554 
In many localities this species undoubtedly does the most damage 
of any of our smaller mammals. An extensive investigation by the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that immense damage was 
done at times, 1n various localities, by field-mice of this and closely 
related species. Thty destroy shocked grain and corn; they eat 
roots when stored in heaps, or even when growing; and they 
destroy clover, alfalfa, and grass in meadows. But perhaps the 
most common and grievous complaint made against them is that 
they girdle young trees, especially in orchards and nurseries. They 
have been charged in this county with all these classes of injury. 
However, conditions here are not such as to render the farmer 
liable to extensive damage by these pests. Corn is not often 
shocked, grain is usually threshed very shortly after cutting, and 
as meadows are seldom kept in grass for many consecutive years 
the mice do not get well entrenched in them. Again, but little 
attention is paid to fruit-raising, and so there is no great damage 
to fruit-trees. Perhaps, in this county, truck-farmers and grow- 
ers of small fruit suffer more loss from this mouse than any other 
class. In an adjoining county I have seen fields that had been kept 
in clover for two or three years abundantly infested by these mice, 
considerable damage to the crop resulting. They are fandigy 
numerous enough with us at present to be denominated a pest, but 
their record in other localities shows how easily, under favorable 
circumstances, their numbers may so increase as to render them a 
serious menace to the farmer. 
So far as I know, no claim can be urged in their favor except the 
rather dubious one, put forth by Rhoads, that they furnish food for 
hawks, owls, and carnivorous mammals. It is true that their 
favorite resorts are usually the waste places neglected by the farmer, 
that the green food they eat would not be utilized otherwise, and 
that a large part of the grain they destroy is waste; but, neverthe- 
less, to the grower of garden-truck and fruits their presence is al- 
ways a menace, and any signs of their unusual abundance should be 
regarded as a call for prompt action. 
The field-mice demand a close cover of soft, low-growing herbage 
for their nests and runways. Where there is a heavy snowfall 
which lies undisturbed for weeks, they venture out under it into 
fields bare of vegetation, but such conditions are rare in this county. 
