12 



Farmers' Bulletin 12^7. 



true, though, that the large Townsend moles of the Pacific coast have 

 acquired the habit of foraging in gardens to a greater extent than 

 the common moles of the Eastern States. The proofs that they de- 

 stroy sprouting corn and peas and newly forming bulbs and root 

 crops are direct and final. The gnawing and hollowing out of ma- 

 ture bulbs and tubers, however, is not the work of moles but of the 



rodents that trespass 

 in their runways. 

 The mole is not a 

 rodent and is badly 

 handicapped for 

 gnawing by its pro- 

 jecting snout, which 

 extends nearly a 

 half inch ahead of 

 the small incisor 

 teeth. 



It is common 

 knowledge that in 

 certain situations 

 moles become an in- 

 tolerable nui s a n c e 

 from their habit of 

 upridging the sod, 

 throwing up mounds, 

 tearing up the roots 

 of plants, displacing 

 bulbs, and creating 

 general havoc in 

 gardens, lawns, and 

 parks. In meadows 

 and grain fields, 

 too, the mounds are 

 objectionable, not 

 only by reason of 

 the growing crops 

 they cover, but also 

 because of the ob- 

 struction they offer to the use of machines in mowing or harvesting. 

 The presence of moles in some of these situations may be evidence of 

 heavy infestation of the soil by white grubs or other insect larvae, 

 but the case in point is only another illustration of the old saying 

 that the remedy may be worse than the disease. 



In the valleys of the Northwest coast region moles infest farm 

 premises and towns much ^is rats do similar situations ther^ and 



Fig. 9. — Mole runwaj's under sidewalk. From such shelter 

 and nesting places moles run riot in adjacent gardens, 

 lawns, and parks. 



