404 



N E VV ENGL A N D FAR M E R 



JUME3», I84I. 



For the N. E. FhrmiT. 



THE USEFUL CREATURE. 



Friend Putnam — Pivsiiininfj you had forgoUcn 

 what I said to you last winter, about the merits of 

 a certain quadruped, that has been too flagrant in 

 your paper of late to need luentioninj;; by name, 

 (whose nanii', that is to be, in fact, seems as yet 

 unsettled,) findini;; that abler, tiiough I will not ad- 

 mit more friendly, advocates had come out in his 

 defence, and moreover, seeing that I had not the 

 moral courage long ago to take the lead in vindi- 

 cating the character of this poor, de:-pised, abused, 

 slandered, persecuted, and nmst needlessly dreaded 

 and execrated brule, I had prclty much concluded 

 not to s(tV in the matter, but quietly relinquish any 

 claim I might feel conscious of, to share in the tm- 

 mortatity so eagerly contended for, in this new 

 field of popular distinction. But as you gave me 

 such a broad hint in your number of the 2d inst., 

 though I may still be in bad odor, (as I bi-fore sug- 

 gested to you the fear,) I shall now be sure of be- 

 ing in good iiompany, and I have concluded to lol- 

 low ydur bidding, and lielp to " brighten the pros- 

 pects'' of our mutual friends. 



And, sir, if I were really ambitious of the dis- 

 tinction* contended for, I could wield a wordy, 

 weighty pen : I could discourse most lengthily 

 and odorously withal, upon this heretofore ini-savo- 

 ry theme. 



I have the presumption to jtnsume that I have 

 more attentively watched the movements and stud- 

 ied the habits, or to speak more learnedly, Jiave 

 penetrated deeper into the oloscy of the beast, than 

 any man living has thought it worth his while to 

 do. Sir, I can boast of havingcompletely unskunked 

 tlie skunk in his most dreaded skunkishness, and 

 made hmi as sweet and as- harmless a creature as 

 the prettiest kitten or puppy ; so that the very finest 

 fine lady might take him with the must perfect im- 

 punity to her caresses. And any farmer's boy may 

 do the same, if he will take the animal at a tender 

 age, and holding or tyinjif him fast on his back, 

 apply a sharp penknife uptin either side of the butt 

 end of his tail, cutting crmioiisly tliroiigli the fatly 

 substance and muscular ^pvelope, till lie comes to 

 a delicate membranous sacK, containing ihe ftarful : 

 which sack.s, one on eiUier side, being removed, 

 can never be reproduced, nor the venom be again 

 secreted ; and no danger, not the least, either to 

 the operator or the operated ujion. 



To be serious, Mr Putnam, I d'b know, and af- 

 firm, from a careful observation of many years, that 

 the skunk, in his proper line of business, is emi- 

 nently, entitled to a "rightful place among useful 

 animals." He is signally the destroyer of the 

 worst enemies to the tillers of the soil. And I do 

 exceedingly rejoice, tliat with the innocent little 

 birds, and the ill-favored toad, he has at length, 

 though late, begun to be justly appreciated. He 

 is in fact, worth his weight in toads, the capacity 

 of his stomach is so much greater. His swine- 

 like snout and sharp claivs also give him peculiar 

 facilities for taking all kinds of creeping things 

 tiiat are injurious to cultivated vegetables. Crick- 

 ets, grasshoppers, beetles, all sorts of bugs, grubs 



"Tliat is, the immoTtaliti/ which we suggested to Dr. 

 Holmes might accrui; lo luni. raRSKi.F ! and (jov. Hill 

 — "we three" — were we successliil in elevating, &c. 

 &c. Hut all the laurels we mny have gained in ihis 

 " new field nf popular di.'<linction," are mi>nt cheerfully 

 surrendered to the genlleman who has in this article so 

 ably defended lliu skunk. — " /'. D." 



and worms, field mice, &c. he eagerly captures at 

 their plunder, if, like him, they do their work in 

 the night. Or he searches them out in their re- 

 treat, if they retire to rest by night. These are 

 his natural food ; and if he finds them in plenty, 

 he will not plunder your eggs or young poultry, 

 unless their manifest exposure ofl^ers a very strong 

 temptation — though they are a great luxury to 

 him. And at all times, a floor or a wall of the 

 thickness of a shingle, and above the reach of his 

 paws, is an impassable barrier against hiin. Like 

 the odious rat, he cannot climb ; nor can he, like 

 the rat, with untiring perseverance, day and night, 

 gnaw at the hardest wood, to do us mischief. It 

 is the easiest thing in the world, therefore, to pro- 

 tect our poultry from him. And what harm be- 

 sides docs any one fear, from this always "more 

 sinned against than sinning" creature. Perhaps 

 it is, that he will wantonly assail him, and stench 

 him out of house and home, or spoil a suit of clothes 

 for him. No, never ! unless we violently assault, 

 and actually wound, or greatly terrify him, he will 

 not discharge his ammunition upon us. And if 

 we will let him alone, and permit our dogs to let 

 him alone, (and they are always glad to be excused 

 from molesting him, j he will most certainly let us 

 alone. Let him play about your door-yard, in the 

 evening, if he chooses, and pick the bones he may 

 find there. He will be likely to keep off some 

 worse visitants. And if he chance to enter your 

 cellar, your kitchen, or your parlor even, as in sum- 

 mer his curiosity may lead him to do, let him alone, 

 and he will go out without doing any harm. Or if 

 he seem disposed to act too leisurely about it, you 

 have only to approach him gently, yet fearlessly, 

 and lake him up by his tail, doing no violence to 

 him, and you may carry him where you please, 

 without the least danger to your best attire. You 

 cannot possibly kill him so instantaneously, with 

 gun, or club, or stone, or rudely force him out, as 

 not fully to realize your worst fears of him. For 

 the most part, as if conscious of the repute in which 

 he is held, he shuns the presence of man. In win- 

 ter he seldom ventures abroad, except in mild 

 weather. During the season in whicli insect life 

 is active, he is busy every night, coming forth in 

 the twilight, or early in the evening, and rambling 

 through gardens and fields with a somewhat nim- 

 ble movement, he diligently searches for his prey. 

