May », 18D0 ] 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDEXER. 
447 
syringe the foliage every afternoon, and keep the ashes moist on 
which the plants stand. This prevents the attack and spread of 
red spider upon the foliage, which is the only insect pest Migno¬ 
nette is subject to, and this only is caused by neglect in supplying 
the roots sufficiently with water during the hot days in summer. 
If the plants occupy the frame behind a north wall until the end of 
August, to save the trouble of applying shade, they should be 
removed to a frame facing south early in September, as the nights 
are by that time becoming cool. Abundance of air should be 
admitted to the plants to maintain a stocky growth. 
At the end of September a position near the glass in a cool 
house will be the best for their welfare. Syringing should be 
discontinued as the nights grow colder, and the plants kept 
as cool as possible. When the large pots are full of roots 
weak liquid manure from the farmyard tank is applied alternately 
with clear water as needed. Artificial manures, such as Standen’s 
or Clay’s fertiliser, sprinkled on the surface and watered in once 
a week do good. The plants are benefited by a top-dressing of 
turfy loam and dissolved bones mixed together, two parts of the 
former to one of the latter. Too much water must not be given to 
the roots the last three months of the year, as anything like stagna¬ 
tion quickly makes itself felt in unhealthy looking foliage. A 
temperature of not less than 40° is provided during the winter, and 
a position as near to the glass as possible secured to prevent the 
growth being drawn up weakly. If incipient seed pods are clipped 
■off the lower part of the flower spikes with a pair of scissors the 
flowering season will be lengthened considerably. In cutting the 
llowere, if those are selected which are partly expanded they will 
open in water, the spikes increasing in length, and last fresh ten 
days at least. 
Mignonette varies considerably both in the form of growth and 
robustness, but when the plants are grown strongly and the main 
branches staked little support beyond looping up outside stems wiU 
be required, the spikes of bloom standing erect. It is only the 
outer which need assistance to keep them from falling. The best 
variety I have found for the method of cultivation described is 
that known as IMiles’ Spiral; the flower spikes may not be quite so 
broad as Machet, but they are much longer, exceedingly sweet, and 
the growth is branching and strong.—E. M. S. 
MICE. 
The gardener has many difficulties to contend with and many 
enemies to encounter and overcome before he can make sure of satis¬ 
factory crops and insure their preservation for use. Mice are trouble¬ 
some, eating se^s, bulbs, seedlings, barking the stems of plants and 
trees, gnawing the roots ; moreover, they are particularly fond of fruit 
—the seeds of Strawberries and the juice of Grapes. 
There are three kinds especially injurious to garden crops—namely, 
the house or common mouse (Mus domesticus), the short-tailed field 
vole (Arvicola arvalis), and the long-tailed field mouse (Mus sylvaticu.s). 
All three are very common, but not equally so. Everybody is acquainted 
with the house mouse, which has a longish head, shortish body and 
rather long tail tapering to the tip, the colour dirty brown or fawn. 
It is a more intelligent animal than the other—more wary of the cat, tasty 
«ven in macter of cheese, and discriminating in the quality of Grapes. 
It is most troublesome in and about buildings, seed and fruit rooms, 
root houses, Mushroom houses, sheds, glass structures of all kinds, 
including pits and frames. Potato pits or heaps, anywhere, yet always 
with shelter and food at hand. When away from man’s conveniences 
it will burrow ; even in gardens it takes to a sort of emigration, seeking 
fresh fields, burrowing and laying in food against “ hard times,” but not 
to anything like the extent of the field mouse. The mouse seems to have 
learned the advantages of dwelling in community. Away from man it 
becomes a larger and finer animal, benefiting by the “ fresh air of the 
country.” 
The short-tailed field mouse or vole is a diminutive water rat-like 
animal (but not amphibious), short rounded head, thick body, short 
stumpy tail, short ears, and of a dull reddish brown colour. It resides 
mostly in grassy places, making runs in meads, woodland glades, lawns, 
and is particularly destructive in glass structures, eating some plants 
clean off and barking the stems of others. It appears to like eating 
Ferns and ruining crops of Strawberries both in the garden and under 
glass. The creatures nip off the berries and lay them in heaps, the 
seeds being extracted. The more numerous they are the more do they 
heap the berries, for when few they eat the seeds of them on the plants. 
It is an extremely cautious creature, and considering its short legs agile. 
Whether it is solely herbivorous I do not know; the runs it makes in the 
grass, and so clearly seen, especially in mossy bottoms, after the clearing 
away of snow, indicate a search after food of perhaps an animal kind. 
The long-tailed field mouse is rather large— i.e., for a mouse, and 
is easily distinguished from the others by its long legs, long tail tapering 
to a point, and its longish ears. It has a bouncing run, and seems 
completely nonplussed when disturbed. Its colour is pale brown, and 
is a remarkably clean animal. Though destructive I rather like than 
dislike the creature. Its partiality is for seeds, though varied with 
herbage, and it appears to relish Peas and Beans, also haws, heps, and 
berries. In gardens it is not very common, the vole is much more fre¬ 
quently seen in country than town gardens. The two last, particularly 
the vole, are allowed in some rural districts to increase to such an 
extent as to become a plague. Keepers in the plenitude of their 
wisdom and manifestation of their zeal destroy every creature of the 
owl, hawk, and weasel kind, whereby rodents are allowed to multiply 
in excess. Once I had to contend" with an invasion of rats, clearly 
traceable to a pheasantry where the birds were fed. The floor of a 
late vinery was strewed from end to end with ripe Grapes, part and 
whole bunches having been cut off as neatly as with a knife. Another 
time the short-tailed field mouse or vole invaded the Strawberry quarters 
and cleared away the crop. Access was had over walls 10 to 12 feet 
high or under their footings 3 feet deep. They piled the Strawberries 
in heaps, and ruined the crop. How these creatures gain access to 
shelves in Peach houses seems at times inexplicable. 
