Moles, Birds 



well to cover the wounded part with a plaster of 

 clay and cow dung to prevent the drying out of the 

 wood and to encourage the bark to grow and cover 

 the wound as quickly as possible. 



The mole is an insect feeder, and if it were not for 

 its habit of tunnelling and of making unsightly 

 mounds would be regarded as a friend, but when it 

 burrows along imder a row of newly germinated 

 beans and throws its unsightly casta up on what 

 should be a smooth lawn, this too cannot but be 

 regarded as a pest in the garden and must be trapped 

 accordingly. 



We have said nothing of the use of poison placed 

 where the animals are likely to pick it up, for animals 

 so killed may be eaten by others which would like- 

 wise suffer, but the use of virus for killing rats is not 

 open to this objection, and is a valuable aid for 

 ridding a garden of these pests for a time, but the 

 treatment needs repetition at intervals. 



Comparatively few birds do any great damage in 

 the garden, and even some of the most troublesome 

 do some good at times. Exception must perhaps 

 be made of the jay [whose depredations among peas 

 (aided by the hawfinch) are scarcely counterbalanced 

 by the beauty of its plumage] and of the cheerful 

 piping bullfinch. We may check his liking for 

 buds, and hinder the tits from damaging them too, 

 by a timely application of a lime-sulphur or lime- 

 spray, and bushes may be protected by lacing black 



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