Putnam patriot., 1929-11-27
TIM ELY FAR M TOPICS
 by tke County Agricultural Agent

Orehardistsi Look Out for Mice In-
 jury
 Field mice are reported by some Connecticut growers as more aound- ant than usual this fall. They will kill some of your fruit trees unless you take certain precautions against them.
 The biggest item of mismanage- ment in your orchard may be that splendid fruit trees. worth $25 to $50 or more are permitted to become the winter food of field mice and other rodents. In every we'll managed orchard state should be an annual system of protecting the trees against | the possible ravages of harmful ro- dents. It takes years of painstaking effort to bring back girdled trees to normal again. Some of the bridge gratis may fail--the trees will have to be heavily pruned and the fruit removed from them for several years if permanent recovery is to be assur- ed. Extra fertilizer and care will be needed and at the best the usefulness of the trees will be impaired for years to come.
 Methods of Protection
 Some fruit growers not only grub" about their trees every fall but distribute poison bait and use wire guards as well. Still other' take the additional precaution of pruning off few small branches for the mice to feed on.
 The least you should do is to pull away all dead grass. weeds, etc, from the tree trunks and mound with dirt or protect the trunks with galvanized wire guards.
 Most fruit growers know that there are two kinds of mice in Connecticut which are injurious to fruit trees, nancy (D the common meadow mice and t2) the pine mice. The meadow mice work at or near the surface of the gound. The pine mice may do damage several feet below the ground surface.
 Wire or other guards may be fair " effective against the meadow mice but are not sufficient against the pine mice. The only really effective meth cd of combating pine mice is by means of poison bait.
 Poison Bait
 Poison bait is most effectively dis tributed in the oreh.rd by means of poison statiens"-that is by placing the poison bait in some kind of a suitable container. For "poison sta tions," wide mouthed bottles, glass jars, tin cans or specially made wood en containers can be used. These are D laced at or near the tree trunks and teaspoonful quantities of poison bait are distributed in them. The mice find the bait and then it's goodbye. Mir. or Mrs. Mouse-whieheve the case may be.
 Many New England fruit growers have purchased some of the ready mixed poisoned steam crushed whole oats thru their County Agent or thru F. M. Mills, the U. s. Bureau of Bio- logical Survey, representative at Amherst, Mass. This ready mixed bait is made in Idaho and can be purchas- ed at 6lke per pound plus freight charges of three or four cents per pound It comes in twenty-five pound bags and is ready to use on ar rival. fSmall quantities-twenty-five pounds or more-can be purchased through the Middlesex County Farm Bureau. TAO Main street, Waltham, Mass. at twelve cents per pound).
 Those who wish to make their own poisoned bait have their choice of several formulas which have been de- vised by the U. s. Bureau of Biolog- ical Survey. One of the best of these these Is listed below:
 Oatmeal Formula
 Mix together. dry, one-eighth ounce of baking soda. Sift the stry- chnine-soda mixture over one quart of relied oats. sirring constantly to insure an even distribution of the noison thru the grain. Thoroughly