70 FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND HURFFUL. 



on a barn wall on which were nailed the results of several 

 years' mole-trapping, I once saw a good many weasels, 

 occurring at irregular intervals in the rows of moles. The 

 fact is that the weasel is the greatest enemy the mole has, 

 and if we had more of them we should not have to do 

 nearly so much trapping. The short legs and general shape 

 of the weasel enable it to run easily along the moles' 

 tunnels, and it is when in pursuit of the inhabitants that it 

 sometimes shares the fate of the cat in the picture and gets 

 caught in the snare arranged for the reception of its intended 

 victim. Some other animals, as, for instance, stoats , and 

 some birds of prey, also feed on moles. 



The mole affects the agriculturist in two ways ; first, by 

 the food it eats, and, secondly, by the works it carries on to 

 obtain that food. As regards the mole in gardens, we may 

 dismiss this part of the subject at once^by saying that, what- 

 ever good is done there by the mole is more than counter- 

 balanced by the trouble, anno\'ance, and damage to plants 

 caused bv the tunnels and cuttino-s which an eners^etic mole 

 will drive through onion-bed, grass-plot, and flower-border 

 alike. Any mole attempting to stake out a claim in a garden 

 should be trapped at once, or at least as soon as possible — 

 which is often quite another thing. Yet there have been 

 town gardens which their owners would gladly have seen 

 riddled and furrowed in all directions by moles, so that they 

 (the moles) could have just let themselves go among their 

 favourite food for a time, and rid the soil from a super- 

 abundance of earthworms sufficient to make the garden, 

 once a place of pleasure or profit, loathsome and almost 

 useless. 



It is unnecessary to enlarge here upon the beneficial 

 action of the earthworm [Lujnbi'ictis terristris) upon the 

 earth's surface. Practically it forms the whole of that 

 valuable vegetable mould (at least that which is spread 

 over the surface of hills and slopes) upon which, in 



