Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1921-09-22
Sometimes Hard to Tell Which
Are Useful and Which
Are NuisanCeS.
MILLIONS FROM THEIR FURS
How Those Which Must Be Exter-
minated May Be Trapped, Is Told
in Bulletin of Biological Sur.
vey-Rats and Mice Worst.

ington.-Practically every farm
Is overrun at times by pests of one
kind or another. Farmers, therefore,
find it necessary to kill such pests in
order to prevent them from injuring
their property or crops. Some he de-
strnys by poison; others he eliminates
by employing traps.
"A knowledge of the traits and
habits Of the animals" says Ned Dear
born in a bulletin of the bureau OF
biological survey, land of proved
methods of capturing them is impor-
tant if the farmer is to combat them
successfully. Besides such out-and-out
pests as rats, mice and pocket
gophers, some other animals are oc-
casionally harmless, but, having valu-
able skins and being classed as fur
bearers, are given special considera
ton.
~ ''The lively demand for all kinds of
fur puts into the pockets Of American
trappers millions of dollars year,
which, until the harvest, has not cost
them a single effort. Moreover, sew
eral of the furry tenants of the farmer
not only are not pests but are useful
uvhile alive. Foxes, for example, de-
Sstroy many rabbits and mice, both of
which, when abundant, are very de-
structive to fruit trees and crops.
Skunks are exceedingly beneficial, for
they feed almost entirely on mice,
grasshoppers, crickets, white grubs
and other farm pests. 1t is only in
exceptional cases that either foxes or
skunks attack poultry; it is far better
to keep poultry in suitable Enclosures
or to kill the individual animal which
is doing damage than to adopt policy
of general persecution toward the
tribes to which the few offenders be-
long.
Excellent Mousers.
"The food habits of other fur bear
ers are usually of less Importance.
feed on frogs, fish, mice and other small
animals. while raccoons and opOs
sums eat, in addition to wide vari
ETY. of harmful small animals, many
kinds of vegetable food of little or NJ
direct value to man. Muskrats ant
beavers live on wild products o.
marshes and woodlands and only il
rare instances are their burrows o.
houses Objectionable.
'In short, speaking generally, flu
animals transform uncultivated an,
useless materials into valuable peltries
without expense or attention on OH
part. They are doing this through
out the country. When the corn is II
the crib and the landscape has bee
Drowned by frost, farm lads take dow
their traps with happy expectation an
set out to gather unearned incre
ments of fur.
'"The most destructive group of pest
on the farm includes the small gnaw
ing animals known as rodents. Anon
them are house rats and mice whic
have been brought to this country fror
the Old World, and several kinds Q
native rats meadow mice, pine mice
white-footed mice and pocket mice
Ground squirrels of several kinds ar
found throughout the western state
and in many localities are very de
structive to forage and grain. Prairi
dogs of the plains region, related t
ground squirrels, also destroy grea
deal of forage in the vicinity of thei
towns Here and there woodchucks
or groundlings, also related to groun
squirrels, are destructive toSfeld an
garden crops. In mountainous an
timbered regions porcupines aSe NOR
or less destructive to orchard an