 By the very earliest dawn, if not before, he returns 

 to his abode, which is quite as likely to be under 

 your barn as any where else, and there quietly 

 sleeps all day. Nor will the continuous cackle 'of 

 your fowls, or the chirping of their young, tempt 

 him to the light of day. 



The skunk is, probably, much more common in 

 the immediate vicinity of this city, and elsewhere, 

 than he is usually thought to be. Returning home 

 at daylight down, in summer, I have occasionally 

 seen him scud along the road and enter premises, 

 there to pass the night most usefully to the propri- 

 etor, who, if he were conscious of the fact, most 

 likely would summon all the dogs within whistle- 

 call, to take vengeance on the vile intruder amimg 

 his delicate flowers and plants. I was myself 

 brought up to hate the skunk, and to destroy him 

 whenever I could. Many a time, when a boy, af- 

 ter a day's work at harvesting, and an evening at 

 husking, or at the cider-mill, have I tramped the 

 region round, hour after hour, with a gang of farm 

 laborers, on the sole intent to kill unofl^ending 

 skunks, at their useful labors — because, forsooth, 

 one of the race, once in about six or eight years, 



on an i*erage, I should say, in some situation 

 peculiarlj exposed, by the merest chanee found, 

 and of c irse took, a few young goslings or chick- 

 ens, or I Iped himself to an egg or two, and did 

 not thin to hide the shells, as the two-legged 

 skunks ised often to do. 



I havj since learned a very different lesson 



Some etht or ten years ago, one evening about 

 niidsuinner, I accidentally discovered a litter of 

 young flies in my barn-yard, scrambling to get un- 

 der the/shed floor. New-comers I doubted not 

 they wire, and led there on purpose to feed upon 

 my chpkens, which occupied the floor immediate- 

 ly aboje, with only a single plank between them 

 and dath ; and their passage-way into the barn- 

 yard, vhere they were confined during the day, 

 iisualr open all night. I sliould have had the 

 floor jp, the next morning, and killed the whole 

 pack 1 but being obliged to start on a journey of a 

 few (lys, I most unwillingly smothered my re- 

 veng. On my return, however, I lost no time. 

 Ever plank was removed ; but it was too late : the 

 boys lad been upon the watch, in my absence, had 

 kille some of the young, and the rest had taken 

 the aarm and decamped. But I found, to my en- 

 tire fitisfuction, as well as astonishment, that the 

 old mes had wintered there, and probably year af- 

 ter jear ; and that those young had been born there, 

 and bred thus far; and yet, however incredible 

 to sjtunk-haters, never a chick nor an egg had I 

 inisfcd. 



"{"hey soon returned to their quarters, and after- 

 watds 1 used to amuse myself in studying their 

 habjts. I have often gone, after tea, and looked 

 ovej-the fence, to see the old ones take peep after 

 peep, at the receding day, impatient for the twi- 

 ligljt. And then they would away to their known 

 passag? into the garden, and to their nightly work. 

 Then the young, like kittens and puppies, would 

 conio out and gambol where the chickens had just 

 left I have not since had a heart lo kill a skunk 

 or Suffer one to be killed, if I could prevent it. I 

 bade them welcome to my shed, and my welcome 

 they have fieely i-sed. 



An old barn, too, upon the other side of us, witli- 

 ina stone's cast of where I am now writing, has 

 loig been their favorite abode, and still is, I pre- 

 sume, though as my curiosity is satisfied, I do not 

 look for them ; and they mind their own business 

 arn do not come in my way. In July, 1837, the 

 old barn aforesaid was moved across the street. 

 Presuming that some of my favorites were there, I 

 ajiprised the workmen thereof, begging them not 

 to harm the creatures, and promising to stand be- 

 tween themselves and harm. To our astonish- 

 ment, upon removing the floor, we found no less 

 tl]an fourteen or fifteen of them, all of which, save 

 oie that escaped to an oat field near by, I caught 

 in my hands, and with impunity removed them to a 

 place of safety, much to the amusement of the 

 spectators. Still, though there were so many and 

 so near us, none of my family, nor any of our 

 neighbors, to our knowledge, had ever seen one of 

 them, or been disturbed in any way by them. 



By the help of these animals, we suffer but lit- 

 tle from insects in the garden. The large black 

 squash bug, that loathsome thing, that has some- 

 times spoiled my tender vine plants, has almost 

 wholly disappeared. These bugs, I fancy, they 

 use to manufacture their strongest essence withal. 



A gentleman of undoubted veracity, who assur- 

 ed me he was a witness to the fact, informed me 

 that in the country where he used to reside, a fe- 



