268 “ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
upheaval of the ground in his digging opera- 
tions, the badger has been for centuries assist- 
ing in that work of preparing the soil for man’s 
cultivation which is the valuable heritage of the 
present from the small plains-animals of the 
past. Ever since the glaciers of the great Ice 
Cap left the surface of northern America an 
expanse of smooth rock and lifeless gravels 
they have been fallowing the soil of that great 
field which stretches from the Ohio to the Co- 
lumbia, and from the Rio Grande to the Sas- 
katchewan, and rendering it fruitful for the 
pasturage first of large game, next of the ranch- 
man’s herds and finally for the farmer’s fat 
stock and for the planting of his grain and 
fruits. 
How the badger aids the farmer. It must 
be remembered that the badger’s food consists 
almost wholly of those insects and animals 
which prey upon crops and young orchards, and 
in this his services have been and are of im- 
mense and constant value. Wherever he goes 
he picks up insects, and in Kansas is noted to 
have lived very largely on the dreaded grass- 
hoppers. Beetles and their grubs are taken, 
