THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



597 



tlelphia niiH New York in a legitimate way ; to 

 say nolhina of the carijoes which are carried oil 

 hy marauders — interlopers I'rom the north, who 

 pounce down upon our testaceous eeitiemcnts ] 

 with draijs and rakinir irons, contrary to the act 

 ol" assenibly in such ca?es made and provided. 



The line quaiiiy of the Chesapeake oyster is 

 well know. Persons who have eaten no other 

 oysters than such as are native lo liie Delaware 

 bay, the Jersey coast, or the waters neiwlihorinjj 

 to New York, have no adequate idea oC tiie true 

 nature ol this fish. We make no attempt to ac- 

 count philosophically lor its superiority ; the fact 

 is enough. But there seems to be some peculiari- 

 ty about the waters of the Chesapeake and its 

 tributary streams — a peculiarity, whatever it may 

 be, which epicures should hold in high veneration. 

 Where else \s \he canvass back to be (bimd ? or 

 the so/i 6r«6 in its best estate? or the terrapin? 



Bur to return to the oysters. The trade in this 

 commodity between Baltimore and the west is 

 carried on with great activity in the winter season. 

 A species of vehicle has been constructed for (his 

 particular purpose well adapted ti3r speed as well 

 as (or burden. Let it be on record that, oysters, 

 on their route to the west, have beaten the mail 

 stages. We shall probably hear before long that 

 terrapins have done the same. 



With the opening of the rail-road to Cumber- 

 land the transportation of oysters westward will 

 become a still more extensive business. There 

 will always be a demand lor them over the moun- 

 tains — a demand that must ever outrun the sup- 

 ply. For ihe people of the west are not only 

 people of taste, but there is also among them a 

 traditionary regard for the oyster — a sort of here- 

 ditary respect transmitted from the first settlers, 

 who could not omit to place this fish first in the 

 place of luxuries which they had left behind them 

 when they bade adieu to tide water to take up 

 their abode in the great interior where there were 

 no oysters. Of course the fish was much talked 

 of in domestic circles ; his uncouth appearance 

 so unlike that of other fish-^perhaps the question 

 was mooted whether he was a fish or not — and all 

 this kind of speech to those of the rising generation 

 who had never seen an oyster, together with the 

 fervid description of his choice flavor, so superior 

 to that of any other delicacy, could not but en- 

 hance the reputation of the animal to a most ex- 

 traordinary degree. 



In view of the probable increase of the trade 

 in this article it becomes a matter of some import- 

 ance to inquire into the best means of preserving 

 the oysters in their native beds from undue de- 

 struction — also for increasing their quantity and 

 keeping a constant supply. We notice in a Boston 

 paper that much care is devoted to this end in 

 some places along the North Atlantic coast. At 

 Wellfleet, near the extremity of Cape Cod, there 

 is considerable trade in oysters, although they are 

 not native to that locality. The oysters are mostly 

 obtained from Staten Island, Little Egg Harbor, 

 and sometimes from the Chesapeake and Dela- 

 ware ber^'s. They are selected of small size and 

 planted ; and after some seven or nine months 

 they are taken up and carried to market, having 

 increased during that, period to a size suificiently 

 large. About thirty vessels, averaging 40 tons 

 each, are employed a portion of the year in this 

 business. The time ibr planting is during the 



months of March, April and May— but in this 

 latitude' it might be earlier. 



If the farmers, country gentlemen, and others, 

 living on our Chesapeake rivers and bay side 

 would lake a little trouble in this way, and plant 

 out large beds of the best oysters, there is no 

 doubt liut they would find their account in it. 

 During most of the year good oysters will bring 

 in this maiket seventy-five cents a bushel — a 

 belter price than corn. The trouble of planting 

 is very litik — as nothing more ie required than to 

 drop the oyster on the bottom in any selected, 

 convenient place. There is not a resident on the 

 bay and its rivers that might not add handsomely 

 to his income by taking a little pains in this — be- 

 sides always having for his own use a ready sup- 

 ply of Ihe choicest product of our waters. 



POISONING WOLVES. 



Krom tlie Union Agriculturist. 



Walworth, W. T. July 2Wi, 1«41. 

 Sir, — As this section of country was much 

 inlested with wolves during the winter of 1839, 

 i gave to a neighbor who had lost a cow, a lew 

 grains of strychnine (made from the strychnos 

 calabrinum,) instructing him to cut out small 

 baits, and insert into each, under a flap cut very 

 thin, 1-8 of a grain of the poison. The body 

 of the cow was drawn to a convenient spot on 

 the banks of our Lake, and the prepared baits 

 dropped at difi'erent distances around the car- 

 cass. The stratagem resulted in the death of 

 six wolves besides a number ol loxes, rackoons 

 and birds of prey. When these lacts became 

 known, I had many applications ibr the article ;, 

 and so uniformly successful were these trials,, 

 that I can enumerate twenty-six wolves and 

 one panther which have been destroyed by the 

 strychnine, (only 60 grains,) which I furnished 

 that winter. One farmer in this town had ^40 

 bounty tor the wolves he killed with but one 

 dollar's worth of the poison. In this case the 

 flap was sowed down with colored thread, so 

 that on opening the stomach he knew his own 

 bail again ; and was tfiereby enabled to take- 

 the necessary oaths for obtaining the bounty- 

 It is a good practice, under all circumstances,, 

 to sew down the flap over the poison, lest the 

 animal should taste and reject it ; (it is exceed- 

 ingly bitter ;) but then the flap should be as 

 thin as possible, that it may ihe sooner come ia 

 contact with the nerves of the siomach. Strych- 

 nine causes death solely by its action on the 

 nerves, and therefore no traces of phlogistian, or 

 even of cerebral congestion can be discovered on 

 dissection. 



Winter is the most convenient season /or 

 using this poison to advantage ; not only on 

 account of the bait being more easily obtained, 

 and kept, and the animal more easily tracked 

 to the spot where he finally falls, (this varies 

 from one rod to one mile,) but also because the 

 poison is more fatal in cold weather. 



Strychnine may be made from any of the 

 strychnos family of plants, but the best is made 

 from the St. Ignatius bean, or the f/pas trente 

 of Java. That which is made from the mix 

 vomica is comparaitvely weak, requiring hall u 



