Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-08-05
REMEDY FOR SNAKES.
But 1t Is Worse Than the Present
Curse.

But 1t Is Worse Than the Present
Curse.
Some persons are now proposing to
import the mongoOse to these United
States of America. as if the cup of
bitterness were not already full. CT
course the idea of this new imporCa-
ton is one of benevolence. The mon
goose to serve a beneficent purpose.
So was the English sparrow The
English sparrow was designed to eat
the worms which infest the pave
ments of New York city. It was a
dear little bird, so confiding, so cheer
full so domestic in his habits, SO low
able in his traits. The English spar
row came and increased and multi
pied and replenished the earth and en-
larged himself without limits. He
wouldn't eat the worms, but he drove
off all the decent birds and soon de-
veloped into a son of Belial and
public nuisance, and now there is
widespread aspiration to lynch the
man who imported the English spar
row. Another crank brought the
gypsy moth to- New England. The
gypsy moth was to be a public bene-
faction. It was to supplant the silk
worm and make silk so cheap that the
cultivation of cotton would no longer
be profitable and king cotton was 20
be dethroned After the gypsy moth
had become thoroughly domesticata1
and begun to multiply, which took IT
only few hours, it was discovered
that he knew no more about making
silk than fishing worm. What he
could do and what he did do was 10
eat all the leaves off the shade trees,
and Massachusetts has been squander-
ing money by the hundred thouands
in vain attempt to exterminate this
fake silk worm and the taxpayers
want an opportunity to lynch the man
who brought the gypsy moth to our
shores.
Another crank brought over the
field daisy and his memory is execrat-
ed by the farmers in every state 1t
was not the field daisy when he
brought it. 1t was the marguerite,
and lovers pulled out the pure white
petals, repeating alternately the
words, "She loves me; she loves me
not But like the sparrow and the
moth, the daisy increased and filed
the pasture fields, roofing out the
timothy and clover and becoming A
vegetable nuisance of the first class.
On some Of the farms in Baltimore
county and elsewhere in this month
of roses an ordinary pasture field
looks as if it were covered with a
heavy snow.
There have been other experiences,
but people will never learn any sense,
and now som enemy of man wants to
bring the mongoose among us. The
mongoose is an Agsiatic beast of the
weasel order. In it's native land it
serves a useful purpose by eating
snakes; and as snakes in India are
! bad snakes, the mongoose is popular.
1t seems that there were many snakes
also in the island of Jamaica and
some smart a1eck imported lot of
mongooses to. destroy them. They
did, it is claimed, destroy the snakes
and then turned their attention to
rats. But the rat is full Of resources
and not to be easily circumvented.
| They took to the trees for safety and
while they were in the trees they dis
covered that the fruit growing there
! on was pleasant to the taste and
greatly to be desired for food, and so
| the second result Of the mongoose
Importation was wholesale destruc-
ton of the most important crops.
| After the rats had escaped him, the
mongoose next turned his attention to
birds. BOOSTERS, hens, pullets and
| little chickens were an easy prey, and
| there was no difficulty in catching -he
wild birds in which the island abound
! ed. The birds could get into the
| trees more easily than the rats, but a
| bird is not as intellectual as rat,
and the mongoose found means to
! capture nearly the whole feathered
| tribe, and such as were not captured
took to their wings and flew away
| from the island At this time the
! turkey buzzard is said to be the only
song bird in Jamaica, and he is thrice
armed against the mongoose. TIL N
came the third calamity which the
mongoose brought upon the people Of
Jamaica. After the birds all left ticks
multiplied without limit. AS long as
the birds were there they breakfast
ed, dined and supped on ticks. After
| they left the ticks increased and filed
| the island Big ticks and little ticks
swarmed in the grass and the woods
and came upon the cattle and upon