The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-09-04
FARM AND GARDEN.


with the summer season ana sheeP-shcai
ing time has returned TO the bar OF rural pup
he opinion the great case, often hearu anu
never decided, of Sheep rs Dog. 1t IS o0th
civil and criminal case, for II involves Il'ei'
ally hundreds of thousands OF lives ana mli'
lions of dollars annually. The question Is
one whose importance cannot oe Deslttieo,
one in which every class IN inc community
is interested. To the nation at large, even
from an economic point Of view, it IS seri-
Gus natter-this matter Of our FIVE or seven
millions of superfuous dogs, of which 50 per
cent. are worse than worthless. During the
French revolution, when the people were
sorely pinched with scarcity Of food, the
great Dog Question came into prominence
and one of the suggestions of that mad time
and by no means the maddest of them-was
that TO save the Republic every citizen should
hang his dog" The estimate of the Stats
tician that it costs as much to keep dog as
it would to keep hog will hardly, upon re-
Election, be rejected as excessive The dog
consumes flesh PRINCIPALLY, and unlike his
housecompanlon of smaller size and appe-
tite does not forage on birds and mice for his
sustenance. This is pretty heavy drain on
the pockets OF the community and should
really be increased by adding theprofts lost
but which would accrue from q wiser invest
ment of the amount thus placed to the debit
OF the Profit and Loss account. But again,
there must be reckoned the heavy loss from
sheep, poultry and even cattle destroyed, not
to mention the smaller items of gardens
spoiled, people bitten and lawsuits promoted
A yellow dog Of the sort worth about pen
ny for three, will give rise to more heartburn
ings and litigations between nelghbors than
even boundary fence. There is no necess-
ity to go into the figures that are yearly para
ded to show that in sheep-raising country
from 3 to II per cent. of the total value OF the
stock is regularly destroyed by these ours.
Precisely why the farmers keep so many
dogs, and such dogs it Is not easy to imagine
1t is Of course desirable that in country
farmhouse should have its police force In the
shape of good watchdog, who shall give
warning at night of the approach of burglars
or chicken-thieves, and by day serve. as q
body-guard to the womcn-tolk, usually left
alone in the house and exposed TO insult or
violence from tramps But this sort Of dog
doesn't kill sheep in the first place, and in
the second place hasn't, under proper regu-
lation, chance to kill sheep. 1t is the Oth
er three to six dogs that lniest so many farms
Of which people have right to complain.
These are usually mongrels without pluck
or sense, too stupid to be trained and too cow
ardly TO act as watch-dogs; ours with strong
ly-artculated tails and prominent ribs and
ears ike leatheraprons, ANIMALS Whlcn ap
parently were only created to dig up garden
seeds, shelter feas and howl at nights All
farmers, too are prejudiced against all dogs
but their own. Thus, in an exchange q farm
er complained last week that from his door
he could see seven farm-houses at which there
were thirty dogs; he added in perfect inno
cence and Inconsistencies that he had four
himself. But ones own dogs never run sheep
AS remedy well-eniorced dog law, pla
cling tax on every og~and compelling the
town or county to pay for all sheep killed,
with due penalties for failure to comply
with the law. Of course does away in great
measure with the evil But such laws are
not popular and are not easily enforced. The
only ettectual remedy will be found to lie in
the common sense of the farmers awakened
by discussion and experience. When a man
reflects that he is keeping q menagerie Of use
less carnlvorous animals that cost him as
much annually as a pen of fat hogs would,
but yield nothing; that they are increasing
his taxes and destroying the property of his
neighbors, whose dogs in turn are destroying
his, he will not be long IN coming to sound
conclusion as to what his selflnterest and his
duty to his neighbor imperatively demand
that he should do.-N. I. World.