The Progress., 1893-01-28
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A PLEA FOR THE SKUNK.

By Right of Its Good Works This Am
NAL Claims the Farmers Protection.
The skunk is in bad odor with the
world at large, and yet every farmer q
boy knows the commercial value OF lts
soft fur; O value of sufficient considerS-
ton to have created special and remu-
nerative Industry known as skunk
farming" This industry consists In
breeding these little animals for their
pelts alone. But these furry pelts, &C
cording to observant farmers, are OF
small importance compared with the
good work wrought on the farm by the
live animals. Here is what a Michigan
farmer had to say recently IN Tine Rural
New Yorker on the subject:
Were potatoes SO badly grub eaten
TWENTY-FIVE years ago as they are at the
present time? According " my memory
they were not. Neither was bounty
offered on wcOdchucks III those days,
nor was there one rabbit where there are
ten now. Ia my opinion, if these were
not killed of with shotguns, hounds ami
fcrcts. they would Ia five years become
about az great q pest III Michigan as they
are at present. IN Australia. Why! Be
cause their natural enemies are So few
The skunk IL nearly eSterminated Tor his
fur, while there are literally no hawks.
owls, minkS. wcGsels, etc. / remember
counting twenty-five skunk tracks that
crossed the road one night after light
fall of snow IN going about half mile
to school The skunk enters the holes
of chuc5s and kills and eats the young,
and in mis- nocturnal wanderings finds
thenostsof young rabbits, destroys them
and also any amount of bumblebee nests
for the honey.
The white grub is think the worst of
all pests at present, and is increasing III
sandy and loamy soils, and works on
nearly everything the farmer raises.
| Some wheat fields have been entirely
destroyed by the pests, but their worst
/ havoc is in potatoes, corn and all kinds
/ of roots, strawberries, raspberries and
/ the grasses. Out of 500 bushels of my
own potatoes last season at least one
third have been rendered unmarketaDle
on account of tho grubwOrms, and
about the same proportion of my corn,
and IN 1890 five acres of corn were de
stroyed by their eating off the roots,
hundreds OF hills not reaching height
Of eighteen inches. by digging into
these hills could get from one to half
4 dozen grubs to the hill Besides, have
lost hundreds Of raspberry and black
Derry plants by their eating the barl;
from the roots. The damage dono by
these pests every year amounts to mil
lions of dollars IN Michigan alone, and
it has long been known that the skunk
is the most common enemy of the nul
sances by digging them out of the
ground during its nocturnal wander
ings. Now are we to allow this littlC
animal-cne of the best of our friends
to become exterminated Just because III
, happens to have some soft fur that the
ladies want 10 wear! WOodchucks ar,
terrible pests in all sandy or hilly por
tions of the country. Even my hireC
men and almost every boy know tina
the skunk ought to live for the good II,
, can DO in the above ways, and that h
ought to be protected by the impositio'
of a five ur tea dollar fine for the kiln
, Of each one. The skunk goes into tn
woodchuck hole or stays there through
the day. and goes forth in the night an,
destroys insect life. He works all night
and is entirely harmless, except that b.
will sometimes get q chicken or tw,
from the shiftless farmer, but this los
can be avoided