Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-04-04
WITH NATURE.

a nature" story published not long since told
how IN a pond adjoining a woodland farm the turtles
which were numerous i'll the water were held in
check by the skunks which dug the turtle eggs from,
the sand and feasted on them. Some enterprising
person found a market for turtles and robbed the
pond OF all but a few specimens. The skunks, being
deprived OF their ordinary food. turned their atten-
ton to the chickens on the farm, The farm boys
found a market for skunk hides and trapped the
animals industriously until none were left. The
turtles then multiplied with astonishing rapidly
and repopulated the pond, SO that when the farm
people tried to raise ducks on a large scale, the duck
llngs were devoured as fast as they could enter the
water. There were several other angles to the story.
but the moral was that we should not NEEDLE with
nature, as by so doing we destroy the balance which
nature has established and bring unknown troubles
upon ourselves.
Then there is the "sportsmanlike" sides of the
case. Certain writers are very severe in their cen
sure ,ot what they, term uilsportsmanlike practices
III dealing with the wild life that ~interferes with the
operations of the farmer and stockmar.- One of
these writers not long since castigated some of the
western state legislatures for providing poison with
winch to ~exterm1nate gophers, and denounced with
theory is that it is lnsportsmanlike to destroy wild
lite without giving the animals attacked an even
chance. -.
On the economic side there is much to be said
III the way OF warning against too much interference
with nature. But it must be remembered that the
'NA ANN.'S ANA' ~ " Aldll Is d constant Inter-
terence with nature. The first hcrdsman i~nterfered
with nature when he established his flock and pro-
tected 1T from the ravages of beasts of prey. He as
sembled more cattle in one place than nature alone
would have permitted. He did SO because he need
ed. or desired, more beef or mutton. All our agri-
culture represents a struggle to do something diff
ferent from what nature had planned. The farmer
r'ds the soil Of grass which nature planted in order
to make room for plants which he desires more. He
destroys the weeds which nature causes to spring
up III his fields. He fences his land to, keep some
ANIMALS out and others in. He is creating conditions
which Will permit nature to operate in certain WAYS,
and IS constantly checking natures efforts to oper-
ate III other directions. By doing this he develops
plants which nature alone would never have de-
veloped, and he produces yields which otherwise
would have been impossible. He must interfere
with nature in many ways if he is to live the life of
civilized man.
On the sport side Of the question, it is not quite
clear what right the man who destroys wild life bv
means OF such an artificial device as gunpowder, has
to denounce as unsportsn1anlike the practice Of de-
stroylng 1t with strychnine. He should first throw
away his weapons and 60 after his game with bare
hands. S~portsmanship lies in the performance Of a
difficult feat III such a manner as to cause no unnec-
essary. suffering. The man who would drive a lot
OF deer into an enclosure and kill them with a ma
chime gun IS not a sportsman, but a butcher. The
butchers occupation is a useful and honorable one.
but his work must not be confused with sport. The
gopher. in certain localities, is. merely a nuisance.
Either 1t or the farmer must quit. If the farmer de-
ktermil1cs to~stay he must destroy the gophers, and
ne must do so in the quickest and most effective wav
that he can devise.
Presumably, according to the notion of some Of
these sport writer's the sporting, way to raise no.
tatoes would be to pick off the bugs one at a time
with a .22 rifle.