Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-02-18
WHERE THE SKUNK is USEFUL.


Scranton few days ago, with rs much
care rs we do song birds Nobody In
the hop-raising region of central New
York traps or shoots the skunk nova
days, for the reason that the little black
and white animal is the best friend the
hop grower has. 1t used TO be supposed
that the skunk. in his nocturnal prowl'
ings through the hopyards in the early
summer, did Il great deal of injury 10
the tender vines of the growing hops,
but the discovery was made IL few
years ago that the contrary was the
fact, and since then every owner OF Il
hop yard, instead of laying plans to de-
strov the skunk, as he had done before.
has become his friend and protector. 1t
ised to be the custom in my neighbor-
hood for every hop grower to educate
his dogs to kill sbunks, hCt of late
years energetic farm dogs that showed
an inclination to Stay the harmless little
animals have been taught to let them
alone. When skunk pelts went up in
price few years ago. many young
countrvmcn who had no hops began to
set deadfall traps for sliun6s on other
peoples lands. The farmers upset the
deadfnlls before any sllunliS had been
crushed to death under them, going
through their ii Ids three or four times
day in search of the quickly con-
structcd fat stone traps. Then tie
trappers went to setting steel traps for
skunlis in secluded places. These the
hop farmers contiscated every time and
before long the trappers abandoned TIE
work in disgust.
THE reason why the hop raisers in
Otscgo county and the adjoining coun-
ties saw fit to foster the skunk was be-
cause a small famiiy of slunlls, if no
one molcsts them, will. in the course OF
a few days, hunt up ind destroy all the
CRIBS in every hill Of hops in good
sized yard. The grubS gnaw the vines
off at the roots and if they are not dug
out they will ruin yard before the
middle of summer Soon after the
snow goes off in the spring pairs of old
skunlks take up their abode near the
borders of hop yards, generally in
stone wall or under Il log, and if men
and dogs don't disturb them they will
stay there all summer, raise their
young and destroy all the grubs in the
yard.
ut is interesting to see skunk steal
through Il hop-yard in search of grubs
As neral thing he sallies forth after
nighttall from his nest, but have occa-
sionally seen him paving in the hop
hills in broad daylight. The grub, as
said before, invariably works at the
base of the hop-vine, and unless man
or Il skunk digs it ont, it will soon eat
the vine in two. TIE skunk begins his
quest for grubs ut the edge of the yard,
where he cocks his head over a hill of
hops and listens. If grub is working
ut any one of the four trailing vines,
the slSunll's keen ear catches the slight |
sound that Il human ear couldn't detect, |
and Immediately the knowing little |
animal starts to paw vigorously in the !
soil directly over the spot where the
grubis working, taking great care not to |
scratch the vine or injure it in the least.
The skunk draws in the dirt so carefully |
that he doesn't break n vine that the !
grub has eaten so far through that !
nothing but u slender thread separates
il from the root
''As soon as the skunk has unearthed |
the destructive grub he gobbles it down
as though it tasted mighty good. Then
he listens again, and If his unerring |
ears tells him there is another grub in
the hill, he speedily paws it out and
eats it. If he hears no grub he trots to |
the next hill, and so he lodges around
the yard until he gets his I'LL of fat
grubs. He will never paw in hill
where there is no grub.
"Slsunks often become very confiding
when they find that the men and dogs !
on the premises make no effort to scare
or harm them. Last summer there
were more than a dozen skuuks around
my hopyard, and not one of them of.
fered to run off or to fight when any of
us came near. l don't allow any one on
the farm to frighten them, and they
gradually got so that they realized that
they were welcome there; and last
summer they frequently hunted for
grubs in the hopyard in the day time.
They searched while my man was rum
ming a cultivator between the rows,
and they eventually became so confid-
ing that they didn't take fright at the
man when he yelled at the horse and
turned it around at the ends of the
rows
Zone Of my neighbors had skunk
family in his hopyard one summer that
attracted much attention. 1t was COM
posed of two old sl1unlxs and their five
kittens. The young ones tagged their
parents about in the daylight while
people looked at them in plain sight.
The owner of the yard was proud of
them; but one day two strange dogs
came along and tackled the whole fam
ily. They killed them all, and the