420 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 14, 
A Word for the Cats. 
I submit that a good eat has as valid 
a claim to be included among the live 
stock of the farm as the dog. We hear 
a great deal in the columns of the farm 
press of the faithful and intelligent collie, 
and rightly so, but the virtues of the 
feline tribe are suffered to remain un¬ 
sung. I protest against this manifest 
injustice. Statistics tell us that the an¬ 
nual damage to farm products by rats 
and mice mounts up into the millions of 
dollars. Any agency capable of conserv¬ 
ing this lost wealth is certainly deserv¬ 
ing of publicity and fame. I maintain 
that a well-kept cat is a valuable farm 
asset, and fully worthy of record in the 
inventory of the live stock. Poison is 
effective against the rodents only in an 
intermittent and hazardous way. Some¬ 
times it succeeds, sometimes it fails, and 
between times the corncrib suffers. Well- 
kept cats will keep the sly marauders 
in perpetual subjection, and never per¬ 
mit them to become destructive. 
What is a well-kept cat—for I always 
qualify the name? I reply one that is 
kindly treated but not made a children’s 
plaything; one also that is well and regu¬ 
larly fed. But, you exclaim, they should 
live on rats and mice, and other prey. 
Not at all, no more than the hound 
should subsist on the fox or the pointer 
on the quail. My experience is that the 
best cat hunters are those best fed and 
quartered. My four cats are fed as regu¬ 
larly and as well as are the horses and 
other stock. Nor are the casual table 
scraps to be considered a ration, but 
prepared messes of meat, raw or cooked, 
with gravy-soaked bread, potatoes and 
other substantial things, and all fed warm 
in cold weather. Meat should be the 
main food, no matter how many rats 
they may be catching, and I do not 
approve of much milk for grown cats. 
You cannot dull their hunting propen¬ 
sities by overfeeding. My cats, all neut¬ 
ers but one, were treated when kittens 
and grew prodigiously fast into big, fat, 
sleek animals, as handsome as their wild 
congeners of the woods, and with fur as 
shiny as my lady’s muff. Such cats are 
peaceable, do not rove, and maintain 
steady warfare on the rodent family. 1 
estimate the work of my cats at a greater 
cash value than that of my dog. They 
are as quick to recognize my voice and 
follow me about with equal affection and 
pleasure in human companionship. Their 
suoplencss. grace, agility, playfulness and 
tigerish stealth and beauty delight the 
eye. But however regarded, they should 
never be enervated in warm rooms or 
fed on other than plain, wholesome food. 
L. K. JOHNSON. 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. 
A Good Dog Law. 
I note your correspondent’s inquiry for 
a law that shall be effective in protect¬ 
ing sheep from dogs, and desire to review 
briefly the Maine law which was enact¬ 
ed 20 years ago. It has remained prac¬ 
tically without change ever since, and 
has proved as effective as I believe it is 
possible for any law. 
This law provides that assessors of 
taxes shall include in their inventories 
lists of all dogs owned by or in posses¬ 
sion of any inhabitant on the first day of 
April, each year. These lists ai-e re- 
tui-ned to the Treasurer of State, and 
towns are required to return to the same 
Treasurer of State on or befoi’e Septem¬ 
ber first of each year a sum of money 
equal to the license required. This 
money is credited, by the State Treas¬ 
urer to a fund called “Dog Licenses.” 
All dogs shall wear collars showing name 
of owner and the license number. The 
amount of the license is $1.15 for each 
male dog and each female dog incapable 
of producing young and $5.15 for each 
female capable of producing young. The 
15 cents is retained by the town clerk 
who issues the license. Kennel licenses 
are granted to owners or keepers of dogs 
for breeding purposes, if said dogs are 
kept within proper enclosures. Dogs 
covered by kennel licenses are exempt 
from the provisions requiring registra¬ 
tion, numbering and collaring. Ample 
provisions .are made for destroying all 
dogs whose owners or keepers have not 
complied with the law, and my observa¬ 
tion is that very few escape. 
This law is also peculiar in that it 
provides for the paying of losses of sheep 
or other domestic animals by wild ani¬ 
mals as well as by dogs. Whenever sheep 
or other domestic animals are killed or 
injured by dogs or wild animals, the 
owner notifies the municipal officers of 
such damage and under proper regula¬ 
tions, the loss is ascertained. Then the 
town may bring action against the own¬ 
er or owners of the dogs, if it is ascei’- 
tained that the damage was done by dogs 
and their owners can be found, or it may 
pay the owner of the animals their full 
value and 50 per cent additional. When 
such damages are paid by any city or 
town, the municipal officers thereof for¬ 
ward to the ^tate Auditor a full state¬ 
ment of the amount and of the facts in 
the case, and the State immediately reim¬ 
burses the town from its "Dog License” 
fund. 
At the close of the fiscal year such a 
part of this “Dog License” fund as re¬ 
mains in the State Treasury is ex-edited 
to the several cities and towns on their 
State tax in pi’oportion to the amount 
each has paid into the State Treasury 
under the provisions of the law. 
The State being the unit for distri¬ 
bution it equalizes the burdens and 
makes the dog licenses collected in cities 
help pay for the damages in the rural 
towns. This is particularly salutary, as 
probably in a majority of cases the dam¬ 
age is done by roaming dogs from the 
cities. The law l’ecognizes the property 
value of dogs, and provides that who¬ 
ever injuries or kills any dog whose own¬ 
er or keeper has complied with the law, 
except that it shall be justifiable in the 
protection of venison, property or game, 
shall be liable to the owner in a civil 
action for the full value of the dog. 
Maine, for some years previous to the 
passage of this law went through a per¬ 
iod of fierce conllict led by extreme dog 
haters, who sought laws that would re- 
ward the shooting of any dog at any 
time by anybody, if the dog was caught 
off the owner’s premises, on the one hand, 
and the keepei’s of hunting dogs and 
members of gun clubs, who wanted the 
freedom of the fields for their sport and 
a close time on all fur-bearing animals, 
even including the fox, on the other; 
but temperate councils prevailed and 
this law is the result. It has proved 
by its many years of life and its effect¬ 
iveness that it can with safety be recom¬ 
mended to other States. 
Maine. b. walker mckeen. 
Dog for Poultry Protection. 
I notice a picture on page 35 of a 
dog which I take to be a bull, and which 
you say is better than a shot gun for 
thieves. I presume you mean in guard¬ 
ing the poultry. Ilow can he do this 
when tied up, and if running loose will 
he not molest the birds? D. j. m. 
The dog is turned loose at night and 
has the run of the yards. He has been 
trained to know the hens and lets them 
alone, seeming to know he is their pro¬ 
tector. 
“Why do you call that pig of yours 
‘Ink’?” asked the visitor. “He isn’t 
black.” “No,” replied the farmer. “I 
call him Ink because he is always run¬ 
ning from the pen.”—Credit Lost. 
Sher win- Williams 
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MOLINE, ILLINOIS 
M 
_MMISWk _ 
