News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-06-08

From the New York Trii une.1
Among the quaintest of English rural
industries is that of mole-catching,
which by certain individuals is followed
IS a regular calling. Every neig h5os. |
lood where moles abound has its profess
'ional moie-catcher; though there are
districts in which these semi
mean quadrupeds are not so plentiful as
to need thinning off; tracts of country
where the soil, from its geological char
acter, is too poor to produce a thick
crop of earthworms-the mole's ortho-
dox diet. To the fauna of ireland the
mole is altogether wanting, for what
reason naturalists have never been able
to determine. Whether, like the snakes,
it was communicated by st. Patrick,
history does not record; but if SO, the
Saint deserves credit for ridding the
Emerald Isle of pest noxlous as the
reptiles themselves, if not so danger
Gus. may say, however, that about
this there is a difference of opinion,
many people looking upon the mole as
more profit than pest.
These are not farmers, though !; in
stead, newspaper writer's of the closet
naturalist kind; and every now and
then arises discussion on this subject
with voluminous correspondence in
which the farmer is ridiculed for his
ignorance and accused of ingratitude in
waging war against Talpa, his bene-
factor According to these theorists,
the mole eats the "wire-worm, Elates
hneatus, and so destroys large quanti-
ties of these insect Larvae that would
otherwise do much injury to the young
wheat plant and all sorts of growing
produce. In the pursuit of natural
history have taken pains to ascertain
the truth about this matter and after
repeated experiments am able to affirm
that the farmer is In the right, and those
who cast ridicule on him in the wrong:
The mole does not and will not eat wire
worms the common ground worm,
Lumbricus terrestris, being it's natural
food and, / believe, sole sustenance,
or nearly so.
The greatest damage by the English
mole is to grass, both that of pasture
lands and meadows kept for hay. In
tunnelling after worms, as is well known,
it here and there throws up heaps of
loose earth, of conical or hemispherical
shape-''mole-hills," so called-some of
which have measured and found to be
over two feet in horizontal diameter, the
upheaved dirt filling q bushel basket.
Such are of exceptional size, but in any
case, where the mole is left to ''moot'
at will, these excresences will soon show
so thick over the ground as to render a
considerable portion of the grass un-
available for pasturage; and if meadow
land, for hay, there will not only be a
shorter crop, but more frequent sharp
ening of the scythe, eau ing extra
trouble to the mowers. Scattering
these heaps by spade, bush-harrow or
chain-harrow is the usual remedy; which
to be effectually applied needs now and
then repeating. Some farmers, how
ever, deem prevention better than cure;
hence the calling of n.ole- catcher.
This individual is generally, indeed
almost universally, man past the prime
of life, and often aged; for mole catching
is an industry which tasks neither
bodily strength nor activity. Still il
has its requirements these being
familiarity with the animals habits
and the ways and means for capturing
it. Dogs are not available for this
purpose, nor digging; since neither
dog nor digger can open the ground
after mole as fast as il can burroW
before them. The gun or other weapon
is equally useless for such a chase
moles rarely coming to the surface save
during the nights darkness. One may
live in district where these animals
abound almost for lifetime and YET
never see live MOLE Plenty of dea6
ones, true; but these have all beer