OCR Text |
Show I CONTROL MICE IN ORCHARDS Activities of Pests Being Checked by Means of Poison in Two Western Wes-tern States. (Prepared by the Vnllel States Department of Agriculture.) Depredations of meadow mice In the orchards of central Washington and Idaho are reported to the bureau of biological survey, United States Department De-partment of Agriculture, to be much more severe this year than usual. Agents of the department are at work in that section co-operating with state agencies in checking the activities of v. N - f . "v'C ixf , ' -Mvy 4 Eight-Year-Old Apple Tree Completely Girdled by Field Mice. the pests by means of poison, which Is dlscrlminately placed over large areas of orchard land. "In sections where poison has been used," reads a report to the department depart-ment from its field representative In Washington, "no mice were found on second Inspection. Where no poison was used, meadow mice were actually found in the act of girdling (stripping the bark from the tree) fruit trees on the south slope where the snow had melted. In one 20-acre orchard mice had damaged fruit trees to the extent of 500." In Idaho, field mice have In some Instances destroyed 25 per cent of the orchard trees, according to another report to the department. In one orchard or-chard alone the damage is reported by the owner to have reached $7,000. In Idaho, as in Washington, poison, prepared and spread by persons properly Instructed through co-opera-" tion of the department, is doing effective effec-tive work in checking the damage. |