THE MOLE QUESTION 115 
and it would then probably be in a sufficiently 
level state at the next grass-cutting for the scythe, 
but by the following season it would again be in a 
hummocky condition, and repeated rollings would 
be a serious item in his expenses. He considers 
that if the damage thus inflicted on him in these 
small meadows where the scythe is used is 
sufficient to be seriously felt, the loss must indeed 
be great on large farms where the machine is used 
for mowing, and the ground must be kept in a 
smooth condition at considerable expense. 
Pondering over these things, and fighting the 
moles, which, not content with making a sort of 
physical geography raised map of his little grass 
meadows, nightly invade his garden to spoil his 
work there, he has come to look upon it as a 
tremendously important question. It is his con- 
viction that he who invents a means of suppressing 
the mole will be a great benefactor to the country, 
and he has set himself to find out the means, and 
he has even strong hopes of success. So long (he 
argues) as we continued to fight the moles with 
the traps now in use, made to take one mole at a 
time, the very utmost we can do is to keep their 
numbers down with a great deal of trouble and 
at a considerable expense. They increase rapidly, 
and no sooner are our efforts relaxed than they 
again become abundant. We want a trap that 
will not take a single mole but as many moles as 
are accustomed to use the run in which it is placed. 
That a large number do constantly use the same 
