OCR Text |
Show Underground Mice Harm Fruit Trees America's orchard industry is the victim of unseen foes whose damage is not apparent until one to three years after attacked, the Fish and Wildlife Service discloses. dis-closes. The foes are two species of mice the underground pine mouse and the undercover meadow mea-dow mouse. Undetected, these rodents bore beneath the ground, and feed on the roots and crowns of fruit trees. It is only many months after the injury that the damage is evident to the tree-growers. tree-growers. One apple-grower in the East spends $25,000 annually in materials ma-terials and labor for mousercon-trol. mousercon-trol. To aid the orchard industry, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Denver Wildlife Research Laboratory Lab-oratory investigated and analyzed anal-yzed the problems this year, ling known rodenticidesib-adem New recommendations for mand-ling mand-ling known rodenticides were prepared, and field trials were planned for a new chemical agent ag-ent for mouse-control. The latter lat-ter is believed to be harmless to beneficial wildlife and domestic animals living in the same area as the rodents. |