OBSERVATIONS OX THE MOLE. 
225 
times been tried, and is said to have succeeded. But as 1 
have had no opportunity of reducing it to the test of ex- 
periment, nor of seeing any oile who haSj I cannot pretend 
to describe it. I have seen the folio vting recipe for poison- 
ing the mole ; but as I have not tried it^ nor heard of any 
one who has iised it, I can say nothing of its merits: — 
" Take; a handful of oatmeal, and pour so much water on 
it (stirring it all the while) as t<3 bring it into the con- 
sistence of porridge, or thin brose^ With every English 
pint 6f this, mix ten grains of corrosive sublimate. Pour a 
small quantity of this mixture on a piece of board, and lay 
it close by the mole's hill. Drop on it twenty drops of the 
oil of rhodium^ or of the oil of thyme^ which has had a 
grain or t\<^o of to ask mingled with it. The poison is to be 
put down at flight, and in dry weather,'"' — It is not likely 
that this should answer, as the mole is a carnivorous animal ; 
but perhaps it sometimes, like the dog^ takes vegetable food. 
In the " New Monthly Magazine," for March last. No. 
15. (published in London), I observe the following notice 
concerning moles.-^^' A gentleman," says the writer, " who 
was troubled with these animals in his garden, adopted the 
following method by way of experiment. Having opened 
one of the runs or trenches, he introduced a small quantity 
of rosin and sulphury and, when in a sufficient blaze, co- 
vered it over with the mould drawn from the trench. 
Whether suffocation ensued, or (what is more probable) 
the fumes were highly offensive to the finer instincts of 
these animals, the purpose was completely answered ; as' 
they never afterwards made their appearance." 
A top-dressing of quicklime will sometimes clear a field 
of moles. Mr Fletcher once saw this effect very strik- 
ingly accoiiiphshed in a field of Captain Preston's, at 
Gorton. It was quite over-run with moles ; but after the 
Hming, they all disappeared ; probably in consequence of 
VOL. IV, r 
