18(J6.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4^^7 
The White-haired Porcupine. 
Evethizoii (hrmtits. 
Among the great family of rodent.i, which in- 
cludes rats and mice, ralibits, squirrels, marmots, 
etc., there is uo group of genera more interest- 
ing than the porcupines. We have two which 
are quite common 
in this country, the ^ 
\\'hite-huircd Porcu- - - 
pine, which iulialjils , , ! - 
lire !N'orthern United Jt ' 
States and Canada, -i 
and the Yellow-hair- .; 
cd Porcupine which 
is found in the re- 
gion of the upper 
Jlissouri, and iu the 
Pacific States. The 
fonfier is probably 
familiar to most of 
our readers. It is an 
animal about 3 to 
3'|a feet long to the 
tail which is 7 to 
10 inches iu length. 
It weighs 20 to 30 
pounds. The head 
is short and flat, and 
llie spines are part- 
ly concealed in its 
coarse hair. It has 
soft fur next the skin, 
of a brown color, 
and miugled with coarse hairs with white 
ends, giving it a greyish look, which is hight- 
cned by the spines. These are white, with 
dark, barbed points, 3 to 3 inches or more 
long, erectile, and easily shed and renewed. 
The animal may bo able to loosen them some- 
what, at will, but the idea that it can shoot, or 
throw them even a short distance, is absurd. It 
is extremely sluggish in its motions, aud when 
attacked neither attempts to escape nor shows 
tight, but with a suc- 
cession of quick side- 
ways motions,makes 
it dangerous for any 
animal to touch it 
The erected spines, 
barbed at the end, 
will stick into the 
mouth or other part 
of the body, and 
hold there, working 
in deeper and deep- 
er, so that dogs, 
wolves and lynxes 
are sometimes killed 
bj'the irritation and 
inflammation conse- 
quent. The animal 
climbs readily, aud 
feeds upon fruit, 
twigs, leaves, and 
the tender inner bark 
of trees. When nu 
uierous they are said 
to do great damage 
to the elm and bass- 
wood trees, girdling 
and barking the limbs or trunks so that the 
trees die. The creature is held iu no favor, 
being in all respects a nuisance, and to none 
more so tliau to the owners of fine hunting dogs, 
which it often spoils. The Indians hunt them, 
using them as food, and empluyiug the spines, 
which they usually color brilliantly and cut in 
small pieces for use, as beads, to ornament 
Icggins, mocassins, canoes, baskets, trinkets, etc. 
This animal is frequently called ITeclrjeliog in 
America, especially by people of New England 
origin, aud that the incorrectness of the appel- 
lation maj' be the better seen, we give a picture 
of the Hedgehog of Europe {Eriiiaceus Euro- 
piriis). This little animal is common through- 
Fig. 1. — WHITE-HAIRED OK CANADA I'ORCnPINE. 
out Great Britain, aud the Continent of Europe. 
It is very different from our Porcupine in every 
respect, except that it is a quadruped armed 
with spines. It is an insect-eater, closely al- 
lied to the moles aud shrews, though it is 
said to eat some kinds of fruit, and it is well 
known as a destroyer of mice, snakes, aud toads, 
worms, snails, etc., devouring birds' eggs also, 
aud small birds. It is only about 8 or 10 inches 
long, and has a slender snout, fringed at the 
Fig. 3. — EUBOPEAN HEDGE-HOO. 
end. When attacked or alarmed, it rolls itself 
into a ball, presenting only its spiny back to its 
foes. The muscle by which it does this under- 
lies the skin where ever the spines are, and the 
motion erects the spines and holds them firm. 
The spines are about an inch long, of a dark 
brown color, tipped with white, and arranged 
iu clusters, covering the upper surface and sides 
of the body ; the belly is covered with whitish 
fur. The Hedgehog is easily domesticated, and 
does good service in cellars, kitchens, out-houses, 
and gardens, eating cockroaches, beetles, etc., 
etc., driving away mice, and ridding the garden 
of snails and grubs. Its habits are nocturnal, and 
it hibernates during the winter, sleeping in a nest 
of hay and leaves 
in some hollow log 
or heap of stones. 
Hints on Improv- 
ing the Land. 
Money properly 
used is the source 
of many of the com- 
forts of life ; hence 
the great end of 
farming is to make 
mouc}'. It is not to 
embellish the land, 
to build flue houses, 
barns and fences ; to 
raise fanc}' stock, or 
in any other way to 
make a show in the 
world. It is to make 
money, to accpiire 
property, with the 
ultimate view of tak- 
ing the comfort of it. 
The grand question 
is, how can a farm be 
rendered the most profitable ? And the answer 
is, first and last, by improving the soil so as to 
make it most permanently productive. The 
great defect of American farms, at least this 
side of the AUeghanies, is their impoverished 
couditiou. They have been cropped and re- 
cropped, their products sold, and but little re- 
turned to the land to keep up its fertility. Any 
body can see that the net products of a farm 
which yields 50 bushels of corn to the acre, are 
much greater than 
one which gives 40. 
For, if 30 bushels 
will pay the expens- 
es of tillage, there is 
a profit on the for- 
mer of twenty bush- 
els, aud on the other 
of only 10. Sup- 
posing this to hold 
good on all the crops 
of the farm, is not 
one acre of this first 
farm worth two of 
the second? In what- 
ever way we can in- 
crease the income of 
the laud above the 
expenses, we gain so 
much more profit, 
and this decides the 
value of the farm. If 
land which gives a 
clear gain i)er acre 
of $7, is worth |100 
to the acre, then that 
which gives $14 gain 
is worth full two hundred dollars per acre. 
It costs nearly as much to till land which 
yields only a profit of $3.50, as that which 
yields $14. Why not, then, apply the extra 
manure, and the extra brain-work, and get the 
$14? The first man barely gets a living; the 
second grows rich. The best agriciilturists here 
and iu England, have found out this true prin- 
f^'KCDon-Bow.i 
