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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42718 ***
+
+    Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
+    possible.
+
+    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
+
+
+
+
+UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
+
+FARMERS' BULLETIN
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C. 670 JUNE 3, 1915.
+
+Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw,
+Chief.
+
+
+
+
+FIELD MICE AS FARM AND ORCHARD PESTS.
+
+By D. E. LANTZ, _Assistant Biologist_.
+
+
+    NOTE.--This bulletin describes the habits, geographic
+    distribution, and methods of destroying meadow mice and pine mice,
+    and discusses the value of protecting their natural enemies among
+    mammals, birds, and reptiles. It is for general distribution.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+The ravages of short-tailed field mice in many parts of the United
+States result in serious losses to farmers, orchardists, and those
+concerned with the conservation of our forests, and the problem of
+controlling the animals is one of considerable importance.
+
+Short-tailed field mice are commonly known as meadow mice, pine mice,
+and voles; locally as bear mice, buck-tailed mice, or black mice.
+The term includes a large number of closely related species widely
+distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Over 50 species and races occur
+within the United States and nearly 40 other forms have been described
+from North America. Old World forms are fully as numerous. For the
+purposes of this paper no attempt at classification is required, but
+two general groups will be considered under the names meadow mice and
+pine mice. These two groups have well-marked differences in habits,
+and both are serious pests wherever they inhabit regions of cultivated
+crops. Under the term "meadow mice"[1] are included the many species of
+voles that live chiefly in surface runways and build both subterranean
+and surface nests. Under the term "pine mice"[2] are included a few
+forms that, like moles, live almost wholly in underground burrows. Pine
+mice may readily be distinguished from meadow mice by their shorter and
+smoother fur, their red-brown color, and their molelike habits. (See
+fig. 1.)
+
+[1] Genus _Microtus_.
+
+[2] Genus _Pitymys_.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Field mice: _a_, Meadow mouse; _b_, pine mouse.]
+
+
+
+
+MEADOW MICE.
+
+
+Meadow mice inhabit practically the whole of the Northern Hemisphere--
+America, north of the Tropics; all of Europe, except Ireland; and
+Asia, except the southern part. In North America there are few wide
+areas except arid deserts free from meadow mice, and in most of the
+United States they have at times been numerous and harmful. The animals
+are very prolific, breeding several times a season and producing
+litters of from 6 to 10. Under favoring circumstances, not well
+understood, they sometimes produce abnormally and become a menace to
+all growing crops. Plagues of meadow mice have often been mentioned
+in the history of the Old World, and even within the United States
+many instances are recorded of their extraordinary abundance with
+accompanying destruction of vegetation.
+
+The runs of meadow mice are mainly on the surface of the ground under
+grass, leaves, weeds, brush, boards, snow, or other sheltering litter.
+They are hollowed out by the animals' claws, and worn hard and smooth
+by being frequently traversed. They are extensive, much branched, and
+may readily be found by parting the grass or removing the litter. The
+runs lead to shallow burrows where large nests of dead grass furnish
+winter retreats for the mice. Summer nests are large balls of the same
+material hidden in the grass and often elevated on small hummocks in
+the meadows and marshes where the animals abound. The young are brought
+forth in either underground or surface nests.
+
+Meadow mice are injurious to most crops. They destroy grass in
+meadows and pastures; cut down grain, clover, and alfalfa; eat grain
+left standing in shocks; injure seeds, bulbs, flowers, and garden
+vegetables; and are especially harmful to trees and shrubbery. The
+extent of their depredations is usually in proportion to their numbers.
+Thus, in the lower Humboldt Valley, Nevada, during two winters (1906-8)
+these mice were abnormally abundant, and totally ruined the alfalfa,
+destroying both stems and roots on about 18,000 acres and entailing a
+loss estimated at fully $250,000.
+
+When present even in ordinary numbers meadow mice cause serious
+injury to orchards and nurseries. Their attacks on trees are often
+made in winter under cover of snow, but they may occur at any season
+under shelter of growing vegetation or dry litter. The animals have
+been known almost totally to destroy large nurseries of young apple
+trees. It was stated that during the winter of 1901-2 nurserymen near
+Rochester, N. Y., sustained losses from these mice amounting to fully
+$100,000.
+
+Older orchard trees sometimes are killed by meadow mice. In Kansas in
+1903 the writer saw hundreds of apple trees, 8 to 10 years planted, and
+4 to 6 inches in diameter, completely girdled by these pests. (Fig.
