The Complete Grazier. 
421 
shilling edition of this standard work, which was described as 
by Mr. W. C. L. Martin, entirely revised and edited by Samuel 
Sidney, of which little work the well-known author of the Book of 
the Horse was uncommonly proud. 
Mr. Youatt’s death, which was sudden and unexpected, occurred 
in Osnaburgh Place, Regent’s Park, to the dismay and grief of his 
family and friends, on the 5th of February, 1847, in the seventieth 
year of his age. John Thornton. 
THE PLAGUE OF FIELD-VOLES. 1 
Though the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of 
Agriculture to inquire into the plague of field-voles in Scotland 
frankly avow their failure to discover any specific means of dealing 
with this pest, their report is far from being devoid either of in- 
terest or of utility. The particular outbreak is attributed to pecu- 
liar conditions of weather during the last few years, especially 
favourable to the breeding of small animals. The winters, though 
severe in England, have been mild in Scotland ; the springs have 
been exceptionally dry, and the wet autumns, particularly that of 
1890, by producing luxuriant grass on the hill pastures, furnished 
abundant shelter for the voles. 
To the destruction of their natural enemies, owls, kestrels, hawks, 
weasels, &c., by those interested in the preservation of game the 
plague was in a great measure attributed by the local farmers. The 
report rightly points out that, as this destruction had been no 
greater than usual, it could not be reckoned as an active cause of the 
outbreak ; but there can be no possible doubt that but for the 
war of extermination so long carried on against these “ vermin ” 
the plague could never have reached anything like its present 
dimensions. 
In previous outbreaks young trees have suffered great destruc- 
tion by the voles gnawing at their bark. In the present instance, 
though some injury has been done in plantations, and though there 
are not wanting indications of future danger to arable land, the 
ravages have been committed, for the most part, upon the pastures, 
and thus indirectly upon the stock. The scarcity of pasture has re- 
sulted in low condition among the ewes, which has manifested itself 
in increased mortality and in a marked deficiency of lambs in a 
season which, according to the returns from uninfested localities 
was of a fully average character. 
It is interesting to find that the remedies upon which the Commit- 
tee report with greatest favour are of the most simple and obvious 
character. They consist in burning the grass and heather, and thus 
destroying the runs, and in the direct destruction of the voles by 
men armed with wooden spades and accompanied by dogs. Indeed, 
1 Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agri- 
culture to Inquire into a Plague of JHeld-voles in Scotland. Pp. xvi + 93, fools- 
cap, with 4 plates and a map. London : Eyre Sc Spottiswoode 1893 
[C.— 6943.] Is. id. 
