Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-03-21
The Mole.

The mole is considered nuisance il
| not worse, generally worse. We have
known farmers and gardeners to soak
seed in poison to kill the mole. But
the creature does not want the farmer :
or gardeners seed. 1t is naturally in
sectiverous and carnivOrous. In It's
burowing it, of course, runs through
the seed hills and rows, and may cut OIL
the tender roots of plants and even
heave the plants and when driven to il
will eat the seed. This is to be regret
ted. But we must not look only to the
losses from the mole. 1t confers some
benefit. The question is, how much ?
If 1t does more good than evil, it is a
friend and not an enemy. We are
| aware that the question is one that is
difficult to answer, and that it can not
be answered except in a general way.
One thing we do know; the mole must
live, and as it lives principally upon the
insect life under the ground. it must de-
vour large quantities of the pupa of in
sect enemies, worms, etc. Perhaps the
mole will have TO be placed with the
birds in our estimate of its value. l.
will not do to charge him with every
thing and credit him with nothing. We
can conceive of no greater injury being
done the farmer and gardener than the
killing off of all the birds. If the birds
were gone we would soon find that the
fruit that had been saved from their
denredations. had been saved at ruin
Gus cost. More properly speaking,
however in many cases there would be
no fruit saved. The insects would de-
stroy the whole crop.
There Is no mistake about it, as a rule
we show little appreciation of our va
r.Ous mute friends, the birds, moles.
toads, and the natural enemies of in
sects. If it were not for them. we
would be eaten up alive. There is
scarcely an insect that troubles ON
crops that would not at times at least.
make our fields and gardens barren, bur
for their natural enemies and for the
depredations of birds and perhaps moles
and toads and even snakes. But gen
orally we make indiscriminate war upon
all these. The whole force of many n
farm will turn out to kill snake. il one
is discovered on the premises: and we
confess we do not like a snake ourselves.
But many of these snakes DESTROY large
numbers of mice and field rats, and per
haps we NAV be paving dearly for the
satisfaction of our prejudices or fears by
killing them. Moles are sometimes so
numerous that they do great damage,
and it seems advisable to poison or trap
them. But even then the remedy ma
prove worse than the disease. Ger
tainly we ought to stop the indiscrimin-
ate slaughter of the lower animals that
infest the fields and woods. If we kill
it should be done only after fully under
standing the uses of our victims. and
carefully comparing the good with the
evil they do. We think that we
can well afford to give the birds
the little fruit they eat and perhaps,
too. we can better afford to suffer the
injury done by the moles rather than
kill them. except perhaps under pecu-
liar circumstances. Still we do not like
moles, and we generally trap them.
But the point we wish to make is. that
we ought to study such matters more
carefully than we usually do Western
Rural