The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-18
TIE PEST OF TEE GARDENS
The Exploring Mole Plays Havoc
Amid Flower Beds

An indcfatiCabIc Hunter Through
the Turf-Thc Peer OF Borrowers
of Which Little Is Known-DiC-
ficuIt TO Capture the Little Animal.
OF all the animals which assist in max
ing life miserable for the gardener, per
haps the mole is the most provoking.
Just as 4 certain bed of choice seeds has
been worked into perfect condition, the
mole. which may not have been near the
garden for a month, comes back as
though by special appointment, and
pIows that bed from end to end Back
and forth he works, through the loose
soil, close to the surface, hedving up
little ridge of earth wherever he goes He
rapidly destroys the bed, though that is
not ct all his object in coming. He is
really out on a hunting expedition, he is
hunting for earth worms, sluSs, grubs,
and insects, which live in the ground and
on which he depends for food When he
has finished his meal. he leaves the bed.
and pushes through the turf Of the lawn
until he reaches the garden wall. perhaps.
This proves Il little too hard for him TO
plow through, so he comes out into the
open. runs at quite a fair speed across the
walk, and then burrows into the turf
again on the opposite side.
He probably does this at night, and next
day the seeds which he turned up during
his hunt through the bed viii die If
the sun is hot, they will be baked in the
IOOscned earth, or if it rains, they viii
probably be washed away When the gar
dener discovers the damage, he Will stride
about the lawn, stamping in the loose
turf with his heel. and We can hardly
blame him if, under his breath, he says
some very unpleasant things about the
mole. Then ne will probably set d mole
trap in the hope that his little enemy viii
come that way again. And there he may
have another disappointment, for the
mole IS quite as apt 10 stay away until
d nice line of young peas or carrots has
begun to show above the ground. Then,
some night, after q shower OF ram mas
SOftened the soil. he viii suddenly return,
UpTOOt the line from one end to the other,
and disappear as before
But #, as sometimes happens, he re-
turns along one Of his old tunnels, he
viii probably meet his death At one
point along the route he finds the roof
Of the UurrOw crushed down somewhat,
and he has to give an extra heave to
force his body through. That heave
presses on the platform of q mole trap.
and releases number Of sharp pointed
iron pTongS- which driven by a powerful
spring behind them, pass through the
body Of the mole
When the gardener comes along and
-
which the ants have already gathered II
viii be seen what a curious little creature
the mole is. From the tip Of his nose to
the root Of his tail he measures something
less tnan SIX inches and his total length IS
increased by a rather short. straight tail,
spaTseiy covered with short hairs His
body is covered with beautiful soft. lus-
tTpuS tur- which may look any one OF
number OF cOlorS, according to the light in
which you see it IN one light il VIII ap-
pear dark brown, and in others black,
I've -
maps the most astonishing thing about il
Is the fact that an animal living ia the
soil should be able 10 keep his coat 50
beautifully clean and bright In front. the
body terminates in naked. CaTtilaginOus
snout, on the upper surface Of which.
close together are two GbIOnE nCStrils-
This SnOut is very feXible-SO much so, in
fact, that the animal sometimes twists it
round and puts It into his mouth from
which he afterward withdraws it with
pop resembling the sound which might
De made in drawing q miniature cork /
don't know why he does this. unless il be
to wipe the soil of his nose. " hen his
mouth is opened. 1t VIII be seen that il Is
run OF AJUe teeth Of several sizes and
shapes, and that il somewhat resembles
the mouth IF a diminUtive pig.
At the first glance. one would say that
deep in the fur are TWO little shining
black dots, which are doubtless biz
enough for anything ne ever requires 10
see and about three-gud rUcrs Of an inch
behind them are two very small round
holes which lead 10 his ears His fore
arms are hidden fby the skin, his curious
semI-humaa hands alone being visible The
fingers are united forming broad. leath-
cry palms which in life are flesh coIOred
They are armed with large. slightly
curved nails and are excellent tools for
digging with. The hind feet are small
and slender. naked on the under surface.
and clothed with fine, short hair on the
upper surface
When the mole wishes TO enter the
rF4- of tar
hands together. in front of his nose. and.
digging them into the earth. makes q
stroke just as q man does when he is
swimming lie repeats the stroke again
and again until he - soon out Of sight
below the surface As he goes through
the earth ne twists his head from one
side TO the other and up and down.
searchinG tor earthworTns and other dain-
ties OF which he eats great numbers IN
the course Of tive rtE-foUT hours. Nnea
he finds an eaEthv.orU. ne seizes il with
the outer surfaces of his fore paws. and
Grams il into his mouth biz by bit
UUuchIng all the while. ike a greedy boy
eating panama. When he is fed in cap
JIElty- the crunChInz CT the gritty Parti-
Cirs in the bodies Of Tho worms can be
heard At a distance Of several yards
y : his burrow. mole can move
backward almost as fast as he can for
ward, AND when for any reason ne moves
over the surface Of the ground. he runs
on the edges Of The front paws. with the
backs of the latter toward each other
1t is difficult to believe now quickly a
mole can work his way into the earth. un-
less one has actually watched and timed
him. Last spring. kind neighDor sent
me word that her gardener had. with
great trouble. caught a mole which had
been playing havoc IN tHa. garden, and
asked II ] aid not wish to come over and
examine it / accepted the initiation. and.
finding the mole an unusually fine speci-
men T at once began taking notes on the
speed with which he could bury himself
The flower beds were wei cultivated and
soft from recent rain, and ~ the first at
tempt Mr.. Mole was out of sight in five
seconds. Just as his tail was disappear
ing. ! caught hold of it and pulled him
ont to give him another trial At the
next attempt he was gone in little over
three seconds, and again ] pulled him
out. 20 see il he could better this splendid
record He did not r-y again at once but
ran about, as though searching for
particularly likely spot At last he found
il. and down went his front paws. with
his long snout between them. 1 could see
that ne was going 10 break she record.
and just as his tail was going into the
earth I put out my hand to seize it But
afaSr my fingers closed on air nv friend