DR. WILLIAM Douglass's summary. 79 



November 9, 1889, under the head of " Good Game Stories," 

 from which the following extract is taken : — 



There is good coon country nearer home in Middlesex County. 

 Henry Fletcher of Westford, a great coon and fox hunter, has bagged 

 five coons so far this fall. Other animals besides coons are being 

 killed up in Middlesex. Mr. Carkin, who lives in the village of 

 Graniteville, in Westford, took his gun and went hunting the other 

 day on Snake Hill, close by Sandy pond, in Groton. Snake Hill is 

 a wild, ledgy place, and was once a great resort for rattlesnakes. 

 Mr. Carkin's dog ran an animal into a wall and poked his nose in 

 after him, and pulled it out again quicker than lightning. The dog's 

 nose was full of quills. Mr. Carkin killed the animal, which proved 

 to be a huge hedge-hog. A few days later a Groton hunter killed 

 another hedge-hog on Snake Hill, and he found in the ledges the 

 mouth of a den, which by the " sign " around it seemed to be inhab- 

 ited by at least 20 of the animals. There are coons in other sections 

 of Middlesex. 



In the " Boston Evening Record," October 11, 1890, under 

 the heading of " Seen and Heard," it is said : — 



That chosen haunt of the fierce and fretful hedge-hog. Snake 

 Hill, hard by Sandy Pond, in the town of Groton (Groton, Mass.), is 

 reported to have turned out a large fall crop of the sharp-quilled 

 beasts. 



DR. WILLIAM DOUGLASS'S SUMMARY. 



Many plants were brought originally to New England from 

 other countries for their medical virtues, and many were in- 

 troduced by chance. Some have multiplied so rapidly and 

 grown so plentifully in the fields and by the roadside, that 

 they are now considered common weeds. Wormwood, tansy, 

 chamomile, yarrow, dandelion, burdock, plantain, catnip, and 

 mint, all came here by importation. These foreign plants 

 made their way into the interior, as fast as civilization 

 extended in that direction. Dr. William Douglass, in " A 



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