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 hitter 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 
