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Article: Curse Not the Mole; It's a Vole, With a V, Doing the Damage
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 31, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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A supposedly indestructible perennial such as a hosta wilts, then
withers. You pull what is left of the clump, and it comes up without
any resistance because there is nothing underneath. The usually
matted roots are all gone; in their place is a hole.
A thriving elderberry bush, another heroically tough, robustly
spreading plant, suddenly wilts and droops. The stalk turns black.
Probing with a little hand rake reveals a hole about an inch across
right next to the base of the stalk.
A promising fruit tree is gnawed all around the trunk at ground
level some time between late fall and early spring. By May, the tree
is dead.
The odds are better than even that the culprit in all these cases
is a ...