396 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



not only protects the soil from the beating action of the 

 rain drops, but by retarding the run-off, it causes much 

 of the water to disappear under ground or permits it to 

 evaporate from the surface. 



While the most widespread land wash of the state is 

 to be seen in the mountainous section where the forests 

 have been removed, it is not by any means confined to 

 that section alone. We have remarkable instances of 

 soil erosion in the Wilmot gulleys near Thomaston in 

 middle Georgia, and in the noted gulleys near Lumpkin 

 in the Coastal Plain. The huge gulleys here referred to 

 attain a depth in places of sixty feet or more, and are 

 seen traversing fields which less than fifty years ago 

 were cultivated in cotton. The primary cause of these 

 huge gulleys is the cutting away of the forests from the 

 steep hill slopes which border the valleys of the small 



streams. 



It is interesting to study the life history of a gulley 

 in the uplands of the Coastal Plain. They have their 

 beginnings in small washes that make their appearance 

 soon after the forests are removed from the hill slopes. 

 From year to year the gulley increases its length and 

 depth. The downward cutting continues until it approxi- 

 mates the base level of the valley below. Here the water 

 ceases to deepen the gulley but spends its energies in 

 widening its lower end. At this stage of its life history 

 vegetation in the form of old field pine, blackberries, etc., 

 begin to grow in the lower reaches of the gulley. Ero- 

 sion now ceases and a soil is formed. 



Here we have a life history of a gulley produced by 

 the cutting away of the forest on the hillside and arrested 

 by the same agency. A case of nature healing its own 

 wound. 



I 



RATTLE SNAKES 



(Cont'd from Page 393) 



generally from eight to ten reserve fangs and that fre- 

 quently this replacement process takes several weeks. 



Dr. Mitchell also refers to the popular idea of a "hiss" 

 which every snake is believed to possess. In the case 

 of rattlers he says that repeated experiments satisfied him 

 that with this class of snakes this hissing sound is the 

 air expelled from the reptile's body by the violence of 

 its muscular eflfort in casting itself forward to strike its 

 victim and not a method or process of its protective or 

 combative system. 



As for the famous caudal appendage of the rattler, 

 both Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Stejneger of the Smithsonian 

 Institution agree that a button requires about two or thret 

 months to grow to its maximum size, the summer growth 

 being more rapid than in winter, that the first button, 

 or rattle, is present when the snake is born and at six- 

 teen months a caged rattler in Dr. Mitchell's collec- 

 tion had six rattles. One or two come ofif with each 

 shedding of the skin an annual occurrence and are 

 frequently broken or injured or come off naturally so 

 that they bear no possible relation to the age of the 

 wearer. The rattles are an indication of the snake's condi- 

 tion ; well fed they are large and grow fast, but under 

 starvation the rattles are small and grow very slowly. 



Occasionally in our snake cages we would discover 

 some morning all the way from five to a dozen little 

 snakelets. There always followed a vast atnount of dis- 

 cussion as to their mode of birth. 



"From eggs just like a bird," declared some who quot- 

 ed various experience to prove it. "From their motner 

 just as puppies are" vowed others who offered equally 

 convincing proof as to their claims. 



A study of the authorities, Drs. EHtmars, Mitchell, 



Stejneger and others, proved each to be right within 

 certain limitations. 



The facts are that as with some flies so some snakes, 

 such as water snakes, garter snakes, and rattlers, are 

 viviparous, i. e., they bring forth their young alive, 

 while bull, black and gopher snakes and others of this 

 class are oviparous and their offspring comes into this 

 world via an egg, just as birds and turtles do. 



If bitten by a rattler do not lose your head. First 

 place a ligature on the limb between the wound and the 

 heart. If on -the body where such a thing is not possible 

 your chances for recovery are greatly lessened. 



Second, scarify the wound with a keen knife, knead 

 the flesh so as to encourage bleeding which really washes 

 the poison from the wound, suck it vigorously, if your 

 lips and mouth have no broken places. 



Don't leave the ligature in one place or closed down 

 for more than ten or fifteen minutes without loosening 

 it for a moment to allow the blood to flow. This per- 

 mits the poison, if in the veins, to enter the rest of the 

 body in small amounts and minimizes its effect. 



Do everything to produce profuse sweating in the 

 patient. Give alcohol only in small doses, a teaspoon ful 

 at the most, avoid ammonia as a stimulant and never 

 give doses of whiskey except as alcohol. "People do 

 not recover from snake bite," agree all these authorities, 

 "because of the whiskey used, but in spite of it." 



And, finally, don't undertake to emulate the Hopi 

 Indian. He and his ancestors for a thousand years back 

 for four hundred of which we have authentic records 

 have been handling and "worshiping" these reptiles 

 and even they are not infrequently the victims of mis- 

 placed confidence and are bitten and seek refuge in 

 their mysterious and so far unknown cure. 



