The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-01-15
The Mole.

5sS3 s3 The Mole. $
An English paper says: The profess
islonal mole catcher was quite an in
SCI s't: tuition in my youth. Like rat-catch-
ing, poaching, bird -snaring and fish
netting, nighttime setting, and even
spearing Of salmon in the close sea-
son, mole catching "ran in families .
and I have known it to run through
several generations. These men
went on circuit" and carried their
.lln Of destruction with them,
1al ana undertook, for a stipulated price
psf rs dozen carcases, to clear the farm
o SoI moles. On a large farm where I was
en- sts1 mployed, a lengthy stretch of pernna-
sl1t snent grass and about thirty acres OF
land, lying between wild moor
sand large river, was Infested with
fmoles, and many a hard days work I
IA nave had in leyeling the hillocks and
the soil over the surface of
ssIinl ssIne land. The farmer who employed
me me was greatly in advance of his
tunes, and his theories as to the prac-
stlcal usefulness of moles, weasels, and
SVSAJ hluu VI w In UAAu, "SAS
the subject of much bucolic ridicule.
sIlhat Tn is nearly forty years ago, and
Sthat farmer is dead. but not his theo-
#rles. l.Vs. These were founded on long and
5ccahse 5clhose personal observations, and their
absolute accuracy has long since been
recognized by all intelligent field nat
&urallsts and agriculturalists. AS far as
moles were concerned, the land where
they most did congregate" was >natur
ally poor, but in course of time the
moles improved it, and out of curios-
*lty visited the old steading and land
last summer and found it rich, intin-
1tely superior in heart to that of many
other holdings where the demon mole
catchers We're still employed in the ex-
pensive and destructive work.
& +
The mole, like ourselves, is not per-
fect-it has more than one "redeeming
vice. but, taken as. whole, it is
friend of the farmer. 1t destroys a vast
quantity of injurious grubs, and in it's
searchings for these insects, 1t GER
sttasiinly does injury to the roots of GER.
eals and other plants, more particular
" when the soil is light and in very dry
seasons. The obstructive leather
Jacket" is a great source of it's subsist-
ence; it destroys mice, and it even does
good as a kind of subsoil drainer Of
the land. I may conclude with an ex-
tract from letter addressed some.
years ago BY Z orKshire FARMER to- q
well-known naturalist, a portion Of
which appeared some years ago in
work dealing with ornithology, ento-
mology and mammology in relation to
agriculture. To kill moles is to leave
the corn and turnip crops upon light
lands, such as sand and deeply-soiled
void land) to the ravages of the wire
worm, the grub (cockchafer) and other
insects. farm, and have farmed, from
thousand to fifteen hundred acres in
different parishes, and have noticed
that when you try to exterminate
moles, rocks, sparrows, etc., you have
far more destruction of crops. An old
mole-catcher came to me and asked me
whether would have the moles killed
on my land. I said, mo; if
had no moles I should have no
crops" He said, 'You are the first
man whom have heard say that, but
you are right He then proceeded to
say: II was employed by gentleman,
who had a large, sandy field, to kill off
the moles. 1t used to grow nice crops,
though it was so full of moles. 1 killed
them all, and the field never grew any
thing to speak of afterwards. The
grub, wireworm, ETC., used to eat the
roots of everything that was sown, and
the young plants died off,"