THE MOLE QUESTION 117 
mole, which all before him had missed—to wit, 
his trap. 
This frightful engine of destruction is not yet 
perfected, and perhaps the moles need not be in a 
hurry to say their prayers. In the meantime, 
while the farmers are waiting to be delivered from 
their subterranean enemy, I cannot help thinking 
that it is not much to the credit of the science of 
agriculture, and the Royal Agricultural Society, 
that some practical steps have not been taken 
before now to ascertain whether or not the mole 
is an injurious beast; or, to put it differently, 
whether the direct loss he causes by throwing 
up hills in meadows and grass-lands exceeds any 
benefit that may result from his presence in drain- 
ing and ventilating the soil and in clearing it of 
grubs. 
With gardens and lawns we are not concerned; 
moles are a nuisance when they come too near, 
and if some one could devise a means to inflict 
sudden death on every underground intruder into 
such places it would be a great advantage. Ex- 
periments in a small way could be made at a very 
slight cost. For instance, take a meadow, like one 
of those belonging to my friend, very much infested 
with moles; divide it in two equal portions, one 
half to be open to moles, the other half to be 
strictly protected from them by means of a fence 
of fine wire-netting sunk to a proper depth in 
the soil. Then let the grass crops of the two 
portions be compared as to weight and quality for 
