1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



501 



For the Netc England Farmer. 

 THE ECONOMICS OF SKUNKS. 



Society has learned to associate but foulness 

 •with this animal. This is ^ross injustice. Of the 

 aroma of its weapon of defence I have nothing to 

 say, other than that it is a most capital defence, 

 and to this every man, woman and child will 

 agree. The quadruped itself has a neatly-cut 

 and finely-shaped head, with eyes bright as dia- 

 monds, and teeth of ivory whiteness, contrasting 

 finely with the blackness of the hair. The skunk 

 usually lies quietly in his burrow by day, and with 

 nightfall steals quietly forth in search of food. 

 The movements of the animal are very quiet, and 

 the white portion only of his hairy coat (he wears a 

 iong-tailed one,) being visible, the mind receives a 

 strange impression, as the apparently shapeless 

 object flits noiselessly by. On issuing forth he 

 greets his mates with a low, suppressed bark, re- 

 sembling that of the grey squirrel ; the bark, on 

 still evenings, can be heard at a great distance, 

 and is eagerly awaited by the country boys, who, 

 Avith dog and gun, are ready for their game. 



On what does the skunk feed ? "Hens and 

 chickens," exclaim half my readers. It cannot be 

 denied that the animal has something of a weak- 

 ness in this direction, therein exhibiting a fine 

 taste, as ail will allow ; but then I suspect that 

 the skunk's poultry suppers are about as rare as 

 the negro's turkey dinner — "When Sambo gets 

 nuffin' else he gets deni." The principal food of 

 the animal is large insects, principally of the bee- 

 tle family. When I take my morning trip to 

 "George's lot," across the pastures, I observe nu- 

 merous little holes, freshly scratched in the turf, 

 which I doubt not were made by his skunkship 

 during the night in search of his game. An ec- 

 centric townsman, now deceased, ranked the flesh 

 of the skunk among his favorite dishes ; whatever 

 may be said against the delicacy of his tastes, this 

 much is notorious, that he once imposed a cut of 

 it, nicely cooked, on a friend, who ate it as excel- 

 cellent veal or pork, I am now uncertain which. 

 I declare the skunk to be a first-rate rat extermin- 

 ator — and as this is the great point in my eco- 

 nomics, I will detail a little. 



I was most sadly troubled last season with rats ; 

 they cracked my beet seed, stole my peas, gnawed 

 my potatoes in the ground, ate my squashes on 

 the vines, and husked and ate my seed corn as it 

 grew ; they massed under my barn, made every 

 hole in the walls an abiding-place, yea, more, bur- 

 rowed in the ground like squirrels in "George's 

 lot," and seemed to be in a fair way of changing 

 owners. I did the best I could with trap and poi- 

 son, yet could not make a very perceptible im- 

 pression on the gnawing, thieving hosts. 



It became a very serious question with me — a 

 seed-grower — this season, how I should dethrone 

 thes - intruders. I rejected all manures that Avould 

 tend to attract them, and prepared a good mous- 

 ing cat. I hesitated for awhile as to the policj' of 

 keeping pigs under the circumstances, but finally, 

 the quantity of waste material that could thus be 

 changed into manure turned the scale. After put- 

 tiniij in the pigs, I awaited the rats ; a week went on 

 and but one rat showed himself, and he was hur- 

 rying from the premises as fast as possible. This 

 was a puzzle — who or what had banished them ? 

 About a couple of vs-eeks ago, while pulling weeds 



during a fine moonlight evening, a skunk crept 

 quietly out from under the barn and disappeared 

 among my bush beans, which grew thereby. The 

 thought flashed into my mind at once — this is the 

 self-instituted banisher of the pestiferous rhodents. 

 1 incline to the belief that the cold of winter drove 

 the rats who dwelt in the walls and burrowed in 

 the ground to the shelter of the barn, and when 

 his skunkship presented himself, the whole tribe 

 vamosed from such unsavory company. I have 

 examined my crop in the vicinity with some care, 

 and perceive no damage. That skunk is invalua- 

 ble to me. I vote him the freedom of the prem- 

 ises. May his years be many. 



J. J. H. Gregory. 

 Marhlehead, Mass., 1SG2. 



For the Neip England Farmer. 



STATE AND COUNTY SHOWS. 



I observed in one of your late papers the fol- 

 lowing communication : 



"In the published account of these, I perceive .in 

 omission of many names that I have been accustomed 

 to see in years gone Ijy ; and what is more, that some 

 State and County Societies have deliberately deter- 

 mined not to have a show or fair during the present 

 season. This presents a question of vital importance 

 to the fai-mcr : Are these shows, as a whole, produc- 

 tive of real benefit ? Or are they mere holidat/s for the 

 gratification of the rabble ? No one has taken a deep- 

 er interest in these shows, for the \)i\Ht forty -foia- years, 

 than I have myself, — never having failed to be present 

 at the show in my own county, and often in other 

 counties and States. I should like to see the reasons 

 for and against such shows, fairly stated. I believe 

 the topic to be of vitiil importance to the agricultural 

 community. Essex." 



The inquiries of your correspondent are impor- 

 tant, and well deserve an answer. I am inclined 

 to think that our cattle shows, as they are now 

 conducted, are of little or no practical value. I 

 object to the amalgamation of the horse fair and 

 cattle show. At the horse show at Springfield, 

 the main purpose was to test the capacity of the 

 horse in a trial at speed. Mr. Botts, of Virginia, 

 who was present on that occasion, remarked : 

 "You censure us for horse-racing, but if this is 

 not horse-racing, what is it ?" The same remark 

 applies with equal force to the trial of speed at our 

 cattle shows. It is an attempt to inoculate them 

 with the barbarism of the South. I have no doubt 

 that the southern States rejoice to see us walk in 

 their footsteps, and I have no doubt that they 

 would like to have us follow their example in every 

 other particular. It remains to be seen whether 

 we are to follow them or they are to follow us. 



I object to horse-racing because a mere race 

 horse is generally unfit for anything else, nor is it 

 essential to a good horse that he is able to trot a 

 mile in three or four minutes ; such high-spirited 

 animals are generally wild and reckless, no woman 

 can drive them, and few men would wish to do it. 

 What the farmer wants is an animal for draft and 

 Avork, one that is kind, manageable and eflicient. 



I object to horse-racing because it leads to bet- 

 ting, gambling, drinking and fighting. These are 

 its usual concomitants at the South, and the same 

 consequences attend it more or less at the North. 

 A very serious affray of this sort occurred at the 

 Concord cattle show a few years since, while this 

 horse-rr.cin": fever was in full blast. It is thus no- 