+2.) The list of cultivated trees and shrubs injured by these animals
+includes nearly all those grown by the horticulturist. The Biological
+Survey has received complaints of the destruction of apple, pear,
+peach, plum, quince, cherry, and crab-apple trees, of blackberry,
+raspberry, rose, currant, and barberry bushes, and of grape vines; also
+of the injury of sugar maple, black locust, Osage orange, sassafras,
+pine, alder, white ash, mountain ash, oak, cottonwood, willow, wild
+cherry, and other forest trees.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Apple tree killed by meadow mice.]
+
+In the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, Mass., during the winter of
+1903-4, meadow mice destroyed thousands of trees and shrubs, including
+apple, juniper, blueberry, sumac, maple, barberry, buckthorn, dwarf
+cherry, snowball, bush honeysuckle, dogwood, beech, and larch. Plants
+in nursery beds and acorns and cuttings in boxes were especial objects
+of attack.
+
+The injury to trees and shrubs consists in the destruction of the bark
+just at the surface of the ground and in some instances for several
+inches above or below. When the girdling is complete and the cambium
+entirely eaten through, the action of sun and wind soon completes the
+destruction of the tree. If the injury is not too extensive prompt
+covering of the wounds will usually save the tree. In any case of
+girdling heaping up fresh soil about the trunk so as to cover the
+wounds and prevent evaporation is recommended as the simplest remedy.
+To save large and valuable trees bridge grafting may be employed.
+
+
+
+
+PINE MICE.
+
+
+Pine mice occur over the greater part of eastern United States from
+the Hudson River Valley to eastern Kansas and Nebraska and from the
+Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Inhabitants chiefly of forested
+regions, they are unknown on the open plains. Ordinarily they live in
+the woods, but are partial also to old pastures or lands not frequently
+cultivated. From woods, hedges, and fence rows they spread into
+gardens, lawns, and cultivated fields through their own underground
+tunnels or those of the garden mole. The tunnels made by pine mice
+can be distinguished from those made by moles only by their smaller
+diameter and the frequent holes that open to the surface.
+
+While the mole feeds almost wholly upon insects and earthworms, and
+seldom eats vegetable substances, pine mice are true rodents and live
+upon seeds, roots, and leaves. Their harmful activities include the
+destruction of potatoes, sweet potatoes, ginseng roots, bulbs in lawns,
+shrubbery, and trees. They destroy many fruit trees in upland orchards
+and nurseries (fig. 3). The mischief they do is not usually discovered
+until later, when harvest reveals the rifled potato hills or when
+leaves of plants or trees suddenly wither. In many instances the injury
+is wrongly attributed to moles whose tunnels invade the place or extend
+from hill to hill of potatoes. The mole is seeking earthworms or white
+grubs that feed upon the tubers, but mice that follow in the runs eat
+the potatoes themselves.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Root and trunk of apple tree from Laurel, Md.,
+gnawed by pine mice.]
+
+Pine mice feed to some extent outside their burrows, reaching the
+surface through the small openings made at frequent intervals in the
+roofs of the tunnels. In their forays they rarely go more than a few
+feet from these holes. Most of their food is carried under ground,
+where much is stored for future consumption. While they differ little
+from meadow mice in general food habits, their surroundings afford them
+a larger proportion of mast. They are less prolific than meadow mice,
+but this is more than made up for in the fact that in their underground
+life they are less exposed to their enemies among birds and mammals.
+Like meadow mice, they sometimes become abnormally abundant.
+
+In the eastern part of the United States pine mice do more damage to
+orchards than do meadow mice, partly because their work is undiscovered
+until trees begin to die. The runs of meadow mice under grass or leaves
+are easily found and the injury they do to trees is always visible.
+On the other hand, depredations by pine mice can be found only after
+digging about the tree and exposing the trunk below the surface.
+The roots of small trees are often entirely eaten off by pine mice,
+and pine trees as well as deciduous forest trees, when young, are
+frequently killed by these animals (fig. 4).
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Pine tree killed by pine mice.]
+
+
+
+
+DESTROYING FIELD MICE.
+
+
+Methods of destroying field mice or holding them in check by trapping
+and poisoning are equally applicable to meadow mice and pine mice.
+
+
+TRAPPING.