For the house mouse there is no remedy at all comparable to the 
cat. Some cats are good mousers, others are not worth anything. The 
former are rarely seen in country garden establishments, for the simple 
reason that a cat worth keeping is ever on alert for prey. I have not had 
a cat for many years, for the simple reason that the keepers killed them 
as fast as we could rear them. One cat once brought to me thirteen 
short-tailed field mice within an hour. A cat in a garden is invaluable. 
Young men keep them in bothies, much to their credit and the benefit 
of their employers, but a cat worth anything will poach. 
The house mouse will take to cheese before anything. I always 
keep some steel traps in stock, the small size known to ironmongers as 
bird traps. All that is necessary is to tie a piece of Stilton or Cheddar 
cheese crust in position, and set the trap lightly enough to go down 
when the mouse begins to nibble, in order to effect a catch, A sufficient 
number of traps duly used leave no excuse for house mice. It is only a 
matter of a little trouble and timely attention. Kept well oiled they last a 
long time, and are equally serviceable outdoors or indoors. They can 
be set almost anywhere. The only place where they fail is where there 
are cockroaches or crickets which eat off the baits, in which case they 
are an advantage, as showing the necessity of taking steps to exterminate 
the cockroaches and crickets by a careful use of phosphor paste. The 
mouse traps need no covering. The house mouse has none of the 
cunning or craft of the rat, but will take the trap bare on a shelf, on a 
Vine rod, or by side of a Pea row outdoors. The only precaution 
necessary is to secure it to something with a piece of string. I fasten a 
piece of tarred string about 18 inches long to each trap, and secure it to 
a peg thrust in the ground when the trap is used outdoors. Sometimes 
a larger animal or a bird gets its nose or foot into the trap, or the bird 
its bill, and carries off the trap unless secured. These traps persistently 
used will keep a garden establishment clear of mice. 
The short-tailed field vole is more captious. It does not take quickly 
to cheese, but after a while acquires a liking for it, or is overcome by the 
temptation. Any way, after trying many baits, I have found none at 
all comparable to cheese. It may be allured by a Strawberry well 
studded with seeds, yet a few traps baited with cheese and placed under 
the Strawberry leaves, especially where there are many fruits heaped, 
will mostly “ take,” and once the mice begin the others seem to come 
with a rush to destruction. I do not know of a vegetable bait, or even 
a poison, that is acceptable or safe to use for this creature. This and 
the house mouse nibble at so many things that it is really tampering 
with human life to use poison. I have known the house mouse eat 
Melons, Peaches, Grapes, Pears, and Strawberries, and though no one 
would think of sending fruit nibbled by mice to table, yet the danger 
is where poison is laid of the animals carrying small portions of it to 
fruits they may scrutinise but apparently not attack. The quantity 
may be infinitessimal, still not benefiting mankind. There ought to be 
the greatest care and circumspection in using poisons for the destruction 
of mice. 
The field mouse takes a baited trap readily, preferring the cheese 
bait to a Pea or Bean ; in fact, the steel bird trap properly oiled, baited 
with crust cheese duly secured, and set light, will catch the youngest as 
well as the oldest of mice, and in nine cases out of ten kill them on the 
spot. This is more merciful than poisoning or starvation in box traps. 
To the figure 4 trap no objection can be taken. It is a sure trap, 
especially for the field mouse, when baited with a pea or a bean, and 
insures a speedy passage of life. It is equally efficacious against the 
house mouse, but of no use whatever in destroying the short-tailed field 
vole. Pitfalls about 15 inches deep, twice the width at the bottom as 
at the top, so that the sides are unclimbable, are a good means of taking 
the vole. An inverted fiower pot sunk in the ground is sometimes used, 
but though I have used this kind of trap I have never been successful 
in capturing a vole. It is not a burrowing animal generally, though 
it knows a hole in the ground from one in a fiower pot. Precautions 
against attack are useless as regards the vole. Owls, hawks, particularly 
the kestrel, and weasels are their great enemies. Against those keepers 
wage an incessant war of extermination, and are mostly successful in 
breeding a plentiful crop of vermin. Cats seem the only animals left 
that can be used against rodents with advantage. 
Preventive measures against house and field mice are moistening 
the seeds, then coating them with red lead before sowing, or for large 
seed such as Peas and Beans wetting them with petroleum. Those 
are good as far as they go, also against birds, and act as deterrents, but 
the only safe, sure cure is to catch and kill the pests. Covering the soil 
over seeds with an inch thickness of sharp coal ashes is useful alike 
against slugs and frost, the mice not liking to scratch through the 
