44 FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND LLURFFLF. 



off the young shoots of cereals, thereby causing the crop to 

 come to maturity and ripen later than it otherwise would. 

 Again, both hares and rabbits bite off the corn at the knots 

 or joints of the stem, for the sake, it is said, of the sweet or 

 sugary matter found there. In fields of standing corn, paths 

 or ways are frequently seen, and here hares are numerous ; 

 the crop has been diminished greatly on account of these 

 tracks, which are sometimes as wide as two feet across, and 

 give the corn the appearance of old stubble. Amongst 

 straw crops especially ground game destroy far more food 

 than they really require ; they roam afar through the fields, 

 and cut and clear away large open spaces, to allow them 

 more room for play, and in the large amount of sustenance 

 before them they bite down and wantonly destroy more 

 than they can possibly consumic. The injury to crops from 

 ground game is certainly most marked in dry seasons, as 

 dry weather not only favours the productive powers of hares 

 and rabbits, but also weakens and stunts the plants, and 

 therefore they succumb the more easily to the depredations 

 of these animals. In a dry summer, such as that experienced 

 in 1893, rabbits were more plentiful and more destructive 

 than they had been for years. Turnips and swedes, 

 mangolds and carrots, are eaten off with great relish 

 by ground game when the plant is young, and even 

 when mature the outer skin is broken by their teeth, and 

 the bulb is soon destroyed by frost, or is quickly rotted by 

 the weather. In such cases hares and rabbits do not confine 

 their whole attention to individual plants, but nibble small 

 pieces from numerous bulbs. A witness before the Select 

 Committee to inquire into the Game Laws, in 1873, stated 

 that he had had half of a crop of turnips, bought for his 

 sheep, ruined by hares and rabbits. Occasionally, in some 

 districts, where ground game is present in great numbers, 

 crops such as winter tares, or winter carrots, have to be 

 abandoned entirely, owing to the impossibility of, and 



