8 FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND HURTFUL, 



run by a species of field mouse {Hesperoinys)^ and mentions 

 tiie usual concomitant of extraordinary numbers of short- 

 eared owls which preyed upon them. Lastly, and simultane- 

 ously with the latest outbreak in Scotland, the province of 

 Thessaly >vas invaded by a plague of voles, and, as it had 

 been authoritatively stated that this had been successfully 

 combated by Professor Lceffler, I went out to satisfy myself 

 as to the results of his specific before recommending its 

 adoption in Scotland. The learned Professor having dis- 

 covered the bacillus of a disease known as mouse typhus, 

 incommunicable to other animals, caused bread, steeped in 

 typhus broth, to be placed in the holes of the Thessalian 

 voles. Undoubtedly large numbers of mice were destroyed 

 in this way, but, inasmuch as each mouse must swallow a 

 portion of the virus before it can suffer from the disease, the 

 impossibility of applying the remedy to a tract so extensive 

 as the infested area in Scotland — measuring, roughly, sixty 

 miles in length by twelve to twenty in breadth — is at once 

 obvious. The expense of the operation puts it out of practical 

 question. No doubt, however, in limited areas, in houses, 

 gardens, or even on arable land, this prescription of Professor 

 Loeffler's w^ill he found invaluable as a destructive agent 

 among rats and mice, and it possesses this advantage over 

 all poisons — that it is perfectly innocuous to other forms of 

 life. But, as displayed in Thessaly, it must be held ineffica- 

 cious for use on an extended scale, for, so far from having rid 

 that land of voles, Avhen we visited it in January, 1893, six 

 months after the cure had been pronounced com.plete, the 

 Mahomedan farmers were sending in despair to Mecca for 

 holy water to sprinkle on the fields. 



The Committee determined that the only chance of avert- 

 ing a plague of voles, w^ith all its lamentable consequences, 

 is to take concerted action when they first begin to appear 

 in unusual numbers. The most effective measures,^' they 

 say, ''appear to be periodical and timely burning of grass 