+
+If mice are present in small numbers, as is often the case in lawns,
+gardens, or seed beds, they may readily be caught in strong mouse traps
+of the guillotine type (figs. 5 and 6). These should be baited with
+oatmeal or other grain, or may be set in the mouse runs without bait.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Field mouse caught in baited guillotine trap.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Field mouse caught in unbaited guillotine trap.]
+
+Trapping has special advantages for small areas where a limited number
+of mice are present, but it is also adapted to large areas whenever
+it is undesirable to lay out poison. It is then necessary to use many
+traps and continue their use for several weeks. If mice are moderately
+abundant, from 12 to 20 traps per acre maybe used to advantage. These
+should soon make decided inroads on the numbers of mice in an orchard
+if not practically to exterminate them. For pine mice the tunnels
+should be excavated sufficiently to admit the trap on a level with the
+bottom. A light garden trowel may be used for the necessary digging.
+
+
+POISONING.
+
+On large areas where mice are abundant, poisoning is the quickest means
+of destroying them, and even on small areas it has decided advantages
+over trapping.
+
+The following formula is recommended:
+
+_Dry grain formula._--Mix thoroughly 1 ounce powdered strychnine
+(alkaloid), 1 ounce powdered bicarbonate of soda, and 1/8 ounce (or
+less) of saccharine. Put the mixture in a tin pepper box and sift it
+gradually over 50 pounds of crushed wheat or 40 pounds of crushed oats
+in a metal tub, mixing the grain constantly so that the poison will be
+evenly distributed.
+
+Dry mixing, as above described, has the advantage that the grain may
+be kept any length of time without fermentation. If it is desired to
+moisten the grain to facilitate thorough mixing, it would be well to
+use a thin starch paste (as described below, but without strychnine)
+before applying the poison. The starch soon hardens and fermentation is
+not likely to follow.
+
+If crushed oats or wheat can not be obtained, whole oats may be used,
+but they should be of good quality. As mice hull the oats before eating
+them, it is desirable to have the poison penetrate the kernels. A very
+thin starch paste is recommended as a medium for applying poison to the
+grain. Prepare as follows:
+
+_Wet grain formula._--Dissolve 1 ounce of strychnia sulphate in 2
+quarts of boiling water. Dissolve 2 tablespoonfuls of laundry starch
+in 1/2 pint of cold water. Add the starch to the strychnine solution
+and boil for a few minutes until the starch is clear. A little
+saccharine may be added if desired, but it is not essential. Pour the
+hot starch over 1 bushel of oats in a metal tub and stir thoroughly.
+Let the grain stand overnight to absorb the poison.
+
+The poisoned grain prepared by either of the above formulas is to be
+distributed over the infested area, not more than a teaspoonful at a
+place, care being taken to put it in mouse runs and at the entrances
+of burrows. To avoid destroying birds it should whenever possible be
+placed under such shelters as piles of weeds, straw, brush, or other
+litter, or under boards. Small drain tiles, 1 1/2 inches in diameter,
+have sometimes been used to advantage to hold poisoned grain, but
+old tin cans with the edges bent nearly together will serve the same
+purpose.
+
+Chopped alfalfa hay poisoned with strychnine was successfully used
+to destroy meadow mice in Nevada during the serious outbreak of the
+animals in 1907-8. One ounce of strychnia sulphate dissolved in 2
+gallons of hot water was found sufficient to poison 30 pounds of
+chopped alfalfa previously moistened with water. This bait, distributed
+in small quantities at a place, was very effective against the mice,
+and birds were not endangered in its distribution.
+
+For poisoning mice in small areas, as lawns, gardens, seed beds,
+vegetable pits, and the like, a convenient bait is ordinary rolled
+oats. This may be prepared as follows: Dissolve 1/16 ounce of
+strychnine in 1 pint of boiling water and pour it over as much oatmeal
+(about 2 pounds) as it will wet. Mix until all the grain is moistened.
+Put it out, a teaspoonful at a place, under shelter of weed and brush
+piles or wide boards.
+
+The above poisons are adapted to killing pine mice, but sweet potatoes
+cut into small pieces have proved even more effective. They keep well
+in contact with soil except when there is danger of freezing, and are
+readily eaten by the mice. The baits should be prepared as follows:
+
+_Potato formula._--Cut sweet potatoes into pieces about as large as
+good-sized grapes. Place them in a metal pan or tub and wet them with
+water. Drain off the water and with a tin pepper box slowly sift over
+them powdered strychnine (alkaloid preferred), stirring constantly so
+that the poison is evenly distributed. An ounce of strychnine should
+poison a bushel of the cut bait.
