t!)] 4. 
THE RXJ RAL NEW-YORKER 
701 
THE COMMON MOLE. 
A Subterranean Invader in the Lawn. 
E never had so many questions about the 
common mole, and how to destroy it. as 
are coming this year. The Department of 
Agriculture at Washington has issued Farmers’ Bul¬ 
letin 583. This is from the Biological Survey, and 
gives a very good account of the mole and its hab¬ 
its. Most of our readers are familiar with the 
work of this little animal, having seen his ridges or 
runways on the lawn, through the garden, or in 
the field. The mole is a great nuisance on the 
lawn, making his way just below the surface, and 
leaving a ridge along the ground. Hundreds of 
people have tried to kill him in ordinary ways and 
failed. The mole eats little if any vegetable food. 
Now and then seeds or other vegetable matter may 
be found in his stomach, but the great bulk of his 
food appears to be earthworms and white grubs, 
or ants and cutworms. Moles have been captured 
alive, and kept for a time, to observe their feeding 
habits. They were found to eat ravenously of beef¬ 
steak, bird llesh, fish, or almost anything in the 
way of fresh meat. A very few eat green corn on 
the cob, but most of them starved to death when 
supplied' with potatoes, sweet potatoes, or ordinary 
vegetables. 
Some of our people are sure that the moles de¬ 
stroy vegetables, as they claim to find their evidence 
of this in the runways. They must remember that 
other animals, like mice, also use these runways at 
times, so that the mole gets the discredit of helping 
himself in the garden. As a matter of fact, except 
for the damage it does in raising the ridge along 
the lawn, the mole ranks with the skunk as a 
destroyer of white grubs and injurious insects. If 
he would keep out of lawns, parks, cemeteries, or 
flower beds, the mole instead of being a pest 
would be one of the most useful little animals we 
could have on the farm, and yet the nuisance he 
creates by digging along our lawns and gardens 
makes it necessary for us to put him out of busi¬ 
ness. The only successful way of doing this is to 
trap him. Fig. 31S, taken from the Farmers’ Bulle¬ 
tin. shows three types of these traps. The form 
shown at A has been very satisfactory with us. It 
work with a powerful spring, and when set the 
sharp harpoons are pulled up and set with a spring. 
Then the trap is driven into the ground right over 
the runway. The mole, working along through his 
burrow, snaps the trap, the harpoons plunge down 
and pierce him in the ground. We have found no 
better way to catch the mole than by 
using one of these traps. 
MAKING AND SAVING GOOD 
HAY. 
HE time to cut clover for hay is 
when the plant is in full bloom, 
or, in other words, when one- 
third of the heads have turned brown. 
At this stage it is about SO per cent 
water, and it cannot be stored safely 
if it contains over 25 per cent, so the 
problem of curing clover bay is simply 
that of evaporating the difference be¬ 
tween SO per cent of water and about 
25 per cent, or reducing the water 
content to 25 per cent or less. In 
order to do this quickly, or in from 2-4 
to 36 hours, it must be done through 
the leaves. As soon as the stem is 
separated from the stubble the supply 
from below ceases, while the evapora¬ 
tion from the leaf continues as long as 
it has life in it. In order to secure 
this quick evaporation air must have 
free access to the leaves. Hence the 
problem of curing clover is to keep it 
in as loose form as possible. 
(’I KING CLOVER.—When the crop 
is heavy and the sun hot the leaf 
structure of the upper part of the 
swath is often killed, as is shown by 
the leaves becoming brown or black, 
while those in the under part of the 
swath are scarcely changed in color. 
Hence the value of the tedder in lift¬ 
ing the swath and allowing free access of the air. 
Unless this is done the clover is sunburned, and if 
the leaf structure is killed before the sap is out of 
the stalk it is impossible to make good hay, nor can 
the curing be done in any reasonable time. It is 
impossible to cure clover hay during damp, muggy 
weather. It is, however, an easy matter to cure it 
in clear, sunshiny weather with a fresh north or 
northwest wind. In fact it is easy to cure clover 
hay if the atmosphere is very dry with sunshine 
and any kind of a breeze. The problem therefore 
is to keep the clover so loose that it is quickly 
converted into hay by the evaporation of the moist¬ 
ure through the leaf, and before the leaf structure 
is destroyed by the hot sun. With good weather 
clover in the condition above described can be cut 
one evening, tedded or put in small windrows be- 
Types op Mole Traps: «, Harpoon Type: 
b, Scissor-jaw Type; c. Choker Type. Fro. 318. 
fore dinner the following day, and hauled in during 
the afternoon. Where one has only a few acres of 
clover probably the best method of handling is to 
cut and allow it to wilt, put it in cocks, then cover 
it with hay caps and let it go through the sweat¬ 
ing process in cock. This is not practical when 
there is a large acreage, however. 
