PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



fare provided by the parent owls 

 consisted of kangaroo rats and mice, 

 ground squirrels, half-grown jack 

 rabbits, gophers by the dozen. 

 From first to last not a creature 

 with a feather was brought in, not 

 a dove disturbed. They soon re- 

 garded the owls as proper residents 

 of the cote and each came and went 

 without regard to the movements of 

 the other. The owls did not leave 

 us after their family was rai.sed, 

 but have made their home in our 

 eucalyptus trees all summer, and 

 each night their plaintive, musical 

 Who ! Who ! tells us that our 

 guards are awake and that the cam- 

 paign against the army of pests is 

 still progressint^ and its effect is dis- 

 tinctly manifest. Any man or 

 thoughtless boy who kills one of 

 these birds is a public enemy, and 

 to safe-guard them our law makers 

 should tliiow eveiy possiblt- pro- 

 tection about them, and if the jMib 

 lisliing of these facts tend lo bring 

 about increased consideration for 

 them I shall be gratified. 



The Coyote 



W'hether the coyote is a friend 

 or an enem\ , whether he is to be 

 huiitid down and ruthlessly slaufjh- 

 tered. or tn he protected and pre- 

 served, depends upon the point of 

 view from which be is regarded. 

 At the present time there is much 

 complaint of his ravages heard 

 from poultry raisers, sheepmen 

 and hog raisers along the toothill 

 .sections of the Sacramento and Sin 

 Joaquin valleys, where he is help- 

 ing himself to the tenderest fowls 

 and the juiciest young porkers, 

 var\ ing his die: with an oicasional 

 young sheep, without the permis- 

 sion and in opposition to the wel- 

 fare of the owners. To these peo- 

 ple the coyote is an unmitigated 

 nuisance and his tot.il extirpation 

 would be a consummation devout- 

 ly to be wished. On the other 

 hand orchardists and vineyardists 

 throughout these sections, and par- 

 ticularly in the southern end of the 

 San Joaquin, regard him as their 



friend. They have little stock that 

 he can injure, whereas with him 

 eliminated, their orchards and vine- 

 yards become the prev to the count- 

 less hordes of jack rabbit.'- which 

 overrun them, and which can only 

 be kept in check by expensive and 

 not altogether successful or satis 

 factory methods. These methods 

 include drives, trapping, poi.soning, 

 huiniiig with dogs and guns, and 

 other methods all entailing eternal 

 vigilance, and a great expenditure 

 of time and money. The rabbit is 

 the coyote's natural prey; he turns 

 to other when it is more conven- 

 ient or when the jacks run low. 

 A few years since, in the interest of 

 heep and poultry men, the States 

 paid a Hberal bounty for the des- 

 truction of coyotes, and the jack 

 rabbits increased in such alarming 

 nuniijers as to almo.st threaten the 

 raisin industry in many sections 

 through the San Joaquin valley. 

 Since the repeal of the bounty law, 

 the coyote has had a beiterchancefor 

 his life, there has been little object 

 in hunting him, and he has in- 



crea.sed so rapidly that the natural 



balance between coyote and rabbit 



has been established once more, 



and while the rabbits exist in large 



numbers they are not the serious 



pest they were a few years ago. 



But now the hog raiser, the sheep 



man and the poultry keeper are 



suffering. And there you are ! 



Shall we protect or destroy the 



coyote ? 



■ » ■ 



The pamphlet, "Stassfurt Indus- 

 try," just published, contains an 

 interesting description of the famous 

 potash mines in Germanj-, from 

 which all the pota.sh imported into 

 this country and U'ed for manuring 

 is derived. The chapter about the 

 use of pDtash in agriculture as one 

 of the important ingredients of a 

 complete fertilizer, adds largelj- to 

 the value of the book, and among 

 the many fine illustrations, those 

 showing the experiments at South- 

 ern Pines, N. C, are of particular 

 interest to practical larmers. Copies 

 of this pamphlet can be had free by- 

 writing to the German Kali Works, 

 93 Nassau St., New York, N. V. 



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