KODENTS AND MOLES AS PESTS IN BULB PLANTINGS 7 



California the tops also of the iris plants are eaten by rabbits, which, 

 however, do not appear to relish them so greatly as they do the gladi- 

 olus leaves. Moles do comparatively little injury to iris plantings, 

 as the stems and leaves are fairly tough and pliable. 



In protecting this bulbous crop, an ounce of prevention is worth 

 the proverbial pound of cure, for damage to iris plantings is most 

 likely to occur when they are receiving the least attention from the 

 grower, that is, late in fall and throughout the winter. Injury to the 

 bulbs from mice may certainly be expected if open burrows or other 

 signs of these little rodents are found in the iris beds or in nearby 

 shelters and waste lands. Such injury will continue, as in the case 

 of tulips, up to the time the plants flower. Iris usually makes a quick 

 growth above ground late in the fall, too, so that the tender stems 

 are thus exposed to attack by rabbits. 



In a region inhabited by the pocket gopher, this rodent is a greater 

 menace to iris growing than is the meadow mouse, both because the 

 latter is usually less common in the pocket gopher's range and because 

 of the pocket gopher's habit of storing quantities of food. 



CROCUSES AND HYACINTHS 



The crocus and the hyacinth are early spring bloomers out of doors, 

 the former from a corm, the latter from a bulb. The crocus corm is 

 as edible as a nut and thus readily finds favor with burrowing rodents 

 as an article of food. As usually planted about the home premises, 

 it remains in the ground throughout the year, and is thus always 

 exposed to attack by mice working either independently or in mole 

 runways. It will, of course', also be eaten and stored by the pocket 

 gopher, and at the time of the plant's flowering the beds are some- 

 times raided by ring-necked pheasants. Commercial plantings of 

 crocus and hyacinth on the west coast are small. The hyacinth bulb, 

 though less attractive to rodents than the crocus corm, is subject to 

 serious attack at times. The grape hyacinth (Muscari) may be 

 classed with the hyacinth in this respect. 



FREESIAS 



In southern California f reesias are grown commercially under field 

 conditions, sometimes many acres in a planting. The bulbs receive 

 considerable attention from any pocket gopher within striking dis- 

 tance. As a result large gaps appear in the fields (fig. 4) where the 

 bulbs have been taken before top growth began. Freesias are not 

 safe from the pocket gopher until harvested. The plant structures 

 above ground are apparently not favored as forage by the rodents. 



IXIAS AND SPARAXIS 



Smaller plantings of ixia and sparaxis in the same general district 

 of California were subject to some injury from pocket gophers, but 

 the greater harm was done by rabbits nibbling the tops to the ground. 



LILIES 



Lily growers are particularly annoyed by the presence of moles and 

 other burrowing animals in their plantings, as the crop is often 



