FISH AND GAME LAWS
FISH AND GAME LAWS
The motives underlying the enactment of laws concerning fish and game are varied. The controversies over these laws in the legislatures of the several states indicate that there is a belief, whatever may be the fact, that there are opposing interests; viz., those of the hunter or sportsman on the one hand, and those of the farmer or landowner on the other. The law of trespass has been one over which has raged much bitterness, both with regard to the form of the law to be enacted and concerning its subsequent enforcement. Sportsmen have usually held that a distinction existed between wild animals occupying private property and domestic animals. The landowner has urged that others should not trespass upon his property for the purpose of shootingwild animals, although his proprietary right in them was no greater.
In like manner, laws concerning the closed season, made to protect animals during the breeding period, are the subject of extended discussion and are being constantly changed; both because there is a difference of opinion concerning the habits of the different species and because the motive varies for maintaining the supply. Some animals are protected on account of their benefit, supposed or real, to agriculture. Other animals are protected because of their gaming qualities, even to the extent of sometimes injuring farm crops. The money spent by sportsmen in the pursuit of game is an element in the varied interests involved. Humane motives and a desire to prevent the further restriction of a not too varied fauna have helped, also, to save certain species from extinction. On the other hand, in some states commercial interests are involved, as where large quantities of birds are taken for their plumage.
Some attempts have been made to introduceforeign species, as the Japanese pheasant. It is, however, with fish that the most has been accomplished in replenishment. The federal government and several of the states have been active in regularly restocking, each season, certain streams with “fry” of edible and game fish.
Information concerning the open season can be obtained from the proper state officer. The fish and game laws are usually under the control of a commission with a secretary as the executive officer.
CHAPTER XXIIRURAL FORCES
The United States is a vast domain. Its material resources are enormous. Its fertile and easily tilled soil, its magnificent forests, its great stores of ore, coal, oil and gas; its fine water-power sites and its temperate and healthful climate have all contributed to the making of a prosperous and progressive nation. Without these natural resources the United States could not be what it is.
The waste of some of these resources is almost beyond belief. In mining, one-half the anthracite and one-third the soft coal is left in the ground in such a manner that it may never be economically recovered. A ton of coal will produce 1,400 pounds of coke, worth $1.50, and 20 pounds of sulphate of ammonia, worth 50 cents. If all the nitrogen in coal which is turned into coke in Pennsylvania were recovered, it would furnish enough of this element tosupply the needs of every acre of tillable soil in that state. Only about 44% of the wood in the trees now harvested in the United States is incorporated into buildings, apparatus and furniture. The rest is wasted in the process of cutting, sawing and manufacturing into the finished products.
Facts like these have led the nation to realize that the conservation of our natural resources is an immediate and pressing problem. The United States has, however, a greater inheritance than these great and beneficent gifts of nature and a more fundamental problem than the preservation and efficient use of them. In a single sentence, the greatest inheritance of the American people is their Puritan ancestry. The word Puritan is here used to apply not only to the New England Pilgrims, but to all our early forefathers, whose traditions and practices have served to set this country apart from the other countries of the world. Because of the traditions which have been handed down to us, we are healthier-bodied and cleaner-minded men and women. We aremore efficient, not merely in making money, but in everything that goes to make a full and well-rounded life.
It is well to realize the resources of other nations. The agricultural possibilities of France appear to the casual observer to compare favorably with any equal area in the United States. One may see farm land in Italy which has been cultivated for at least two thousand years which is evidently as fertile as any of the limestone valleys of the Atlantic States, the prairies of the Mississippi valley or the Palouse district of the Northwest. Russia has enormous areas of fertile soil. Careful observers report that in Manchuria there are great stretches of country, which today possess natural opportunities similar to those which the Mississippi valley offered one hundred years ago. The recent stories of the deposits of coal and mineral wealth in China are almost fabulous. Europe has rich mines, great forests and unrivaled water-power.