+
+The bait, whether of grain or pieces of potato, may be dropped into
+the pine-mouse tunnels through the natural openings or through holes
+made with a piece of broom handle or other stick. Bird life will not be
+endangered by these baits.
+
+
+CULTIVATING THE LAND.
+
+Thorough cultivation of fields and the elimination of fence rows
+between them is the most effective protection against field mice.
+Cultivation destroys weeds and all the annual growths that serve as
+shelter for the animals. This applies equally well to orchards and
+nurseries. Clean tillage and the removal from adjoining areas of the
+weeds and grass that provide hiding places for mice will always secure
+immunity to trees from attacks of the animals.
+
+
+PROTECTING NATURAL ENEMIES OF MICE.
+
+Field mice are the prey of many species of mammals, birds, and
+reptiles. Unfortunately, the relation that exists between the
+numbers of rodents and the numbers of their enemies is not generally
+appreciated; otherwise the public would exercise more discrimination
+in its warfare against carnivorous animals. It is the persistent
+destruction of these, the beneficial and harmful alike, that has
+brought about the present condition of growing scarcity of predacious
+mammals and birds and corresponding increase of rodent pests of the
+farm, especially rats and mice. The relation between effect and cause
+is obvious.
+
+Among the mammalian enemies of meadow and pine mice are coyotes,
+wildcats, foxes, badgers, raccoons, opossums, skunks, weasels, shrews,
+and the domestic cat and dog. Among birds, their enemies include nearly
+all the hawks and owls, storks, ibises, herons, cranes, gulls, shrikes,
+cuckoos, and crows. Among their reptilian foes are black snakes and
+bull snakes. Not all these destroyers of mice are more beneficial than
+harmful, but the majority are, and warfare against them should be
+limited to the minority that are more noxious than useful.
+
+
+OWLS AND FIELD MICE.
+
+Owls as destroyers of mice are deserving of special mention. Not one of
+our American owls, unless it be the great horned owl, is to be classed
+as noxious. Especially beneficial are the short-eared, long-eared,
+screech, and barn owls. All these prey largely upon field mice, and
+seldom harm birds. Unfortunately, the short-eared and barn owls, which
+are the more useful species, are not plentiful in the sections most
+seriously infested by field mice.
+
+The short-eared owl, while widely distributed, is not abundant, except
+locally, within the United States, but wherever field mice become
+excessively numerous these owls usually assemble in considerable
+numbers to prey upon them. Examinations of stomachs of these owls show
+that fully three-fourths of their food consists of short-tailed field
+mice.
+
+The barn owl is rather common in the southern half of the United States
+and breeds as far north as the forty-first parallel of latitude. That
+mice form the chief diet of this bird has been demonstrated by Dr. A.
+K. Fisher, of the Biological Survey, through examination of stomachs
+of many barn owls and also of large numbers of pellets (castings from
+their stomachs) found under their roosts. In 1,247 barn-owl pellets
+collected in the towers of the Smithsonian Building in Washington,
+D. C., he found 1,991 skulls of short-tailed field mice, 656 of the
+house mouse, 210 of the common rat, and 147 of other small rodents and
+shrews. Very few remains of birds were found. Figure 7 illustrates the
+contents of some of these pellets.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Field-mouse skulls taken from pellets
+found under owl roost in Smithsonian tower, Washington, D. C.]
+
+In 360 pellets of the long-eared owl Dr. Fisher found skulls of 374
+small mammals, of which 349 were meadow mice. Stomach examinations give
+similar testimony to the usefulness of this bird.
+
+The common screech owl, in addition to feeding mainly upon mice,
+destroys also a good many English sparrows. Its habit of staying in
+orchards and close to farm buildings makes it especially useful to the
+farmer in keeping his premises free from both house and field mice.
+
+
+                            WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1915
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests, by D. Lantz
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42718 ***
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-Title: Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests
-       Farmers' Bulletin 670
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-Author: D. Lantz
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-Release Date: May 16, 2013 [EBook #42718]
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+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42718 ***</div>
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-Project Gutenberg's Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests, by D. Lantz
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests
-       Farmers' Bulletin 670
-
-Author: D. Lantz
-
-Release Date: May 16, 2013 [EBook #42718]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD MICE AS FARM, ORCHARD PESTS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Charlene Taylor, Paul Clark, Larry B. Harrison
-and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
-http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-    Transcriber's Note:
-
-    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
-    possible.
