CULTURE OF FUR-BEARERS 265 



on his property, for not only is he putting out 

 of business a most useful ally in his contest 

 with nature, but is destroying one which will 

 not easily be replaced. 



Apart from that wanton, thoughtless disposi- 

 tion to kill any and every wild creature met 

 with, which possesses the ruder sort of men, 

 and most boys who have not been taught to 

 restrain the innate savagery of the human an- 

 imal, the excuses made for killing badgers are 

 usually either that its fur is wanted or that it 

 digs bad holes in the ground. 



As to the pelt it is now of no great value, 

 and its use is mainly to furnish hairs for art- 

 ists' pencils and for the making of shaving- 

 brushes. The hide is strong, however, and 

 good overcoats and carriage-robes may be made 

 of it. 



Badger-holes as man-traps. The second ex- 

 cuse is that it digs holes in the land which may 

 be dangerous pitfalls for horses and cattle, and 

 which furnish runways for water that some- 

 times, after heavy storms, develop into bad 

 gullies. 



That this charge was originally well-founded 



