The Columbus journal., 1895-08-14

&0fQ % m0le0. In q k4t0 issue OF Inc
Ohio Farmer and am pretty certain
that any farmer who has been growing
corn, potatoes or sweet potatoes for q
number Of years cannot agree with him.
From my " experience land that OF
other farmers with whom ! have con-
versed on. the subject). I have found
that where q mole-run is found In q
sweet potato ridge. or in a potato hill.
the potatoes have departed. Some
times l have found them partly eaten.
the surface still fresh.
In regard to corn, 1t Is considered to
be OF little use to plant where 1t ha
been taken by moles, unless cultivation
a commence Immediately, and farm
ers. frequently commence cultivation
when they find the moles at work. be-
fore the corr is up, cultivating deep.
Some sixteen OF seventeen years ago
1 had q field Of corn badly injured by
moTes. In places nearly all gone. and In
n places q pretty good stand. /
knew 1t was Of no use to put corn In
the same places az I could not then
commence blowing. and II ! waited.
much longer the replant would do little
good, SO ! got a boy to drop two grains
OF corn on each Of the missing hills,
and q couple of men and myself COW
cred 1t by drawing dirt over the hill.
with q hoe; the result was q good field
OF corn. l. did not e the mOles take
the corn, but wherever the run went
through the hill the corn was missing
and where there was no. mole run tho
corn grew all right.
l once read in an AGRICULTURAL paper
Of a man in New York, l believe. buy
ing m0les at five cents apiece to put
into his ground to loosen the earth and
l presume to catch grubs. l. never
heard the result of his experience
his theory was the same as that Of Mr..
Cranz. l expect when he undertook
to put his theory into practice he
changed his mind.
Some years ago.I was hauling in
corn from the shock: there raj over
l took a hoe to loosen the butts Of corn
stalks; in the center Of the last shock
l found some half dozen cobs, still in
the husks with no corn on them: !
thought a rat had been at work, but
the earth had not been worked. up
among the stalks. &c /. concluded 4
had been a rabbit. AS I was cutting
the tie stalk I saw what I took to be a
rat. among the blades. although It
moved rather too slowly for one l
gave it a clip with the hoe. when, 10,
and behold, it was a mole. That set
tied the matter, not only with, the
mole, but with me, that moles do eat
corn. l went to the barn, unloaded
my corn and put my team away, think
ing about the New York man whose
moles never bothered vegetation, and
who bought up all he could, and
thought that in the spring when the
insectivOrous mole was circulating in
the agricultural papers / would give
my experience.
But hold on-the fact isn't proven.
You don't know that. the. mole did eat
the corn; it's only circumstantial evil |
dence. A rat might a the corn and
the mole just happened in after the
mischief was done and it was getting |
late in the day, and turning much
and 1t was quite a distance from
the barn. a deep snow with a heavy
to tramp through, l was satisfied
but that didn't prove it.. IL
my knife and waded back. |
cut the mole open and found its stom-
ach filed with finely ground corn.
A neighbor told me that he had made
B strong decoction of Mayapple root
and soaked corn: in 1t and put in their
in the. corniield and thus killed
them. He said the year before a man
who had corn 0n his farm complained
about a mole taking the corn in n
place, that he tried the rem
at his suggestion and the next day
Dr. SO after putting the corn in the run,
he plowed ont the dead mole. I have
never tried it myself, however.