PESTS AND THEIR TREATMENT 133 



of private or public property, the commission shall have power 

 in its discretion to direct any game protector, or issue a permit 

 to any citizen of the state, to take such species of birds or 

 quadrupeds and dispose of the same in such manner as the 

 commission may provide. Such permit shall expire within four 

 months after the date of issuance. 



We commend this measure for enactment into 

 law in every state of the Union, on the ground that 

 it offers a rational and safe remedy for many 

 legitimate grievances that otherwise can not be 

 redressed. There is no reason why wild animals 

 should be permitted to destroy large quantities of 

 private property without recourse. 



In a previous lecture we referred with some detail 

 to the damages of wild deer to the gardens, orchards 

 and farm crops of Vermont, and the Vermont 

 treatment of such cases. Each county is authorized 

 and required to settle in cash the damages inflicted 

 upon its own residents, and the system is in opera- 

 tion throughout the state, apparently to the satis- 

 faction of every one concerned. It having been 

 reported that female deer, hitherto immune from 

 slaughter, had become so numerous and so tame 

 that they constituted a nuisance, the state very 

 wisely and justly decided that it was necessary to 

 reduce the number. Accordingly, a law was passed 

 permitting the killing of female deer, with the 

 intent to leave it in force until the total number of 

 female deer has been reduced to a proper point, 

 when it will be repealed. 



