REPORTS FROM FARMERS. 31 



Meadow mice attack almost every tree and shrub. They girdle about every- 

 thing, even rosebushes, blackberry, and raspberry bushes. I saw a willow 

 hedge yesterday (April 8, 1889), 2 years old, with nearly every stalk girdled to 

 6 or 8 inches above the ground. They injure pastures and meadows and 

 destroy root crops placed in heaps. — Rochester, Mich., Apr., 1889. 



Meadow mice destroy many trees and vines. The natural enemies of these 

 mice are as much of a nuisance as the mice themselves. 



—Frankfort, Mich., 1888. 



Orchards here have suffered this winter from the depredations of the meadow 

 mouse. I presume thousands of trees have been badly gnawed in this town 

 alone. Still the war of extermination goes on against hawks and owls. 



— Hammondville, N. Y., Apr., 1887. 



They eat potatoes in the ground and corn in the shock. Do considerable 

 damage to potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. — Eubank, Ky., 1887. 



Field mice destroy wheat by cutting off the stalks. Sometimes the loss is 

 serious. They are also injurious to pastures and meadows. 



—French Creek, W. Va., July, 1888. 



Meadow mice sometimes injure meadows. They often do serious damage 

 to trees and shrubs. Some seasons acres of young forest trees are barked. 

 Maple and apple suffer the oftenest. — La Crescent, Minn., Nov., 1886. 



Meadow moles (voles) are present in greater numbers than ever observed 

 before. These voles have totally ruined a great many clover meadows, straw- 

 berry patches, and pastures that were not eaten close. They have girdled hedges 

 until they can not live, and I noticed one place where a white ash tree, 4 inches 

 in diameter, was stripped of bark for 6 inches above the ground. They have 

 dug into pits containing turnips and beets and devoured them completely. They 

 promise to be with us next season in untold millions. Their presence is the 

 more noticeable as eighteen months ago I tried to get a single specimen to 

 send to the Department of Agriculture for identification and could not. 



— Cardington, Ohio, Feb., 1890. 



Field mice injure pastures and meadows by eating off the roots during winter. 

 We are now suffering, and have been for two years, from invasions of field mice. 

 We suffer a material loss by having the bark gnawed from most kinds of fruit 

 trees by them during the winter. — Gansevoort, N. Y., Feb., 1888. 



Our country place in Maine is being overrun with mice, which nest in the 

 ground and destroy all the plants by eating the roots or tops of the plants as 

 soon as they appear. — Letter from Baltimore, Md., May 16, 1904. 



The summer and winter of 1883 this county was overrun with meadow mice. 

 They destroyed thousands of apple trees, besides lots of young forest trees. 

 Besides girdling trees, voles do meadow lands a good deal of injury by eating 

 off the crowns of the clover plants. Three hundred dollars would not repair 

 the damage done to an orchard near the station. In 1863 trees 6 inches in 

 diameter were stripped of bark clear up to the limbs 4 or 5 feet from the roots. 



—Huron County, Mich., Oct., 3886. 



The meadow mouse is very prolific. Its presence varies at periods from a 

 few to countless numbers. Long droughts and inclement winters as well as 

 natural enemies probably affect their numbers. 



— Kansasville, Wis., Sept., 1888. 



They damage hay by cutting the grass into lengths the size of toothpicks. 



— Tower, Minn., June, 1895. 



