The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-08
Nature Notes
 From WoLcott

Every day brings new beauty to the countryside at this time of year. And this year after the long cold spring, this beauty seems more welcome than usual. The grass is that lush vivid green of earl spring; the evergreen trees have taken on a deeper, greener hue; the maple trees are red with buds, the forsythia is in full gold en bloom and daffodils, hyacinthS and other spring bulbs are full of bloom and fragrance, and the beauty Of it all gives us a spiritual and physical uplift.
 For our own convenience we classify the daffodils, properly called narcissus, in our garden into three groups. The old fash ion double ones aS daffOdils, those with the deep cups as trumpets and the white poeticus or pheas- ants eye and the many lowered Elvira we classify as jOnquils.
 The double daffOdiI Is 8 good old standby, sending up It's foliage and large fat bulbs as soon as the frost leaves the earth. The poet icus type keeps you guessing, as It's leaf blades are almost fully grown before any sign of buds ap- pears. Bulbs of the double daf- fCdil will apparently lie dormant for years and then If given an opportunity will grow and bloom. When we purchased our home about twenty-five years ago there were no signs of. daff0dils any where about the place. We clean cd up trash piles, tore down old out buildings and in year or two clumps of daffodlls began ap- bearing in many places. Also . few cIumps of the jonquil.
 On the other hand clumps of jonquil which were planted under Shrubbery came up each year but never blossomed. We dug them up, separated them and planted Q few bulbs in several different lo- cations, taking care the bulbs were planted at the proper depth The second year after planting every clump bloomGd.
 Last fall we planted forty hya- cInth. forty trumpet narcissus, and . lesscr number of chinOd0xa, SCilla slblrlca, and scilla campanu. lata bulbs. Every bulb was plant cd with a measuring stick at the proper depth given. in the bulb catalogue. These have all blo0m- cd or budded with the exception of . few narclssus and the scllla campanuIata, the latter of which will not bloom until q later date. Our experience has been that hyacInth bulbs will bloom the spring following their planting, while narcisSus will sometimes not bloom until the second year.
 We find that moles or mice will destroy tulip bulbs and the bulbs Of most varieties of lilies, but will not harm the bulbs of hyacinths or daffodils. Formerly we were taught that moles did not eat bulbs or the roots of plants, that moles made the runways and mice which used these runwayS were responsible for the loss of bulbs and plants Now plant growers arc beginning to believe that moles do feed on plant roots and bulbs We know they do destroy plants ny the runways leaving air pockets under the plant roots. After trying many ways of exterm' natinb or driving out moles, we have had the most success with the use of calcium carbide.~ Make q small opening in q fresh run, drop in ' few pieces Of carbide, pour in q little water and quick ly close the opening. This forms q gas which is poisonous to the mole. But it is claimed neither the gas or the residue Is harmful to plant life.
 The Smith farm on Bucks Till borders on the Chestnut Hill res. ervOlr. Last week as Leland Smith was walking across q recently piOwed field, he saw before him four Canadian geese. Keeping at . distance of not over twenty five or thirty feet ahead of him they waddIed up the lane to the barn yard bars, c distance Of something
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 Japanese in China now number ,ver 3b0,000.
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