82 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



With serried filne of steel he plied 

 The batteries on the British side ; 

 These they for Freedom storiu'd or died, 



Such were the Men our land did save, 

 Kor o'er can rcacli oblivion's wave, 

 (Though bnoming o'er the Statesman's grave) 



Our deep redeemless debt : 

 No ! iMcrrimark ma_v cease to flow, 

 And our White Mountains sink below, 

 But nought can cancel what we owe 



To them and La Kayelte ! 



by 



' At the c 

 > redo 



• of Co 



■ adv 



r troops 



One 



tish troops, 

 both carried at 



I led by the 



nked the be; 

 the point of the ba> 

 manded by La Kajette. the o 

 Baron De V^iominel. See Honorable Judge Lph; 

 quent eulooy on the Marquis La Fayette, delivered at 

 Concord, June, 1835. 



From the iV. E. Farmer. 

 The Useful Creature. 

 Friend Pltn.vm — Presuming you had forgot- 

 ten vvhut I said to yoti last winter, about the mer- 

 its of a certain quadruped, that has been too 

 fragrant in your paper of late to need mention- 

 ing by name, (whose name, that is to lie, in liicl, 

 seems as yet un.settled,) finding that abler, though 

 I will not admit 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 vindicating the character of this poor, 

 despised, abused, slandered, |)erseculed, and mo.=t 

 needlessly dreaded and execrated brute, I had 

 pretty much concluded not to slir in the matter, 

 but quietly relinquish any claim I mii:ht feel con- 

 scious of, to share in the immortnUlij m) eagerly 

 conlonded for, in this new (icid oi' popular dis- 

 tinction. But as you gave me such a broad hint 

 in your number of the 2d insu, though 1 may stiil 

 be in bad odor, (as I before suggested to you the 

 fear,) 1 sliall now be sure of being in good com- 

 pany, and I have concluded to follow your bid- 

 ding, and help to " biighten the prospects" of our 

 n;utual friends. 



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

 tiiicliou'' contended (iir, I could wield a wordy 

 weiyhiy pen : I could iliscourse most lengthily 

 and odorousb) withal, upon this heretofore "unsa- 

 vory tlieme. 



I have the presumplinn to presume that 1 have 

 more attentively watched the movements and 

 studied the habits, or to speak more learnedly, 

 have penetrated deeper into the ology of the 

 beast, than any man living has thought it worth 

 liis while to do. Sir, J can boast of having com- 

 pletely unsiunked the skvuik in his most dreadfid 

 skunkishness, and made him as sweet and as 

 harmless a creature as the prettiest kitten or 

 puppy ; so that tiie very finest fine lady might 

 take him, with the most perfect impunity, to her 

 caresses. And any fiirmer's boy may do the same 

 if they will take the animal at a tender age, and 

 holding or tying him fa.*t on his back, apply a 

 sharp penknife upon either side of the butt end 

 of his tail, cutting cautiously throngli the fatty 

 substance and muscular envelope, till he comes 

 to a delicate membranous sack, containing the 

 fear/id: which sacks, on either side, being re- 

 moved, can never be reproduced, nor the venom 

 be again secreted ; and no danger, not the least, 

 either to the operator or the ojierated upon. 



To be serious. Mr. Putnam. I do know and af- 

 firm, from a careful observation of many years, 

 that the skunk, in his proper line of business, is 

 eminently 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, that with the innocent 

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

 length, though late, begun to be justly appreci- 

 ated. He is, in fact, worth his weight in toads, 

 the capacity of his stomach is so mucli greater. 

 His svvinelike snout and sharp claws also give 

 him pectdiar facilities for taking all kinds of 

 creeping things that are injurious to cultivated 

 vegetables. Crickets, erasshoppers, beetles, all 

 sorts of bugs, grubs, and worms, field mice, &c., 

 he eagerly captures at their plunder, if, like hitn, 

 they do their work in the night. Or he searches 



WE suggested to Dr. 

