November, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
493 
In training the beagle the first idea to 
inculcate thoroughly is to have him fol- 
low the rabbit and avoid the habit of 
merely running trails. Therefore it is a 
good plan, when taking a beagle first to 
field, to encourage him to run the rabbit 
by sight. If the rabbit is put down in 
the open and the beagle allowed to go 
after him, he will not bother to 
nose the trail so long as he can 
keep the rabbit in view, and when 
he first loses sight of him he will 
be certain to run on at top speed 
until he loses the trail. 
What is desired at this time is 
to get the young hound in the way 
of sticking close to the rabbit, and 
to keep him from dwelling on the 
scent. Short, sharp runs while he 
is fresh are what is calculated to 
get him into the habit of going 
as he should go, and during these 
short runs he will not be likely to 
fall into the bad habits that a tired 
or discouraged beagle picks up. 
When a young beagle will follow 
well by sight and then pick up the 
trail and rush on after the rabbit 
without dwelling or pottering on 
the scent, he may be given a few 
lessons in starting a rabbit. 
That is hard work for the hand- 
ler, as it will be necessary for him 
to tramp from one likely spot to 
another in an effort to kick out a 
rabbit. The dog should not be directed 
at this time but permitted to run about 
as he pleases. However, he will be 
likely to. follow the trainer and pick 
up some notion of the kind of places 
likely to hold rabbits. Should a rabbit 
be started the pupil may be put on the 
trail and permitted to follow it in his 
own way so long as he keeps going on 
the trail. When he is at a loss he should 
be taken up and worked so as to hit the 
trail in another place. If no success is 
had at this, the dog should be taken up 
and away from the locality entirely. 
O NCE the young beagle gets the idea 
of searching for rabbits instead of 
rabbit trails he will not waste time 
pottering about on unlikely ground, 
but will hunt the likely places and 
enjoy starting the rabbit, picking 
up the hot trail and following it. 
After a young hound has had 
some experience in the field and 
has learned how to search for a 
rabbit or to follow a trail, there 
still remains the danger that if he 
is put down with an older dog the 
superiority will be so apparent to 
the young hound that it will tend 
to make him lean on the older dog, 
rather than rely on himself. This 
tends to injure his independence, 
something that the trainer should 
always seek to develop. For that 
reason it is well to take him out 
the first few times with poorer 
dogs, for it makes him bolder and 
better if he is working with dogs 
he can beat. 
When tw T o hounds have been 
trained in this manner singly they 
may be worked together ; then they 
( Continued on page 528) 
A good type of Beagle hound 
RESPONSIBILITY OF UTILIZATION 
WHILE WE ARE EXPLOITING MANY OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES TO 
EXHAUSTION WE ALLOW OTHERS TO REMAIN ALMOST UNTOUCHED 
By R. E. COKER 
W E have two obligations with re- 
spect to natural resources — first, 
to utilize them, and second, to 
preserve them. In spite of the 
proverbial impossibility of the feat, it is 
yet morally obligatory both to eat our 
pie and to have it. The obligation to 
utilize (though not generally neglected) 
is not always given due recognition and 
is really deserving of some emphasis. 
Go out into the plains and see the 
bountiful fields of grain, all yielding a 
hundred evidences that man has not fail- 
ed to bend his every energy to aid nature 
in realizing the promise that the earth 
shall yield her increase. Imagine that 
you returned after 20 years to find (if it 
be conceivable) the soils exhausted, the 
fields abandoned, the farms in decay. 
Not only would you view the change with 
astonishment but you would, beyond 
question, visit reproach upon a people 
who had forgotten how to make use of 
their natural endowment. Should you 
find anywhere a whole people living 
among fertile but uncultivated fields, 
possessing rich but unmined mineral re- 
sources, and surrounded by dense but un- 
broken forests, you would surely say that 
here is a people so blind they could not 
recognize a free gift or so slothful they 
would not exert themselves to enter into 
fair partnership with nature for promo- 
tion of their own welfare. No intelli- 
gent person could deplore the utilization 
of things. for the general good. 
There is, indeed, a real obligation to 
take advantage of the good things in our 
environment. But, it may be said, this 
surely requires no stress. Why empha- 
size it? Why give encouragement to ex- 
ploitation when our resources are being 
utilized everywhere, all the time, and to 
such an extent as now to make preserva- 
tion the favored watchword? There are, 
I think, just three reasons why the 
responsibility of utilizing resources de- 
mands emphasis from those who would 
spread the principles of conservation. 
In the first place, we are not making 
adequate use of all of our resources. 
The conservationist himself can think of 
many things which we have generally 
overlooked or else have but inadequately 
brought into use : material things, such 
as the vegetable foods that may grow in 
the wet lands without drainage, fish and 
shellfish of the sea that go almost un- 
touched while we exploit others to ex- 
haustion, the products of cities and in- 
dustries called waste, many of which 
were better brought back to use than 
thrown out to breed destruction. 
In the second place, it is morally im- 
portant and strategically necessary that 
we do not condemn indiscriminately but 
that in proper measure we sympathize 
with the man who is out after the 
game — whether his game be fish, fowl, 
forest timber or farm land. Such a man 
is not our enemy, except in concrete 
cases, and there are too many, where 
his action is ill-advised and contrary 
either to his own future welfare or to 
the permanent public interest. Then, in- 
deed, he becomes an immediate adver- 
sary, and requires to be advised, edu- 
cated, if possible, and either reformed or 
defeated. 
Finally, the obligation to utilize should 
be stressed because it is necessary for 
advocates of conservation to keep in 
right psychological condition and main- 
tain a proper public attitude. If our 
labors are interpreted by ourselves or 
others as efforts to call a halt upon 
natural processes of development, then 
our contest is vain. Were we trying to 
stop the wheels of progress we had as 
well endeavor to check the tides of the 
sea or change the succession of night and 
day. Quite different is the true spirit of 
conservation; quite otherwise is our atti- 
tude. We believe firmly and even enthu- 
siastically in the proper utilization of 
natural resources, in taking due advan- 
tage of everything good in our environ- 
ment; only we refuse to admit that the 
uses of things are so limited as some 
would have us believe. Wc see agricul- 
ture as the main stay of our race but we 
( Continued on page 528) 