Some years ago a native of Argentina and a native of the United States were diningtogether. The Argentinian had served his government as consul to Canada. He related that he had recently written an official letter in which he had occasion to refer to the people of Canada and to those of this country. He explained that in alluding to the former he could say the Canadians, but the latter he could not call Americans, since his people were also Americans. After due consideration he referred to us as “the Yankees.” “But,” turning to his hearer, he said, with great emphasis, “I do not look upon the people of the United States as a nation, but as a new civilization.” In other words, our nation is not simply one of fertile farms, enormous mines, great forests, unparalleled railroad systems, palatial stores, or wealthy cities, but he saw that we are a people of different economic, political, educational, social, moral and religious ideals.
There are in every rural neighborhood certain forces whose objects are to increase the educational advantages, the social opportunities and the moral aspirations ofthe people. This subject need not be discussed merely in the abstract. There are in every community concrete evidences of these forces. There is the rural church. There is the rural school. In many localities are to be found, also, buildings, for social and fraternal purposes, as grange halls, structures for holding fairs and picnics. These are tangible evidences that there are rural agencies at work in the community whose chief purpose is to increase the educational advantages, the social opportunities and the moral aspirations of the people.
How are these existing rural forces to be made more effective? If co-operation in financial affairs is essential under modern conditions, it is more needed in social matters. Such co-operation does not imply that these separate forces shall be fused into a single one. Each of them has its particular and peculiar work to do, but each should work in harmony and not in the spirit of antagonism with the others.
There should be formed in each localitya committee for which the following name is proposed: The Community Committee of Rural Forces. Emphasis should be placed upon the word “community.” Like all moral movements, progress must come from within, and not from without. The movement must be adapted to its environment. Like the plants that grow there, it must be indigenous to the soil.
Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., has a son Jared, 3d, who is the fifth of the name that has lived upon a farm of 224 acres at Lawyerville, N. Y. Mr. Van Wagenen graduated from Cornell University in 1891, and is a noted farmersÂ’ institute lecturer. He has taken great interest in the country church and the betterment of the rural community. The view shows the pond that furnishes the power for the farmÂ’s electric light plant. The plant was installed by Mr. Van Wagenen with his own hands and has proved a really satisfying success.
Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., has a son Jared, 3d, who is the fifth of the name that has lived upon a farm of 224 acres at Lawyerville, N. Y. Mr. Van Wagenen graduated from Cornell University in 1891, and is a noted farmersÂ’ institute lecturer. He has taken great interest in the country church and the betterment of the rural community. The view shows the pond that furnishes the power for the farmÂ’s electric light plant. The plant was installed by Mr. Van Wagenen with his own hands and has proved a really satisfying success.
Mr. Lowell B. Gable, Glen Gable Farms, Wybrooke, Pa., a graduate of Cornell University, is developing 812 acres of land in Chester county. He has a herd of 80 Guernsey cows in milk and is breeding Percheron, registered polling horses and Chester White hogs. Mr. Gable has been supervisor of the township for two years, during which time nine and one-half miles of macadam road have been built without materially increasing the taxes. Mr. Gable firmly believes that one of the best opportunities to be of help to a rural community lies in the work to be done for the improvement of social conditions—“to help make what little leisure there is clean and refreshing.” Hence on return from college he played baseball and football with local teams and helped out at every opportunity at dances, musicales and other social entertainments.
Mr. Lowell B. Gable, Glen Gable Farms, Wybrooke, Pa., a graduate of Cornell University, is developing 812 acres of land in Chester county. He has a herd of 80 Guernsey cows in milk and is breeding Percheron, registered polling horses and Chester White hogs. Mr. Gable has been supervisor of the township for two years, during which time nine and one-half miles of macadam road have been built without materially increasing the taxes. Mr. Gable firmly believes that one of the best opportunities to be of help to a rural community lies in the work to be done for the improvement of social conditions—“to help make what little leisure there is clean and refreshing.” Hence on return from college he played baseball and football with local teams and helped out at every opportunity at dances, musicales and other social entertainments.
This committee should be composed of representatives of the churches, the schools, farmersÂ’ clubs, granges, fair associations, farmersÂ’ institutes; and other organizations which are striving to increase the educational advantages, the social opportunities and the moral aspirations of the people.
