The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work
John Stuart Mill · en
Prairie dogs, chipmunks, badgers, fawns, 'possums, crows, and many
other native wild animals have been successfully tamed. You may have
read of "Red" Saunders's pets, the bob-cat, the snake, and Judge, the
hawk. Whether you would call them tame or not depends. They certainly
had "wild, wild ways," though they frequented the kitchen and slept
under the stove, one at a time. The same methods must be employed, no
matter what the creature is. Gentleness, patience, and common sense
will succeed almost every time with young animals.
VI
MAKING BROOKS AND SPRINGS USEFUL
RECLAIMING A TROUT STREAM
"I used to ketch trout that 'ud weigh two pound in that little crick
back of my pasture when I 'uz a boy."
Who has not heard old men say that? They seem to have just accepted
the lack of trout as one other piece of bad luck, like wormy apples,
blighted wheat, and other dispensations of Providence. The younger
generation are not satisfied with this view. If good wheat can be
grown by modern methods, and wormy apples prevented by spraying, why
shouldn't trout be caught in grandpa's old brook? No reason in the
world. In between you and grandpa there was a generation of neglect.
Your father and his brothers probably went to town to seek their
fortunes. Anyhow, everybody was too busy to fish, and something went
wrong with the brook that needs to be righted.
Any stream that has been a trout stream once can be so again, provided
that the water is not fed with poisoned drainage from some mill
or factory. If the forest has been removed and natural conditions
so changed that the brook that used to be perennial is now only
semi-annual, going dry in time of drought, it will be necessary to
build a series of dams to make sure that the water will always be deep
enough for trout. A spring-fed brook is best; it is cool and constant.
Lower the channel by digging where refuse has choked the natural course
of the stream, but don't tidy it up enough to make it artificial.