 ELF ! and Gov. Hill— 

 E THREE —were we successful in elevating, &c. &,c. 

 all the laurels we may have gained in this '■ new Held 

 distinction," are most cheerfully surrendered 

 nbly defended 



ot popuh 



to the gentleman who' has in this article 



tit* (Aunk.— " P. D." 



them out in their retreat, if they retire to r( st by 

 night. These are his natural food ; and if he 

 finds them in plenty, be will not plunder your 

 eggs or young poultry, unless their manifest ex- 

 posure offers a very strong temptation — though 

 they are a great luxury to him. At all times, a 

 fJoor or a wall of the thickness of a shingle, and 

 above the reach of his paws, is an impassable 

 barrier against him. Like the odious rat, he 

 cannot climb; nor can he, like the rat, with un- 

 tiring perseverance, day and luglit, gnaw at the 

 hardest wood, to do us mischief! It is the e.isiesl 

 thing in the worlil, t!ierr;'ore, to protect our poul- 

 try from him. Ami \\li:,t li;iriii besides does any 

 one fear linni this iilu.i\s •• more sinned 'ag»ins"t 

 than sinning" cre;itiirc .- Peilwips it i.«, that he 

 will wantonly assail l.iin, riii.l .-leiich him out of 

 house and home, cm s|...iI a suit of clothes for 

 him. No, nevcrl unless we violently assi.ult and 

 actually wound, or greatly terrify him, he will 

 not di.scharge his amiiumition upon us. And if 

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

 him alone, (and they arc always glad to be ex- 

 cused from molesting him,) he will certainly let 

 us alone. Let hiiri play about your door-yaid in 

 the evening if he chooses, and |iick the bones he 

 may find there. He will be likely to keep off 

 .some worse visitants. And if he chance to en- 

 ter your eelliir, jour kitchen, or your parlor even, 

 as in simimcr his curiosity may lead him to do, 

 let him alone, and he will go out williout doing 

 any hariri. Or if he seem dispo.scd to act Ion 

 leisurely about it, you have oidy to approach him 

 gently, yet fearlessly, and take "him up by his tail, 

 doing no violence to idin, and \o» may carry 

 him where you please, without the li'a.=t dtinger 

 to yom' best attire. You cannot i)0ssibly kill him 

 so instantaneously, Avith club, or gun, or stone, or 

 rudely force him out, as not fully to realize \onr 

 woist fears of liiin. For the most part, as ifcon- 

 scions of the repute in which be is held, he 

 shiuis the presence of man. In the winter he 

 -seldom ventures abroad, except in mild wctither. 

 During the season in which insect life is active, 

 he is busy every night, coming Ibrlh in the twi- 

 light, or early in the evening, and rambling 

 through gardens and fields with a somewhat nim- 

 ble moveirient, he diligently searches liir his 

 prey. By the very earliest dawn, if not before, 

 he returns to iiis abode, which is quile as likely 

 to be umler your barn os niiy wliere el.se, and 

 there ouietly sleeps all day. iVor will the con- 

 tinuous cackle of \our fowls, or the chirping of 

 their young, tempt him to the light of day. 



The skiud« is, probably, much more common 

 ill the immediate vicinity of this city, and else- 

 where, than he is usually thought to "be. Return- 

 ing home itt daylight down, in summer, I have 

 occasionally seen liim scud along the road, and 

 enter premises, there to pass the night most use- 

 fully to 'he proprietor, who, if he were conscious 

 of the fiict, mo.-it likely would summon all the 

 dogs within whistle-call, to take vengeance on 

 the vile intruder among his delicate flowers and 

 plants, i was myself brought up to hate the 

 skunk, and destroy him whenever I could. Many 

 a time, when u lioy, after a day's work at liarvest- 

 ing, 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 unoffending skunks, at their useful 

 labors — because, forsooth, one of the race, once 

 in about six or eight years, on an average, I 

 should say, in some simalion peculiarly exposed, 

 by the merest chance found, and of course took, 

 a few young goslings or chickens, or helped him- 

 self to an egg or two, and did not think to hide 

 the shells, as the two-legged skunks used often 

 to do 



I have since learned a very different lesson. — 

 Some eight or ten years ago, one evening about 

 midsummer, I accidentally discovered a litter of 

 young ones in my barn yard, scrambling to get 

 under the shed floor. New-comers, I doubted 

 not they were, and led there on purpose to feed 

 upon my chickens, which occupied the floor im- 

 mediately above, with only a single plank be- 

 tween them and death ; and their passage-way 

 into the barn-yard, where they were confined du- 

 ring the day, usually ojien all night. I should 

 have had tli'e floor up the next morning, and kill- 

 ed tlie whole pack; but being obliged to start on 

 a joiuney of a few days, 1 most unwillingly 

 smothered my revenge. On iiiy return, how"- 

 ever, I lost uo time. Every plank was removed ; 



but it was too hite : the boys had been upon ihe 

 watch, in my absence — had killed some of the 

 young, and the rest had taken the alarm and de- 

 camped. But I founti, to my entire satisfaction, 

 as well as astonishment, that the old ones had 

 wintered there, atid probably year alter year ; and 

 that those young had been born there, and bred 

 thus far; and yet, however incredible to skunk- 

 haters, never a chick nor an egg bad I missed. 



