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Show TIIK MILK l'l.tlUIL lion tiik luiturn oou.ntiks tir ecot-lami ecot-lami aurrru. 1j l ttUI-nii.1 The mltu liue on Ibe Uirdcr coun-tleala coun-tleala reaching a nilgnitule of the inurt serious el.aratter. Tive year, ag i the mlco attack wa. limited to two trlhnp farms In the uir district of rielklrksblre; totlay Ihey are lu passes. sloil ol nearly all the best hill pssture. in the counties uf It jxbt rg, Helklak and Dumfries, rhoy areata reiauted bi bavti done .erlou. dam go In tbe UpierWard of I.anark.hlrt, and It will be .trance ludted If tbey have not already made good their fooling In the a'lJallilngtounllt.nfTeeblea, Ayr and Kirkcudbright. The rapidity with which Ihuiulco aro distributing overa wider area of country and In everin-crtarlug everin-crtarlug numttrs, Is not surprising after tbo way the plsgue has been a. bwid to run Its course, for the short-tilled short-tilled field mice or field vole. (Atlloo-la (Atlloo-la agfesl,) which are tbe cui rite, breed from three tu six time, a ytnr, and reduce fruoi four to eight at a birth. Their favorite foo 1 li tho young boots of grass, the delluate white sterns llslng Immediately out of thee.tlh, but lutiard weathtror times of scarcity tbty eat the roots of grassi. and old herbage as well, Tbey umi gleut caution cau-tion when feeding, alwa)s doing so under cover of thu rough grass, and as tbey burrow deep Into tbe ground tbty art almost Invincible to vhUiliudes of weather, and hive a aire retreat lu which tobriugiiptbslr jouug and deposit de-posit their stores of wlnttr food, rhous.nd. uf acrt. oftbela-st grass land, have lieeli laid waste by them, and are at resent totally tlt.troyed lor ibeeppadute. The true boo" grata especially, es-pecially, on which the sheep niuinly tleiend InAprlland May, has bteu eatvu down lu the roots; but some of tbe bents are almost a. much Injured as tbu logs, aud elsu the young heather has not eecarod altogether. It Is well within tbu milk to say thatXIvu.t-OOwould not cover the dam agedoue by mice In the above Imu Hone 1 couullea during tbe last twelve months, l.ntlrelilrselsuf sheep have bad to 1 e token oil their usual ground and scut away to wlnteriug, or some other lulslltute found. This, ofcour.', can only be done at an extraordinary vxjiense, but where It has not bten done tbe iheep on the aflecte! ground are In a deplorable condition, which will be more clearly iceu later lu the )eer. Home Idea of tbe losae. Incurred generally may be gathered from thu following statement by Mr.Johnejcott, Newton Hawick, a. to the amountof damage done by the mice ctl hi. own farm. He..ys: "Hlncewegut tbefarmln ISsT we hive uuver thought the lambs up to the quantity or qusllty they should have been, aud mure batk gulug sbetpth.n I could account for otherwise other-wise than by thu mice bunting tbe ground. For the )ear 1600 01 the stiortaes. ol lambs, owing to the mice having the ground .ore dcetroytd, would lJSU. Tor the Jeer IbOl-U.; Lightness of clip, 131; 410 sheep wlnteled nway, XM1 Idi ; grass taken lu laruliOK) oweaun, :io;h.y grown on tbe farm, which tbe sheep aro eating eat-ing and would not require but for the mice, X lev. "Hut It la lu1sslble to estimate the d.magtj.nl unlets tbe mice deart toon aud the grata come again lu the spring (wbatw as eaten In HUt) 01 has not grown again) the most of the sheep will be to take awayand keep away till the plague get. past." Here, theu, I. cue farmer who l uli the damage done lohlsfarmby the mice h-sljearat oierXotd. Helsonly oneofhundnds of other lullerers, and not by any meant one ef thu largest, while the llngue (.growing lu extent and nils-chief nils-chief every jinrlhat It reuialu. unsubdued. |
