poisoned wheat 

 throughout the orchard, with the result 

 that within a few days nearly all the mice 

 had been killed. 



"The ground in this orchard was liter- 

 ally covered by a network of runways 

 made by the prairie meadow mouse, and 

 many of the runways extended below the 

 surface for long distances. Examination 

 showed that many twigs, 4 to 8 inches in 

 length, had been cut from the trees by 

 the mice and dragged into the burrows, 

 where they were found in little piles and 

 entirely stripped of bark. 



'It is to be carefully noted that the 



A FAMILY CROUP IN THE STRAWBERRY PATCH OF F. TEETER, LUCAS, OHIO 



damage to this and other orchards in 

 Marion County was due largely to neg- 

 lect. On the greater part of the 480 

 acres mentioned corn had been planted 

 the preceding spring, by listing it between 

 the rows of apple trees; but a wet summer 

 had prevented its cultivation, and the crop 

 was abandoned, with the result that crab 

 grass, sunflowers, and other weeds had 

 grown luxuriantly. The weeds made a 

 complete cover for the mice, and the en- 

 tire summer was moist and favorable to 

 the increase of the latter. The fall and 

 early winter were very mild, and all the 

 damage to the trees by mice had been 

 done in this open period and not under 

 stress of severe weather. 



"During the cold weather that followed 

 the extermination of the mice, rabbits 

 renewed their attacks upon the trees. 

 Many were killed by distributing pieces 

 of apple into which powdered strychnine 

 had been inserted by means of a knife. 

 As many as twenty dead rabbits were 

 counted in a single morning. While they 

 were not entirely exterminated, the ex- 

 periment demonstrated the efficacy of the 

 method, especially in winter. 



"An exceptional circumstance in con- 

 nection with these poisoning operations 

 was that no dead birds were found in the 

 orchard during their progress. Remark- 

 able as it may seem, short-eared owls, 

 hawks, and crows fed freely upon the 

 poisoned mice and rabbits without injury. 

 Tree sparrows, juncos and quail were 

 common, and it is strange that all should 

 have escaped the poisoned baits. In dis- 

 tributing poison too much care, however, 

 can not be used to avoid the destruction 

 of valuable birds. 



"In the use of strychnine for poisoning 

 field mice an ounce of strychnia sulphate 

 is used to each half-bushel of wheat. 

 The strychnia is dissolved in a pint of hot 

 water and a pint of heavy sugar sirup is 



Page 193 



added. The combined wheat and liquid 

 are then stirred until every grain is wet, 

 when the mass is allowed to stand in the 

 mixing vessel for twelve or more hours 

 before it is distributed. 



He urges care in handling this poison 

 and that it be so used that birds may 

 not be affected by it. Several suggestions 

 on this head are made by Mr. Lantz. 



In concluding his paper. Professor 

 Lantz emphasizes the importance of rad- 

 ical treatment of this danger and points 

 out how grave a menace are these tiny 

 animals that infest field, meadow and or- 

 chard. And he indicates clearly how 

 great is the responsibility of the individ- 

 ual to keep nooks and corners clean, for 

 foul and unkempt lands are the breeding 

 places for these as well as for all the other 

 pests that menace agriculture in all its 

 branches. Professor Lantz concludes: 



"There is no escaping the conclusion 

 that meadow mice are injurious to agri- 

 culture. It has been argued that they 

 are to a great extent inhabitants of waste 

 lands, and therefore not very destructive 

 to crops, but such assertions are wide of 

 the truth. The value of these mice 

 as tillers of the soil or as destroyers of 

 weeds, while not to be overlooked, is very 

 slight in comparison to their destructive- 

 ness to grass, fruit, vegetables, hay in the 

 stack, and orchard trees. Testimony of 

 their recent ravages in foreign countries, 

 is of itself conclusive as to their destruc- 

 tiveness, and their depredations in Amer- 

 ica, although less severe locally, have 

 been nearly as great in the aggregate. 

 The danger lurks in every swamp, copse, 

 and waste corner, and the continued de- 

 struction of hawks, owls, 5nakes, and 

 small carnivorous mammals, together with 

 climatic conditions favorable to multipli- 

 cation of the mice, must inevitably resvdt 

 in an outbreak of the animals. An inva- 

 sion of meadow mice in this country, 