-
-    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
-
-
-
-
-UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
-
-FARMERS' BULLETIN
-
-WASHINGTON, D. C. 670 JUNE 3, 1915.
-
-Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw,
-Chief.
-
-
-
-
-FIELD MICE AS FARM AND ORCHARD PESTS.
-
-By D. E. LANTZ, _Assistant Biologist_.
-
-
-    NOTE.--This bulletin describes the habits, geographic
-    distribution, and methods of destroying meadow mice and pine mice,
-    and discusses the value of protecting their natural enemies among
-    mammals, birds, and reptiles. It is for general distribution.
-
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION.
-
-
-The ravages of short-tailed field mice in many parts of the United
-States result in serious losses to farmers, orchardists, and those
-concerned with the conservation of our forests, and the problem of
-controlling the animals is one of considerable importance.
-
-Short-tailed field mice are commonly known as meadow mice, pine mice,
-and voles; locally as bear mice, buck-tailed mice, or black mice.
-The term includes a large number of closely related species widely
-distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Over 50 species and races occur
-within the United States and nearly 40 other forms have been described
-from North America. Old World forms are fully as numerous. For the
-purposes of this paper no attempt at classification is required, but
-two general groups will be considered under the names meadow mice and
-pine mice. These two groups have well-marked differences in habits,
-and both are serious pests wherever they inhabit regions of cultivated
-crops. Under the term "meadow mice"[1] are included the many species of
-voles that live chiefly in surface runways and build both subterranean
-and surface nests. Under the term "pine mice"[2] are included a few
-forms that, like moles, live almost wholly in underground burrows. Pine
-mice may readily be distinguished from meadow mice by their shorter and
-smoother fur, their red-brown color, and their molelike habits. (See
-fig. 1.)
-
-[1] Genus _Microtus_.
-
-[2] Genus _Pitymys_.
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Field mice: _a_, Meadow mouse; _b_, pine mouse.]
-
-
-
-
-MEADOW MICE.
-
-
-Meadow mice inhabit practically the whole of the Northern Hemisphere--
-America, north of the Tropics; all of Europe, except Ireland; and
-Asia, except the southern part. In North America there are few wide
-areas except arid deserts free from meadow mice, and in most of the
-United States they have at times been numerous and harmful. The animals
-are very prolific, breeding several times a season and producing
-litters of from 6 to 10. Under favoring circumstances, not well
-understood, they sometimes produce abnormally and become a menace to
-all growing crops. Plagues of meadow mice have often been mentioned
-in the history of the Old World, and even within the United States
-many instances are recorded of their extraordinary abundance with
-accompanying destruction of vegetation.
-
-The runs of meadow mice are mainly on the surface of the ground under
-grass, leaves, weeds, brush, boards, snow, or other sheltering litter.
-They are hollowed out by the animals' claws, and worn hard and smooth
-by being frequently traversed. They are extensive, much branched, and
-may readily be found by parting the grass or removing the litter. The
-runs lead to shallow burrows where large nests of dead grass furnish
-winter retreats for the mice. Summer nests are large balls of the same
-material hidden in the grass and often elevated on small hummocks in
-the meadows and marshes where the animals abound. The young are brought
-forth in either underground or surface nests.
-
-Meadow mice are injurious to most crops. They destroy grass in
-meadows and pastures; cut down grain, clover, and alfalfa; eat grain
-left standing in shocks; injure seeds, bulbs, flowers, and garden
-vegetables; and are especially harmful to trees and shrubbery. The
-extent of their depredations is usually in proportion to their numbers.
-Thus, in the lower Humboldt Valley, Nevada, during two winters (1906-8)
-these mice were abnormally abundant, and totally ruined the alfalfa,
-destroying both stems and roots on about 18,000 acres and entailing a
-loss estimated at fully $250,000.
-
-When present even in ordinary numbers meadow mice cause serious
-injury to orchards and nurseries. Their attacks on trees are often
-made in winter under cover of snow, but they may occur at any season
-under shelter of growing vegetation or dry litter. The animals have
-been known almost totally to destroy large nurseries of young apple
-trees. It was stated that during the winter of 1901-2 nurserymen near
-Rochester, N. Y., sustained losses from these mice amounting to fully
-$100,000.
