Woodchuck

N. A., oí Lawton, Mieh., gives, through the Western Rural, bis experience with woodchucks. He says : I have tried many plans and ilnd tliat a good riíle in the hands of an expert marksman is the best instrument for destroying these pests. But any plan that does not include united action among neighboring farmers will prove unsatisf actory, becausc of the rapid increase and migratory habits of these anirnals. In this State we have a law giving township authorities the power to award such bounties for tlie destruction of noxious animáis, as the voters hall have voted at the precedingtown meeting. About ftve years ago the woodchucks became such an intolerable nuisance in this vieinity that many towns voted to offer a bounly fortheir destruction. The first year this bounty was offered in the town in which I reside, about one thousand woodchuck scalps were paid for at twenty-flve cents each. The bounty was offered for three years in all, at a cost or something over $500 to the town. As evidence of the complete success of this plan, I will state this fact, that I have not seen a woodchuck in two years, living on the same farm where flve years ago dozens of them could be seen every day, and the meadows were so full of their burrows that it was difflcult to drive a team with the mower. The greatest objection to this method is its expensiveness, but this objection is deprived of much of its force by the fact that in many cases the increased taxes a farmer pays on this account is returned to his boys or himself in the shape of woodchuck bounties.