Quadrupeds. 779 



balance struck, and then I shall have no fears for the safety of the 

 hedgehog. 



The Mole is as abundant here as everywhere else ; and Isle of 

 Wight farmers are, I fear, as fully set on its destruction as other Bri- 

 tish farmers. Whether they are right or wrong has been often dis- 

 cussed : I think they are wrong ; and believe the mole to be the 

 farmer's friend rather than his enemy. That it does mischief in cer- 

 tain places, and at certain times, I am free to admit; but who does 

 not ? The gardener may have some quarrel with it when it traverses 

 his newly sown beds, producing thereby an unsightliness of appear- 

 ance (and tidiness enters into the very essence of a gardener), and 

 causing, perhaps, the destruction of some of the springing plants; 

 but I think even the gardener might spare the little fellow's life, and 

 be content to act on the defensive ; for if moles destroy a few plants, 

 worms destroy more ; and if the gardener would only stop up the 

 runs across the pathways — and they are never many — and so debar 

 the approach of the mole to fresh beds, and allow it free access to 

 the rest of the garden, methinks he would find his account in it ; for 

 the number of earthworms devoured in the course of the year by 

 even a single mole must be very great. 



But the farmer, he too loves to see his pastures neat : very well, 

 then let him bid a boy scatter with a shovel the fine earth thrown up 

 by the moles, and neither his labour, nor that of the moles, will be 

 lost : for the earth so scattered will make a capital top-dressing ; and, 

 to say nothing of the destruction of the worms, I question whether 

 the herbage be not improved by the admission of air to the roots 

 through the mole-runs. On some lands the drainage is effected 

 wholly or in part by the moles. So far, then, I think the farmer 

 might spare the moles to his own advantage, and save some shillings, 

 perhaps pounds, paid annually to the mole-catcher. Man is too fond 

 of meddling, and often blunders to his own cost. In his attempts at 

 improvement, he only disturbs the balance of creation. Granted that 

 occasionally some species of animal, favoured by circumstances, either 

 the scarcity of its appointed check (occasioned, perhaps, by the 

 meddling hand of man), or a superabundance of its natural food, may 

 increase beyond due bounds, and so require the interposition of human 

 force or skill, let that force and skill be then exerted; but I believe 

 that this would be seldom necessary ; things would right themselves. 

 They have been generally found to do so, unless man has carried his 

 meddling propensities to the extent of utterly extirpating the ap- 

 pointed check ; for it seems to be a law of creation, that where there 