-
-Older orchard trees sometimes are killed by meadow mice. In Kansas in
-1903 the writer saw hundreds of apple trees, 8 to 10 years planted, and
-4 to 6 inches in diameter, completely girdled by these pests. (Fig.
-2.) The list of cultivated trees and shrubs injured by these animals
-includes nearly all those grown by the horticulturist. The Biological
-Survey has received complaints of the destruction of apple, pear,
-peach, plum, quince, cherry, and crab-apple trees, of blackberry,
-raspberry, rose, currant, and barberry bushes, and of grape vines; also
-of the injury of sugar maple, black locust, Osage orange, sassafras,
-pine, alder, white ash, mountain ash, oak, cottonwood, willow, wild
-cherry, and other forest trees.
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Apple tree killed by meadow mice.]
-
-In the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, Mass., during the winter of
-1903-4, meadow mice destroyed thousands of trees and shrubs, including
-apple, juniper, blueberry, sumac, maple, barberry, buckthorn, dwarf
-cherry, snowball, bush honeysuckle, dogwood, beech, and larch. Plants
-in nursery beds and acorns and cuttings in boxes were especial objects
-of attack.
-
-The injury to trees and shrubs consists in the destruction of the bark
-just at the surface of the ground and in some instances for several
-inches above or below. When the girdling is complete and the cambium
-entirely eaten through, the action of sun and wind soon completes the
-destruction of the tree. If the injury is not too extensive prompt
-covering of the wounds will usually save the tree. In any case of
-girdling heaping up fresh soil about the trunk so as to cover the
-wounds and prevent evaporation is recommended as the simplest remedy.
-To save large and valuable trees bridge grafting may be employed.
-
-
-
-
-PINE MICE.
-
-
-Pine mice occur over the greater part of eastern United States from
-the Hudson River Valley to eastern Kansas and Nebraska and from the
-Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Inhabitants chiefly of forested
-regions, they are unknown on the open plains. Ordinarily they live in
-the woods, but are partial also to old pastures or lands not frequently
-cultivated. From woods, hedges, and fence rows they spread into
-gardens, lawns, and cultivated fields through their own underground
-tunnels or those of the garden mole. The tunnels made by pine mice
-can be distinguished from those made by moles only by their smaller
-diameter and the frequent holes that open to the surface.
-
-While the mole feeds almost wholly upon insects and earthworms, and
-seldom eats vegetable substances, pine mice are true rodents and live
-upon seeds, roots, and leaves. Their harmful activities include the
-destruction of potatoes, sweet potatoes, ginseng roots, bulbs in lawns,
-shrubbery, and trees. They destroy many fruit trees in upland orchards
-and nurseries (fig. 3). The mischief they do is not usually discovered
-until later, when harvest reveals the rifled potato hills or when
-leaves of plants or trees suddenly wither. In many instances the injury
-is wrongly attributed to moles whose tunnels invade the place or extend
-from hill to hill of potatoes. The mole is seeking earthworms or white
-grubs that feed upon the tubers, but mice that follow in the runs eat
-the potatoes themselves.
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Root and trunk of apple tree from Laurel, Md.,
-gnawed by pine mice.]
-
-Pine mice feed to some extent outside their burrows, reaching the
-surface through the small openings made at frequent intervals in the
-roofs of the tunnels. In their forays they rarely go more than a few
-feet from these holes. Most of their food is carried under ground,
-where much is stored for future consumption. While they differ little
-from meadow mice in general food habits, their surroundings afford them
-a larger proportion of mast. They are less prolific than meadow mice,
-but this is more than made up for in the fact that in their underground
-life they are less exposed to their enemies among birds and mammals.
-Like meadow mice, they sometimes become abnormally abundant.
-
-In the eastern part of the United States pine mice do more damage to
-orchards than do meadow mice, partly because their work is undiscovered
-until trees begin to die. The runs of meadow mice under grass or leaves
-are easily found and the injury they do to trees is always visible.
-On the other hand, depredations by pine mice can be found only after
-digging about the tree and exposing the trunk below the surface.
-The roots of small trees are often entirely eaten off by pine mice,
-and pine trees as well as deciduous forest trees, when young, are
-frequently killed by these animals (fig. 4).
