Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-02
COMMON MOUSE
TROUBLESOME AS HUN
Government Strives Constantly to
Check the Plague of the De-
structive Rodents.

Precautions arc being taken by the
government To safeguard American wheat.
Every bushel of the grain brought into
the country from Australia is being ex-
amIned by representatives OF the Depart
Inent of Agriculture to prevent any spread
of the mice plague being experienced there
Officials question whether the plague CON
stitutes n menace other than IN destruc-
ton of the crop in Australia, and doubt
that damaged wheat IS being shipped to
the United States, but are taking no
chances at time like this, when wheat
is a vital necessity and when practically
all of the civilized world is looking to this
country for it.
In addition to inspecting grain here, the
department has sent DIR. j. W. j. Duvei'
chief of the division of grand standardiza-
ton, to Australia, to make personal IN
vestgation. 1t is believed that the wheat
districts of Australia have suffered from
the worst plague of the last twenty years.
Most of the information at the disposal
of the government is unofficial large
part is in clippings from newspapers pub
lishcd in Australia These accounts tell
much about the ravagcs of the mice IN
Victoria during May and June OF last
wear Mice plaques usually follow year
Of drought. A drought kills of the mice
bv the thousands Warm winters and wet
summers, ideal conditions for mice
plague, during l9I6-l7 resulted IN the
present situation The mice reproduced
nv the millions Hawks, snakes and other
natural checks on mice became stIrfeited
with prev and no longer did their bit
Bv the last half OF the summer Of
1917. the fields had become honcycomted
with mouse holes. SO that II was hardly
possible to set foot without breaking
through. The trails Of the mice IN some
instances were so beaten down rs TO midi
cate that millions OF the pests had passed
over the path 1t is reported from Queens
land that where heavy dust lay on the
roads, the deep tracks Of a passing motor
car would be efTaced bv the tracks OF
mice moving from farm to farm.
EAT ~ ERyTHING BIT METALS
The mice, when they moved on place.
ate everything in sight, stopping only at
metals Furniture stuihng, seats OF We
hiclcs collars. cuffs and linens, hone but
tons, groceries. harness and almost every
thing else were consumed | he loss IN
wheat alone is estimated at S3,No,bh.
The cats and dogs have become disgust +
Cd and nauscated At tho sight Of a mouse
saws one account ItttiNftA ~ 'A'' - J. -
mcnt The people are sleeping on tables
to avoid the mice The women are kept IN
| a constant state of terror, and the men are
kept busy preventing the mcc from era" I
ing down their coat collars One man, II
was SAID. went 10 sleep with a top hat on
his head 10 protect himself against micc
and the mice ate ont the side OF tho hat
| during the night One farmer left a bag
az wheat outside his barn over night, and
| in the morning there was nothing left,
while another hung a piece Of rope to a
raftcr ia his stable. within two hours the
rope was moving mass of nice, In some
sections the mice devoured the seed
wheat after il had been placed In the
ground ncccssitatIng a resolving. me
churches al the infested sections conduct
cd special meetings for PRAYER III search OF
relief from the plague
These conditions prevailed despite the
most desperate efforts on the part OF the
inhabitants to check the wave Of nice
Within week an australian official
caught 100000 mice, and in two months
rs O0n 900 mice. or too tons. were trap
ned at 100 railway stations It IS cstlmat-
ed that 500 tons OF mice had been
DESTROYED al the time the information WAS
compiled
MANY DEVICES TRIED.
a device called double fence trap, by
which both the mice inside and outside the
wheat stacks MAY be trapped. was put
into operation In one night this trap
accounted for 100000 mice IN one section,
while in another section seven tons Of
nice were captured in two nights.
Fencing and dltchlng. terminating IN a
can filled with kerosene. was attempted
as a means of checking the invasion. but II
was found that the mice quickly filled the
kerosene cans and the balance went on
over the dead mice
II was upon the wheat crop, the staple
product Of Australia, hat the nice worked
the most havoc Definite information as
To the extent of the loss Is not available,
but accounts at hand set the monetary
value Of the destroyed crop al 50 0OO0.
as previously stated 1t Is pointed out
that 900 mice in Il meadow would con
sumo twelve tons Of green vegetation IN a
year In addition to the actual eating OF
81 the grain though thebags Of wheat
were rendered useless by the mice eating
+ into the bags.
Stacks Of 10000 bushels in South Aus
tralia were ruined in this way Strenuous
efforts were made by the Austrian officials
70 remove the wheat from the fields in de-
vastated areas, and arrangements were
made for the receipt and stacking 4 100
900 bags a day at Melbourne and other
terminals. Stacks Of wheat at the railway
stations collapsed due to undermining by
the nice
It is estimated that the mice-nfested
stacks of wheat numbered more thar
1000 900 bags. 1000 900 Of which hac
been transported to the seaboard W ash
ington correspondence Of the Boston
Transcript.