AN ERROR IN PRACTICE.—A good many farm¬ 
ers when rain threatens make the mistake of put- 
THE HAY LOADER SAVES LABOR. Flo. 520, 
ting their hay in windrows. It should be remem¬ 
bered that clover will suffer less injury from rain 
even when dry lying in the swath than it will if 
put in windrows, or even in small, loosely-built 
cocks without covering. I have seen many farmers 
hasten when rain threatened to put their hay in 
cocks, only to have it wet through to the bottom, 
and I have never seen any good hay come out of 
these soaked bunches after they were shaken out. 
HANDLING TIMOTHY.—Timothy is at the best 
stage for cutting when it is in full bloom. If one 
has a large amount of grass of the same grade to 
harvest, a beginning should be made a little before 
the best stage for cutting, so as not to lose from 
being overripe. If the day is bright and breezy I 
proceed as follows: I start the mowing machine 
about nine o’clock in the morning, and stop the 
same as soon as I think there is sufficient grass cut 
to handle during the day. If. however. I have sus¬ 
picion of foul weather I stop the machine before I 
think there is half enough down, as it is better to 
secure one or two loads of hay thoroughly well 
made than to have twice the quantity partly spoiled 
with a rain shower. I start the tedder about one 
hour after starting the mower. If the Timothy is 
very heavy it is given a second tedding, going in 
the opposite direction. Then about noon I start the 
rake, and about an hour later commence hauling, 
and clean up the last swath before seven o'clock in 
the afternoon. After the hay is in the barn the 
latter is tightly closed at night. There is no dan¬ 
ger of heating or molding in the mow if the Tim¬ 
othy is cut when the bloom is on the head, and 
mowed away without any rain or dew on it. The 
hay will come out in the Winter bright green in 
color, and it will be worth almost as much to feed 
and the stock will relish it almost as well as the 
grass it was made from. There is a good deal in 
arranging machinery to work together. A tedder 
works better if it takes just two swaths of the 
mower, and a rake is more satisfactory when it is 
wide enough to gather in three swaths. This of 
course requires two horses, but it pays, because hay 
must be handled quickly. 
HARVESTING ALFALFA—The proper time to 
cut Alfalfa is when it is from one-fourth to one- 
half in bloom, provided there is good weather for 
curing it. When the usual time for harvesting the 
crop approaches it begins to prepare for it as 
though it were a foreseen event by throwing out 
buds near the root, thus forming a crown. If the 
Alfalfa is cut before it has prepared itself by throw¬ 
ing out these buds or new shoots from the root it 
will not do anything in the way of growing until it 
has time to start these shoots. That may be a 
matter of a week or 10 days. In the meanwhile 
weeds will fight for the possession of the land, and 
therefore if the Alfalfa is cut too early there will 
inevitably be a short crop following. On the other 
hand, if it is let go too late the plant will throw its 
strength to the shoots, and the main stalk will 
begin to crinkle down. It will go on 
and produce seed, but as a seed crop 
detracts very much from the next cut¬ 
ting. 
CURING THE CROP.—There are 
two ways of handling this crop. One 
is to cut it at the time specified 
above, allow it to wilt, put it in cock, 
then cover with a cap and let it stand 
for a few days. Then on a clear day 
remove the cap, open up the cock, air 
it and sun it. and then put it in the 
mow. The other method is to cut it 
in the evening or early in the morning, 
after the dew has dried away, and put 
it in small windrows. Then when by 
taking a wisp of it and twisting it 
hard no moisture can be seen on the 
outside it is ready to be put in the 
barn. The first is the safest way so 
far as the present crop is concerned, 
but the objection is that if the cocks 
stand on the ground more than a day 
or two the Alfalfa underneath will be 
killed, and the field will be badly 
spotted. Alfalfa is no more difficult to 
cure than clover, provided there is 
the same amount of heat, wind and 
sunshine. In fact, it is scarcely as 
difficult. Whichever method is adopt¬ 
ed the great object iu curing Alfalfa is 
to preserve the leaves, and it should 
not be allowed to stand until after 
they have begun to fall, which they 
will do shortly after the new shoots 
from the root are an inch or so in 
length. The greater part of the nutriment in Alfal¬ 
fa is contained in the leaves. These are worth 
more than their weight in bran. Caring for hay 
to avoid as much waste of its feeding value as pos¬ 
sible is important. A great amount of hay is 
stacked out of doors and allowed to take all kinds 
of weather, causing a continuous waste. 
Illinois. h. u. w. 