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Pine tree killed by pine mice.]
-
-
-
-
-DESTROYING FIELD MICE.
-
-
-Methods of destroying field mice or holding them in check by trapping
-and poisoning are equally applicable to meadow mice and pine mice.
-
-
-TRAPPING.
-
-If mice are present in small numbers, as is often the case in lawns,
-gardens, or seed beds, they may readily be caught in strong mouse traps
-of the guillotine type (figs. 5 and 6). These should be baited with
-oatmeal or other grain, or may be set in the mouse runs without bait.
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Field mouse caught in baited guillotine trap.]
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Field mouse caught in unbaited guillotine trap.]
-
-Trapping has special advantages for small areas where a limited number
-of mice are present, but it is also adapted to large areas whenever
-it is undesirable to lay out poison. It is then necessary to use many
-traps and continue their use for several weeks. If mice are moderately
-abundant, from 12 to 20 traps per acre maybe used to advantage. These
-should soon make decided inroads on the numbers of mice in an orchard
-if not practically to exterminate them. For pine mice the tunnels
-should be excavated sufficiently to admit the trap on a level with the
-bottom. A light garden trowel may be used for the necessary digging.
-
-
-POISONING.
-
-On large areas where mice are abundant, poisoning is the quickest means
-of destroying them, and even on small areas it has decided advantages
-over trapping.
-
-The following formula is recommended:
-
-_Dry grain formula._--Mix thoroughly 1 ounce powdered strychnine
-(alkaloid), 1 ounce powdered bicarbonate of soda, and 1/8 ounce (or
-less) of saccharine. Put the mixture in a tin pepper box and sift it
-gradually over 50 pounds of crushed wheat or 40 pounds of crushed oats
-in a metal tub, mixing the grain constantly so that the poison will be
-evenly distributed.
-
-Dry mixing, as above described, has the advantage that the grain may
-be kept any length of time without fermentation. If it is desired to
-moisten the grain to facilitate thorough mixing, it would be well to
-use a thin starch paste (as described below, but without strychnine)
-before applying the poison. The starch soon hardens and fermentation is
-not likely to follow.
-
-If crushed oats or wheat can not be obtained, whole oats may be used,
-but they should be of good quality. As mice hull the oats before eating
-them, it is desirable to have the poison penetrate the kernels. A very
-thin starch paste is recommended as a medium for applying poison to the
-grain. Prepare as follows:
-
-_Wet grain formula._--Dissolve 1 ounce of strychnia sulphate in 2
-quarts of boiling water. Dissolve 2 tablespoonfuls of laundry starch
-in 1/2 pint of cold water. Add the starch to the strychnine solution
-and boil for a few minutes until the starch is clear. A little
-saccharine may be added if desired, but it is not essential. Pour the
-hot starch over 1 bushel of oats in a metal tub and stir thoroughly.
-Let the grain stand overnight to absorb the poison.
-
-The poisoned grain prepared by either of the above formulas is to be
-distributed over the infested area, not more than a teaspoonful at a
-place, care being taken to put it in mouse runs and at the entrances
-of burrows. To avoid destroying birds it should whenever possible be
-placed under such shelters as piles of weeds, straw, brush, or other
-litter, or under boards. Small drain tiles, 1 1/2 inches in diameter,
-have sometimes been used to advantage to hold poisoned grain, but
-old tin cans with the edges bent nearly together will serve the same
-purpose.
-
-Chopped alfalfa hay poisoned with strychnine was successfully used
-to destroy meadow mice in Nevada during the serious outbreak of the
-animals in 1907-8. One ounce of strychnia sulphate dissolved in 2
-gallons of hot water was found sufficient to poison 30 pounds of
-chopped alfalfa previously moistened with water. This bait, distributed
-in small quantities at a place, was very effective against the mice,
-and birds were not endangered in its distribution.
-
-For poisoning mice in small areas, as lawns, gardens, seed beds,
-vegetable pits, and the like, a convenient bait is ordinary rolled
-oats. This may be prepared as follows: Dissolve 1/16 ounce of
-strychnine in 1 pint of boiling water and pour it over as much oatmeal
-(about 2 pounds) as it will wet. Mix until all the grain is moistened.
-Put it out, a teaspoonful at a place, under shelter of weed and brush
-piles or wide boards.
