Policing the Farm--With Bloodhounds, Searchlights and Rifles
In the Fall of each year, from almost every part of the Country, come
reports of what seems to be organized thieving in the poultry line.
Both large and small farms are generally sufferers. For a number of
years people in the vicinity of the The Corning Egg Farm have met with
losses, and in the year 1910 an organized gang was unearthed, which
had a camp on the adjacent hills, and made nightly raids, then shipped
the birds by crossing the Watchung Mountains and reaching railroad
communication on the other side, sending their stolen feathered plunder
into the New York Market.
Shoot First--Investigate Afterwards
The Corning Egg Farm takes a great many precautions in regard to
efficient policing, and has earned a reputation for straight shooting,
not with a gun carrying bird shot, but with rifles. It is thoroughly
understood for miles around that we shoot first and investigate
afterwards. The farm carries some of the finest Blood Hounds in the
Country, all trained man-trailers, and it is thoroughly understood
that if the rifle fails to stop a thief, and it becomes desirable to
see him, the hounds will take up the trail the next day, and no matter
where he may have gone there will be no difficulty in reaching him.
Should he take train the dogs will tell the fact, and then it will be
only necessary to try each station until the one is reached where he
left the train. Should he leave by means of a horse, when he either
gets into the wagon, or mounts the horse, the hound will take the
scent, and carry it until he again takes to the ground.
[Illustration: “SOCRATES,” THE GREAT BLOODHOUND WHICH HEADS THE CORNING
KENNELS]
Socrates, the Great Bloodhound
The head of the kennel, “Socrates,” No. 127320, (his registered name
is “Ottawa’s Major”) is a direct descendant from Rosemary and Delhi,
the two great dogs of Mr. Burgh, of England, who for years has been
the leading breeder of man-trailing Blood Hounds. Altogether the Farm
to-day is carrying seventeen dogs. Fifteen of them are pure and grade
Blood Hounds; two are Fox Terriers. The Fox Terriers are kept for a
breed of thieves other than the two-legged kind, and rats have no place
on which to rest the soles of their feet.
The dogs, every night, are distributed at different points of the Farm,
and one of the great qualities of the Blood Hound is its marvelous
nose, which works just as well in the dark as in the light, and as
watch dogs, because of this peculiarity, they are most efficient,
giving notice of anyone approaching the Farm long before he could
possibly be detected by a dog of another breed. When they give tongue
there is no doubt in the mind of anyone but that he is approaching a
very dangerous zone.
On the Foreman’s Apartments there is a Tower which connects with his
room, the windows of which command a view of every part of the Farm.
In this Tower there is a searchlight, and at any time of the night, if
the dogs give warning of a possible disturber, any part of the Farm can
be instantly flooded with light. Back of the search light is the high
power rifle.
Throughout the Range there is a trolley system which is used, the
overhead wire being so divided that each dog has a run of one hundred
feet, and the leash attached to the sliding pulley gives him twenty
feet on either side of the wire. This makes a complete circuit of the
Colony Range, so that it is impossible for anyone to cross in among the
Colony Houses without being reached by one of the dogs.
We have been breeding some grade hounds, which make a rather more
ferocious animal than the pure breed, so far as natural disposition
goes. The nose quality, however, is all retained, thus enabling these
grades to become perfect trailers.
[Illustration: SOCRATES II AND DIOGENES
Sons of the Great Socrates]
[Illustration: BUSTER, AMERICA’S GREATEST RATTER]
It is well on any egg farm to establish a reputation for being in a
position to always place a marauder behind the bars, and nothing so
insures protection as the knowledge that on the Farm there are carried
dogs which are capable of trailing a trespasser wherever he may go.