RESULTS OF BEAVERS' WORK 175 



with, the subject of beaver and their work is always 

 of interest, far more so than any other animal. For 

 whether a person knows anything of animals or 

 not, the extraordinary engineering feats of the 

 beaver, their home life and habits, compel atten- 

 tion. It is a pity that there is not a broader 

 knowledge on the subject, so that those who are in 

 a way making their living from the results of the 

 little animals' work should realise to whom they 

 owe the debt. 



When the first settlers came over to North 

 America, they found a wilderness where they 

 wanted to start their new homes. They most often 

 selected what they considered the natural meadows 

 for their homesteads. These broad valleys in 

 which they found rich luxuriant grasses waving in 

 the summer breezes appealed to them. In such 

 places their cattle would feed in comfort and 

 abundance. Hay too could be gathered to fill 

 their rude barns, that their stock might be well fed 

 during the long bitter winters. The meadows 

 always contained a stream where the animals could 

 be watered without trouble. In fact the pioneers 

 found farms almost ready made, awaiting only the 

 plough to turn the rich soil into the finest crop- 

 producing land. And all without the tedious 

 labour of clearing, and only those who have 

 attempted such work can realise the amount of 

 labour involved in clearing thickly timbered land. 

 But a small part of the work can be done during 