-
-The above poisons are adapted to killing pine mice, but sweet potatoes
-cut into small pieces have proved even more effective. They keep well
-in contact with soil except when there is danger of freezing, and are
-readily eaten by the mice. The baits should be prepared as follows:
-
-_Potato formula._--Cut sweet potatoes into pieces about as large as
-good-sized grapes. Place them in a metal pan or tub and wet them with
-water. Drain off the water and with a tin pepper box slowly sift over
-them powdered strychnine (alkaloid preferred), stirring constantly so
-that the poison is evenly distributed. An ounce of strychnine should
-poison a bushel of the cut bait.
-
-The bait, whether of grain or pieces of potato, may be dropped into
-the pine-mouse tunnels through the natural openings or through holes
-made with a piece of broom handle or other stick. Bird life will not be
-endangered by these baits.
-
-
-CULTIVATING THE LAND.
-
-Thorough cultivation of fields and the elimination of fence rows
-between them is the most effective protection against field mice.
-Cultivation destroys weeds and all the annual growths that serve as
-shelter for the animals. This applies equally well to orchards and
-nurseries. Clean tillage and the removal from adjoining areas of the
-weeds and grass that provide hiding places for mice will always secure
-immunity to trees from attacks of the animals.
-
-
-PROTECTING NATURAL ENEMIES OF MICE.
-
-Field mice are the prey of many species of mammals, birds, and
-reptiles. Unfortunately, the relation that exists between the
-numbers of rodents and the numbers of their enemies is not generally
-appreciated; otherwise the public would exercise more discrimination
-in its warfare against carnivorous animals. It is the persistent
-destruction of these, the beneficial and harmful alike, that has
-brought about the present condition of growing scarcity of predacious
-mammals and birds and corresponding increase of rodent pests of the
-farm, especially rats and mice. The relation between effect and cause
-is obvious.
-
-Among the mammalian enemies of meadow and pine mice are coyotes,
-wildcats, foxes, badgers, raccoons, opossums, skunks, weasels, shrews,
-and the domestic cat and dog. Among birds, their enemies include nearly
-all the hawks and owls, storks, ibises, herons, cranes, gulls, shrikes,
-cuckoos, and crows. Among their reptilian foes are black snakes and
-bull snakes. Not all these destroyers of mice are more beneficial than
-harmful, but the majority are, and warfare against them should be
-limited to the minority that are more noxious than useful.
-
-
-OWLS AND FIELD MICE.
-
-Owls as destroyers of mice are deserving of special mention. Not one of
-our American owls, unless it be the great horned owl, is to be classed
-as noxious. Especially beneficial are the short-eared, long-eared,
-screech, and barn owls. All these prey largely upon field mice, and
-seldom harm birds. Unfortunately, the short-eared and barn owls, which
-are the more useful species, are not plentiful in the sections most
-seriously infested by field mice.
-
-The short-eared owl, while widely distributed, is not abundant, except
-locally, within the United States, but wherever field mice become
-excessively numerous these owls usually assemble in considerable
-numbers to prey upon them. Examinations of stomachs of these owls show
-that fully three-fourths of their food consists of short-tailed field
-mice.
-
-The barn owl is rather common in the southern half of the United States
-and breeds as far north as the forty-first parallel of latitude. That
-mice form the chief diet of this bird has been demonstrated by Dr. A.
-K. Fisher, of the Biological Survey, through examination of stomachs
-of many barn owls and also of large numbers of pellets (castings from
-their stomachs) found under their roosts. In 1,247 barn-owl pellets
-collected in the towers of the Smithsonian Building in Washington,
-D. C., he found 1,991 skulls of short-tailed field mice, 656 of the
-house mouse, 210 of the common rat, and 147 of other small rodents and
-shrews. Very few remains of birds were found. Figure 7 illustrates the
-contents of some of these pellets.
-
-[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Field-mouse skulls taken from pellets
-found under owl roost in Smithsonian tower, Washington, D. C.]
-
-In 360 pellets of the long-eared owl Dr. Fisher found skulls of 374
-small mammals, of which 349 were meadow mice. Stomach examinations give
-similar testimony to the usefulness of this bird.
-
-The common screech owl, in addition to feeding mainly upon mice,
-destroys also a good many English sparrows. Its habit of staying in
-orchards and close to farm buildings makes it especially useful to the
-farmer in keeping his premises free from both house and field mice.
-
-
-                            WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1915
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests, by D. Lantz
-
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