Oftentimes the object of these rural forces is confused with efforts to increase the financial prosperity of the farmer. It goes without saying that the maintenance of the fertility of the soil is essential to the food supply of the nation. The problems of the economic production of plants and animals are of great importance to the prosperity of the farmer. The idea, however, that theproper solution of these economic problems is to be the means of solving the educational, social and religious problems is simply putting the cart before the horse. Economic questions can only be satisfactorily adjusted through the application of intelligence and right ideas.
Let it be supposed that when a young man decides to pay attention to a young woman that instead of meeting her at the church door, or it may be at the railway station, it is considered better form for him to get permission of the mother to call upon the young woman in her own home. This is the most fundamental question in every neighborhood. What has it to do with the price of wheat?
This illustration has been used to emphasize two points. First, there are many problems in every community that are in no way related to the material prosperity of the neighborhood. Second, there is, at present, no single force in the community with sufficient influence to cope properly with many of these problems.
A young college graduate who is now managing eight hundred acres of land recently wrote: “I firmly believe that one of the best opportunities to be of help to a rural community lies in the work that is to be done for the improvement of social conditions—to help make what little leisure there is clean and refreshing.” Hence on return from college this young man has found time to play football and baseball with local teams and to help whenever opportunity offered at dances, musicales and similar entertainments. Games and other forms of recreation may be clean and wholesome, or they may be quite the reverse. It would be the duty of the community committee to see that dances occurred under proper environment—not next an open saloon—and that the young women were properly chaperoned.
In many communities the boys and girls are almost wholly dependent upon the neighboring towns for their amusement. This condition may or may not be desirable. If the town and country are virtually onecommunity, there is every reason why the boys and girls from the farms should find recreation and social intercourse with the boys and girls of the village. It is a relationship that should be fostered wherever possible. When, however, the town and the country are separate communities, which prevent the ordinary social relationships, it is usually unfortunate when the young people of the one community are dependent upon the other community for their amusements.
A deeply earnest man recently said: “I was born and raised upon the farm. I never knew a dull day in my life. I went fishing. I went hunting and——”
“Stop right there,” said the listener. “There is not the same opportunity today for a boy to go hunting that there was when you were a boy.”
“That is true.”
“Our ideas about such things have changed, also.”
“Yes,” he replied, humbly enough, for he was a man of fine fiber.
“I propose a substitute,” said the listener. “There is much more pleasure and recreation to be obtained from photographing animals than from killing them. What is needed in every rural community is a camera club.”
When a boy wishes to go hunting, he merely has to buckle on his ammunition pouch, shoulder his gun and he is ready. A camera club, however, requires a social organization and a social center. The community committee would thus be required to decide whether the facilities for developing and printing pictures may best be located at the church, the schoolhouse, the grange hall or elsewhere.
A little reflection will show how many possibilities such a club might have on its social, moral and educational side. The suggestion has been made here, however, only as an illustration of the problems which arise when a rural community is organized for social welfare. The organization of a book club, or a magazine club in a rural community presents precisely the sameproblems. Some method must be devised for exchanging the books or magazines. Whether they are exchanged at the church, the grange hall or through the school children will depend upon local conditions requiring a community committee to decide.
This community committee will do something more than reach immediate results. It may project its influence far into the future. Not all of life is comprised in a porcelain bathtub and nickel adornments. Nevertheless modern methods of heating and plumbing are desirable in the country as well as in the city. In Indiana there is a one-room school building. In the basement there has been placed a furnace and a gasoline engine. The engine is used not only to teach the boys how to run a gasoline engine, but it makes possible a modern system of plumbing.
It is well known that many of the states within the past decade have voted to abolish or very materially restrict the sale of alcoholic beverages. No great temperance orators have roused the people as was the casethirty years or more ago. Why, then, has such progress been made in recent years? In large part because twenty-five years ago, the teaching of physiology was introduced into the public schools, which taught the evil effects of alcohol to the human system. During the past decade young men who studied these physiologies have been voting.
