The Washington times., 1901-11-17
BENEFITED BY MAN.
How Animals, Birds, and Insects
Have Been Improyed

A single cocoon of the ordinary silk
worm VIII frequently give double thread
l,lO0 feet In length. The ancestors of that
caterpillar when the Chinese first domes-
tfcated them, about $500 years ago. could
not spin half as much web as would
make for themselves a comfortable blan-
ket. Plenty of good food and warmth
have done much to raise the domestic
silkworrn above its Wild relations: but
what has chiefly helped them is that the
poor specimens have always been killed
on. and only the biggest and strongest
kept
Man Is often blamed for driving to ex-
tinction many sorts Of br4utffuI creatures
BUT the account is far more than bal
aneed by the amount of good he has done
for those animals which proved useful.
and could be tanned
Take the case OF the bee The bee lives
by its tongue. with which organ it Is able
to extract the honey from flowers. Now,
a bees tongue is naturally about a TWEEN
ty-fifth of an inch long. Clever bee
Keepers, by keeping only those bees with
naturally long tongues. have succeeded In
lenghtening the tongues of a number Of
Dee colonies to the extent of another
hunGredth Of an inch. 1t does not sound
much, but it enables those insects to do
quarter as much work again in the
same time
Man has done more than this for bees
He has given them ready-made homes
where they are safe from wasps and other
enemies; frames for making their combs
without using large quantities of wax for
outside walls, and food during fiowerIess
weather He has also taken them to
America, where they have increased ex-
cedingly among new kinds OF flowers and
in new climate.
Wild dogs cannot bark. Eskimo dogs
dingoes. and wolves can only whine and
howl. 1t is their long friendship with man
that has given domestic dogs this most
useful method Of calling 10 one another
or to their masters Man has also in
creased the brain-power of dogs. The
jacknl. from which animal it is sup
posed that the dog is descended, has only
thirteen ounces of brain. The collie, which
stands first among dogs in brain-pow r.
twenty-nine and one-half ounces and the
foxhound almost as much.
II was its wool, and not its mutton, that
first brought the sheep into the sheep-pen.
But a visit to zoo will show you that
the coat of the wild sheep is not one-quar-
ter so thick and warm as that of it's do
nestle brother The form er has also a
coarse outer covering of hair.
This has disappeared in the tame sheep,
and instead the creature has a coat of
wool so soft and thick that it can stand
a cold climate with ease. 1t IS a queer
proof OF how near the relation is between
the wild and tame animals that South
down sheep taken to the West Indies
lost their fleece in one generation, and
revert to the brown. hairy coat Of their
ancestors.
Probably no other creature has been so
greatly benefited by mans arrival on this
planet as the eat. Look at the case of the
cat in such parts of the world as it still
inhabits-wlld. 1t is very scarce. has
many enemies and has to fight desperate
ly hard for a living. The domestic pussy
with ? slrcor of milk handy. a warm
hearth and nothing to do hut amuse
herself ayith mOuse-catching. leads Ger
tainiy a pleasanter existence.
The suggestion that man helps foxes
seems at first absurd. But in Britain, mt
any rate, it is SO. We're It not for the
love of hunting in this country. the fox
would have been extinct long ago. Sport
has also saved partridges, pheasants and
other game from becoming as scarce as
they already are in Italy. and such coun-
tries where they have not been protect
ID during the close season Nearly HOO
keepers are constantly employed in say
ing British game during the breeding sea-
son from enemies. two and four-lC gged
Whenever man takes a new country in
hand. certain creatures are sure to in
crease. Sparrows, for instance, are "A
good sign of big htiman population. In
England they outnutnber all the other
birds combined by about five to one. This
is, of course. because they find the rem
nants of mans food specially suitable to
them House martins ALSO bless man for
inveating houses with projecting caves TO
KEEP their nests from the wet.-Answers