They soon returned to their quarters, and af- 

 terwards 1 used to amuse myself in sfjdying 

 their habits. I have often gone, afier tea, and 

 looked over the fence, to see the old ones take 

 peep after peep at the receding day, impatient 

 for the twilight. And then they would away to 

 their known passage into the garden, and to their 

 ni;;htly work. Then the joung, like kittens and 

 [luppies, would come out and gambol where the 

 chickens had just left. 1 have not since had a 

 heart to kill a skunk or suffer one to be killed if I 

 could prevent it. 1 bade them welcome to my 

 shed, iind my welcome they have freely used. 



An old barn, too, iipou the other side of us, 

 within a stone's cast of where I am now writing, 

 has long been their favorite abode, and still is, I 

 presume, though as my curiosity is satisfied, I do 

 not look for them ; and they mind their own busi- 

 ness, and do not come in my way. In July, 1637, 

 the old barn aforesaid was nitived across the 

 street. Presuming that some of my favorites 

 were there, 1 apprised the workmen thereof, beg- 

 ging the 01 to harm the creatures, and prom- 

 ising to stand between themselves and harm. To 

 our astonishment, upon removing the floor, wo 

 Ibund no less than fourteen or fifieen of them, 

 ail of which, save one that escaped to an oat 

 field near by, I caught in my bands, and with im- 

 puiiiiy removed them to a place of safety, much 

 to the amusement of the spectators. Still, 

 ihough there were so many and so near us, none 

 of my fimiily, nor any of our neighbors, to our 

 knowledge, bad ever seen one of them, or been 

 disturbed in any way by tbeni. 



By the help of these animals, we suffer but 

 little fiom insect.* in the g.irden. The large black 

 sifnash bug, that ioalhsome thing, that has some- 

 times spoiled my K'lider vine plants, has alino.st 

 wholly disappeared. Of these bugs, 1 liincy, they 

 used to nianufiietiire their strongest essence 

 withal. 



A gentleman of undoubted veracity, who as- 

 sured me he was a witness to the fact, informed 

 me that in the country where he used to reside, 

 a It-male skunk was one day observed to creep 

 from the wood pile, and bask in the sun. A lit- 

 ter of half-starved kittens soon approached her, 

 which she actually suckled, although, as he af- 

 terwards discovered, she had a numerous faiifdy 

 of her own. This was day after day repeated. — 

 In the issue, however, the brutal recompense 

 of such maternal kindness was, that the wood- 

 pile was overthrown, and the skunk family, one 

 and all, destroyed. 



A word, Mr. Editor, about the name of this an- 

 imal. 1 am decidedly opposed to a change. — 

 Though not obstinately conservative, where 

 change is likely to be an improvement, I would 

 not change even the name of the skunk, without 

 very good reason. A new name, I fear, and es- 

 pecially a classical one, might work a change for 

 Ihe worse in the character of the animal — might 

 cause an elation, a sort of transcendental aim, a- 

 bove his projier place and calling. And who can 

 tell — who can imagine the mischief that would 

 most surely result, if with the immense odds of 

 seeing, where all is darkness to us, he should 

 commence offensive operations, and go peddling 

 his commodity all abroad? No, sir! let us leave 

 him in his humiliiy — let him remain as ever, the 

 poor, harmless, unas|)iring, but most useful 

 Skunk." 



You see, my friend, I have given you enough 

 to spice several papers, if it will too highly season 

 a single number. Or, if you shall choose not to 

 use my seasoning at all, I shall still remain, truly 

 \our friend, and the friend of" The Farmtr," 

 LEMUEL CAPEN. 

 Soidh Boston, June 5th, 1841. 



i'e moved a change of name, Sir, in the supposition 

 that it micht, to some degree, effect a change in public 

 iment favorable to the skunk, liut since you have-so 

 pletelyand satisfactorily esf^iblished his claims to pi^o- 

 tcctioii, the object HE had in view will doubtless be at- 

 tuned without the proposed .Iteriltion, and WE, tlicre- 

 (iirc, as the legislators say, ask leave to withdraw our mo- 

 lion.—" P. D." 



