Gardening.
295
Wales, ordained that if one found geese in his corn, he might take a stick as long as from his elbow to the end of his little finger, and as thick as he chose, and he might This maiden plaintiff's Thomas cat whack them as hard as he liked, so long as Was filled with bad propensity. they remained among the corn: but he had To prowl and fight, and scratch and fight, to pay for any he slew outside the corn patch. And howl with great intensity. If a man caught a hen in his flax garden he might detain her until the owner redeemed The feline ferae naturae her with an egg: if it was the "noble chan Would go with great velocity ticleer" that was caught the person who suf Not after rats, but neighbor's cats, fered damage might either cut off one of his And claw them with ferocity. claws and let him go, maimed and halt, or He was a mangy flea-bit thing, else he could demand an egg for every wife And mingled with bad company; the male bird had at home. No high-born cat aristocrat. In Illinois a man found to his cost that he But nasty, vile and vicious he. could not kill trespassing turkeys, while in New York another one discovered that the His sire was mean and mean his dam, destruction of invading geese was equally And damned throughout eternity disastrous; in Connecticut a man scattered By neighbors sad, and neighbors mad, poison over his ground and gave notice of Whose damns meant not maternity. the fact to his neighbors, yet he had to settle A nuisance was this pesky beast, for the death of hens who intruded on his Immoral, lewd and profligate; land, ate of the poison and died. (Reis v. Twas his delight, both day and night, Stratton, 23 Ill. App., 314: Matthews v. His progeny to propagate. Fristel 2 E. D. Smith, 90: Johnson v. Patter After this revelation of the character of son, 14 Conn. 1.) Seven-toed Tom, Miss Moore accepted fifty Mr. Justice Bailey once decided that if cents and costs. (55 Alb. L. J. 193.) pigeons came upon his land he might kill As to chickens it is a very common thing them, although he could not make the owner to kill, or try to kill, one's neighbor's poul of the birds recompense him for the damage try because of their scratchings, but it has done. (Hannan r. Mockett, 5 B. & C.) not crystallized into a custom of the country About a decade ago two ladies went to so as to exempt you from liability for so law about snails: the lady living on one side doing. It is a great satisfaction to a gardener of a wall complained that the lady on the to toss dead chickens into the owners yard other side allowed her snails to crawl over or use two or three to enrich a hot-bed, but the wall and damage her dahlias. The de the amusement (if discovered) may cost the fendant contended that a snail is "an elusive value of the hens, even though the owner beast" and cannot be controlled, and that lias been frequently warned of the probable the flowers were damaged by the complain consequences of their continued depreda ant's own snails: and just as the lawyers tions, and requested to keep them at home. were expecting to have a nice point decided (Clark 7'. Kilcher 107 Mass. 406.) If you can the ladies kissed and made friends. catch them in flagrante dclictn, and your loss Probably after all this you feel that on is likely to be greater than their value, you some matters you have, perhaps, "some shal may slay with impunity, perhaps. (Ander low spirit of judgment: but in these nice son V. Smith, supra.} sharp quillets of the law. good faith, you That wise law-giver, Howel the Good, of are no wiser than a daw." of the answer to the complaint for the unlaw ful and wilful and wicked taking away and killing the cat :—