What has the teaching of physiology to do with the one-room schoolhouse in Indiana with its modern system of plumbing? The girls between the ages of six and fourteen are now becoming accustomed to modern systems of plumbing. When they grow older and marry they will find some way to introduce similar conveniences into their homes without regard to the price of wheat. A wise community committee will find many ways to influence future generations. Such a committee would be a priceless heritage to any community.
The natural resources of the United States are necessary to the prosperity of the people. The preservation and economic use of these resources are of vast importance.The natural resources of the world were, however, as great five thousand years ago as they are today. The soil was no less fertile then than now. The difference between the prosperity of the human race at these two periods is caused by a difference in human motive and efficiency. It is the result of ideals and knowledge. Sit at the banquet table with men who are the real powers in shaping the affairs of the world. The chances are that the champagne remains untouched. These men are not in the habit of partaking of midnight suppers. They must keep themselves fit for the next day’s work. They have the approval and loyalty of their wives because they deserve it. In other words, the men who do the world’s work are not drunkards. They are not gluttons. They are not libertines. They are efficient because they have healthy bodies and clean minds. It is this efficiency which the critic from Argentina saw when he said, “I do not look upon the people of the United States as a nation, but as a new civilization.”
STANDARD BOOKSPUBLISHED BYORANGE JUDD COMPANY
STANDARD BOOKS
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ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
Any of these books will be sent by mail, postpaid, to any part of the world, on receipt of catalog price. We are always happy to correspond with our patrons, and cordially invite them to address us on any matter pertaining to rural books. Send for our large illustrated catalog, free on application.
First Principles of Soil Fertility
ByAlfred Vivian. There is no subject of more vital importance to the farmer than that of the best method of maintaining the fertility of the soil. The very evident decrease in the fertility of those soils which have been under cultivation for a number of years, combined with the increased competition and the advanced price of labor, have convinced the intelligent farmer that the agriculture of the future must be based upon more rational practices than those which have been followed in the past. We have felt for some time that there was a place for a brief, and at the same time comprehensive, treatise on this important subject of Soil Fertility. Professor Vivian’s experience as a teacher in the short winter courses has admirably fitted him to present this matter in a popular style. In this little book he has given the gist of the subject in plain language, practically devoid of technical and scientific terms. It is pre-eminently a “First Book,” and will be found especially valuable to those who desire an introduction to the subject, and who intend to do subsequent reading. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 265 pages. Cloth.
Net, $1.00
Net, $1.00
The Study of Corn
ByProf. V. M. Shoesmith. A most helpful book to all farmers and students interested in the selection and improvement of corn. It is profusely illustrated from photographs, all of which carry their own story and contribute their part in making pictures and text matter a clear, concise and interesting study of corn. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 100 pages. Cloth.
Net, $0.50
Net, $0.50
Profitable Stock Raising
ByClarence A. Shamel. This book covers fully the principles of breeding and feeding for both fat stock and dairying type. It tells of sheep and mutton raising, hot house lambs, the swine industry and the horse market. Finally, he tells of the preparation of stock for the market and how to prepare it so that it will bring a high market price. Live stock is the most important feature of farm life, and statistics show a production far short of the actual requirements. There are many problems to be faced in the profitable production of stock, and these are fully and comprehensively covered in Mr. ShamelÂ’s new book. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 288 pages. Cloth.
Net, $1.50
Net, $1.50
The Business of Dairying
ByC. B. Lane. The author of this practical little book is to be congratulated on the successful manner in which he has treated so important a subject. It has been prepared for the use of dairy students, producers and handlers of milk, and all who make dairying a business. Its purpose is to present in a clear and concise manner various business methods and systems which will help the dairyman to reap greater profits. This book meets the needs of the average dairy farmer, and if carefully followed will lead to successful dairying. It may also be used as an elementary textbook for colleges, and especially in short-course classes. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 300 pages. Cloth.
