72 FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AXD HURIFUL, 



the mole may prove the best protection against the ravages 

 of this insect ; I observed that seven years ago moles were 

 very numerous all over the farm, and at that time the wire- 

 worm was never found to be injurious to any of the crops ; 

 but a war of extermination has ever since been most 

 sedulously carried on against the mole, and with such 

 success that it has become a rare thing to meet with one 

 upon the farm. The wire-worm, on the contrary, is now 

 so abundant as to cause very serious and perceptible injury 

 by laying bare large patches of the different crops.'' 



i\nother insect which is highly injurious to the roots of 

 grass and other crops is the mole cricket. The words which 

 Bouche uses with regard to the mole as the chief destroyer 

 of this pest summarise very fairly the arguments as to its 

 general utilit3\ Rewrites: ''This little quadruped, called 

 by Linnaeus, Talpa Europcva, is continually digging in 

 pursuit of insect larvce, particularly grubs, mole-crickets, 

 and earthwormiS, and destroys them. I have observed that 

 a field which contained an endless number of mole-crickets 

 or root-worms was freed entirely by the moles in two years. 

 They certainly destroy many young plants by burrowing, 

 but their usefulness is found to overbalance the mischiel 

 they occasion, which is only when the plants are young. 

 They likewise retire from those places where they find no 

 prey to be caught, when they have freed the field from 

 vermin. It is, therefore, not wise entirely to destroy the 

 moles.'' 



To consider, secondly, the earthworks of the mole 

 What has been said of the good done by the earthworm 

 in boring into and loosening the soil is true also of the 

 mole. By driving its tunnels in all directions it lets the 

 air into the soil, and when, from the effect of rain and 

 frost, the sides of the runs cave in, the soil all round is 

 moved. The worm brings up the undersoil to the surface 

 in the form of castings, which, if they were not kept 



