OUR ALLIES 167 



telligence, or even letting it loose in speech, I do 

 not know, but there surely is a great field be- 

 fore us. Our versatile friend, John Burroughs, has 

 argued strongly, almost vehemently, that animals can- 

 not reason. My own experience, running over more 

 than half a hundred years of joyous companionship, 

 convinces me that all our domestic animals can think 

 and think to a purpose. 



The story of our allies is not by any means told 

 by recounting the domestic animals that live with 

 us. The French town authorities post village bul- 

 letin boards, for public instruction. One of these 

 reads: "Hedgehog; lives upon mice, snails, and 

 wireworms do not kill a hedgehog. Toad ; helps 

 agriculture, killing twenty to thirty insects every hour. 

 Do not kill a toad. Cockchafer; deadly enemy to 

 the farmer; lays one hundred eggs at a time. Kill 

 the cockchafer." It would be a good idea for our 

 own government to post bulletins of this sort, in- 

 stead of printing so many for circulation. 



In the South most of the snakes are of great 

 value, and that is relatively true everywhere. The 

 black snake, a handsome fellow, is estimated to be 

 worth ten dollars a year to destroy mice and gophers. 

 The bull snake and garter snake destroy insects and 

 rodents, without themselves hurting the garden. In 

 my Clinton ground we have so long protected the 

 little garter snake that he suns himself on the compost 

 piles without fearing us at all. Why not? Why 