Net, $1.25
Net, $1.25
Questions and Answers on Buttermaking
ByChas A. Publow. This book is entirely different from the usual type of dairy books, and is undoubtedly in a class by itself. The entire subject of butter-making in all its branches has been most thoroughly treated, and many new and important features have been added. The tests for moisture, salt and acid have received special attention, as have also the questions on cream separation, pasteurization, commercial starters, cream ripening, cream overrun, marketing of butter, and creamery management. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 100 pages. Cloth.
Net, $0.50
Net, $0.50
Questions and Answers on Milk and Milk Testing
ByChas. A. Publow, andHugh C. Troy. A book that no student in the dairy industry can afford to be without. No other treatise of its kind is available, and no book of its size gives so much practical and useful information in the study of milk and milk products. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 100 pages. Cloth.
Net, $0.50
Net, $0.50
Soils
ByCharles William Burkett, Director Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. The most complete and popular work of the kind ever published. As a rule, a book of this sort is dry and uninteresting, but in this case it reads like a novel. The author has put into it his individuality. The story of the properties of the soils, their improvement and management, as well as a discussion of the problems of crop growing and crop feeding, make this book equally valuable to the farmer, student and teacher. Illustrated. 303 pages. 5-1/2x8 inches. Cloth. Net, $1.25
Weeds of the Farm Garden
ByL. H. Pammel. The enormous losses, amounting to several hundred million dollars annually in the United States, caused by weeds stimulate us to adopt a better system of agriculture. The weed question is, therefore, a most important and vital one for American farmers. This treatise will enable the farmer to treat his field to remove weeds. The book is profusely illustrated by photographs and drawings made expressly for this work, and will prove invaluable to every farmer, land owner, gardener and park superintendent. 5x7 inches. 300 pages. Cloth.
Net, $1.50
Net, $1.50
Farm Machinery and Farm Motors
ByJ. B. DavidsonandL. W. Chase. Farm Machinery and Farm Motors is the first American book published on the subject of Farm Machinery since that written by J. J. Thomas in 1867. This was before the development of many of the more important farm machines, and the general application of power to the work of the farm. Modern farm machinery is indispensable in present-day farming operations, and a practical book like Farm Machinery and Farm Motors will fill a much-felt need. The book has been written from lectures used by the authors before their classes for several years, and which were prepared from practical experience and a thorough review of the literature pertaining to the subject. Although written primarily as a textbook, it is equally useful for the practical farmer. Profusely illustrated. 5-1/2x8 inches. 520 pages. Cloth.
Net, $2.00
Net, $2.00
The Book of Wheat
ByP. T. Dondlinger. This book comprises a complete study of everything pertaining to wheat. It is the work of a student of economic as well as agricultural conditions, well fitted by the broad experience in both practical and theoretical lines to tell the whole story in a condensed form. It is designed for the farmer, the teacher, and the student as well. Illustrated. 5-1/2x8 inches. 370 pages. Cloth.
Net, $2.00
Net, $2.00
FarmerÂ’s Cyclopedia
of Agriculture
A Compendium of Agricultural Science and Practice on Farm, Orchard and Garden Crops, and the Feeding and Diseases of Farm Animals.
ByEARLEY VERNON WILCOX, Ph. D.
andCLARENCE BEAMAN SMITH, M. S.
Associate Editors in the Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture
This is a new, practical, and complete presentation of the whole subject of agriculture in its broadest sense. It is designed for the use of agriculturists who desire up-to-date, reliable information on all matters pertaining to crops and stock, but more particularly for the actual farmer. The volume contains
Detailed directions for the culture of every important field, orchard, and garden crop
grown in America, together with descriptions of their chief insect pests and fungous diseases, and remedies for their control. It contains an account of modern methods in feeding and handling all farm stock, including poultry. The diseases which affect different farm animals and poultry are described, and the most recent remedies suggested for controlling them.
Every bit of this vast mass of new and useful information is authoritative, practical and easily found, and no effort has been spared to include all desirable details. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 topics covered in these references, and it contains 700 royal 8vo pages and nearly 500 superb half-tone and other original illustrations, making the most perfect Cyclopedia of Agriculture ever attempted.
Handsomely bound in cloth. $3.50; half morocco (very sumptuous), $4.50. postpaid