The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-03-09
SOUR ON TIE eRoUNDHoa.
Pennsylvania Farmers CIamoring for .
gcalp Bounty Act.


Scalp Bounty Act.
HARRIsBURG, March THE farmers
Of Mercer county are up in arms against
the woodChuck, or grounding, on which
they desire that bounty shall be paid.
During the past week large number of
petitions have been presented to the leg
islature from that county, stating that
these animals are q serious detriment TO
agricultural interests because Of their
abundance and fondne5s for various
kinds Of cereal and vegetable crops. The
claim is made that these animals have
also caused the loss Of many valuable
horses and other live stock which have
had their legs broken by stepping into
the burrows which groundhOgs make in
the pasture and moving fields. Senator
Fruit and representatives from Mercer
county are making an earnest effort to
secure the passage of a bill authorizing
the payment of a small bounty on the
greedy woodchuck.
Secretary Edge, of the state board Of
agriculture, is sending out circulars
making inquiry concerning the economic
relations of the different birds and quad
rupeds on which it is proposed that
bounties shall be paid. He says the re-
plies received from a large number Of
| farmers and naturalists in various parts
of the state, particularly in Western
| Pennsylvania, show that the wood
chuCks are a great nuisance, not only on
account of tho burrows which they eX-
cavate in the fields, thus endangering
| the lives and limbs Of horses and cattle,
| but also because of the destruction these
| little animals do 10 various crops, par
| tiCularly corn, wheat, buCkwheat and
different kinds of truck.
The scalp act, recently introduced by
| Representative Luhr, of Elk, provides
| that a premium Of Is cents per head
shall be paid on the woOdchuck. State
| OrnitholOgist Warren, of West Chester,
| says a favorite method Of destroying
| these alternating animals in Eastern
| Pennsylvania is to fill pint bottle with
| blasting powder, place a long fuse in
| the bottle, then cork it up tight and
| push it into the burrOw in which the
| grounding is secreted. Have several
feet Of fuse protrude from the mouth Of
| the loaded bottle, then stop up the hole
| and fire the fuse. The conclusion and
| gas cannot escape and is certain death
to all the inhabitants of the subterranean
| cavity.
Among the bills before the house game
and fish committee is one which allows
| the catching of eels by wiers, pots OF
baskets, from Aug. Is TO Nov. Is of eacl
| year. Fish Commissioners Powell, Of
Harrisburg, and Ford. of Philadelphia
are opposed TO the bill. They contend
| that the erection of fish baskets would
prove of incalculable damage to scale
| fish, especially shad. salmon and bass.
| Levi NJ. SpeetZ, of Columbia, who ha:
been engaged in shad fishing for thirty.
| five years, gave an interesting talk on
| the habits of shad and other fish in the
Susquehanna river before a joint com
mittee meeting Of the house and senate
game and fish committees one day last
week. He showed a model of an eel
basket with Stats hve-eighths Of an inch
apart, also models of young shad. With
these he demonstrated the impossibility
OF catching these fish, as they migrate
tail first, in the fall to salt water. He
said that about sixteen years ago, wheI
eel pots were abolished by law, there
were twenty-five shad fisheries from the
Columbia down to Turkey Hill dis
tance of FIVE miles. These fisheries theL
caught about $4,000 shad year. Nov
there are about FIVE fisheries, and last
year the total catch was only 1900
He claimed that the large decrease wa!
unquestionably due 10 the great abun
dance of eels, especially black eels
which prey upon the shad and theil
spawn to a ruinOus extent. About tn,
only shad fishery on the river of any
value is that of Ward Island, nea,
Columbia. 1t is now worth 81 500 pc
year to its owners. Formerly it wa
valued at $4,000.