J 44 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



KOV. 



IS4< 



MISCELLANEOUS 



THE AMERICAN WILD CAT. 



In the southern portion of the United States, but 

 especially in Louisiana, the "-vild-cat is found in 

 abundance, and althourjh every year vast nuuihcrs 

 are killed, they remain seeminoly as plentiful as 

 they ever wore " in the lueumry of the oldest in- 

 liabitant." 



'J'lie wild-cat seeks the most solitary retreats in 

 which to rear its yountf, ivliere, in some natural 

 hole in the ground, or some hollow tree, it finds 

 protection for itself and its kittens IVoin the destruc- 

 tive hand of man. At nifrht, or at early morn, it 

 comes abroad, stealinix over tlio dried leaves, in 

 search of prey, as quietly as a zephyr, or ascending 

 the forest tree witli almost the ease of a bird. The 

 nest on the tree, and the burrow in the ground, are 

 alike invaded ; while the poultry yard of the far- 

 mer, and his slieepfold, are drawn liberally upon to 

 supply the cat with food. It runs downs the rabbit, 

 'coon, and 'possum, sprinijinn- from some elevated 

 bout;li upon the bird perched beneath, catching its 

 victim in its mouth, and doing this while descend- 

 ing like an arrow in speed, and alighting with the 

 softness of a feather upon the ground. Nothing 

 can e.vceed its beauty of motion when in pursuit 

 of game, or sporting in play. No leap seems too 

 formidable, no attitude is ungraceful. It runs, flies, 

 leaps, and is at ease in an instant of time: every 

 hair of lis body seems redolent with life. Its dis- 

 posiliiin is untameable. It seems insensible to 

 kindness — a mere mass of ill-nature — having no 

 sympathies with any, not even of its own kind. It 

 IS for tills reason, no doubt, that it is so recklessly 

 pursued, its paw being, like the Ishmaelites, against 

 every man ; and it naturally follows that every 

 man's dogs, sticks and guns are against it. The 

 hounds themselves, that hunt equally well the cat 

 and fox, pursue the former with a clamorous joy, 

 and kill it with a zest that they do not display when 

 finishing ofT a fine run after reynard. 



Ill Louisiana the sportsman starts out in the morn- 

 ing professedly for a fo.\ chase, and it turns "cat," 

 and often both cat and fox are killed, after a short 

 but hard morning's work. 'I he chase is varied, and 

 is often full of amusing inrident — for the cat, a? 

 might be expected, takes often to the "tree," tu 

 avoid pursuit, and this habit of tlie animal allows 

 the sportsman to meet it on quite familiar terms. 

 If the tree is a tall one, the cxcitable_creaturo man- 

 ages to have its face obscured by the distance ; 

 but if It takes to a dead, limbless trunk, where the 

 height will permit its head to be fairly seen, as it 

 looks down upon the pack that are yelling at its 

 foot, you will see a rare exhibition of rage and fury : 

 eyes that seem living balls of fire; poisonous claws 

 that clutch the insensible wood with indentations ; 

 the foam trembling on its jaws, its hair standing 

 up like porcupine quills, its ears pressed down to 

 the head — its whole contour forming as perfect a 

 picture of vicious, ungovernable dcstructiveness as 

 can he imagined. A charge of mustard-seed shot, 

 or a poke with a stick when at bay, will cause it to 

 desert its airy abode; when it no sooner touches 

 the ground, than it starts off at a killing pace, the 

 liounds like mad fiends on its trail. 



Beside " treeing," the cat will take advantage of 

 some hole in the ground, and disappear as suddenly 

 as gliosts at cock-crowing. The hounds come up 

 to the hiding places, and a fight ensues. The first 

 head intruded into the cat's hole is sure to meet 



with a warm reception ; claws and teeth do their 

 work, still the staunch hound heeds it not, and eith- 

 er he gets a hold himself, or acts as a bait to draw 

 the cat from his burrow: thus fastened, the dog 

 being the most powerful in strength, backs out, 

 drawing his enemy along with him ; and no sooner 

 is the cat's head seen by the rest of the pack, than 

 they pounce upon him, and in a few moments the 

 " nine lives" of the "varmint" are literally chawed 

 up. 



Sportsmen, in hunting the cat, provide themselves 

 generally with pistols, not for the purpose of killing 

 the cat, but to annoy it, so that it will dfsert from 

 the tree, when it has taken to one. Sometimes 

 these infantile shooting irons are left at home, and 

 the cat gets safely lodged out of the reach of sticks, 

 or whatever other missile may be convenient. This 

 IS a most provoking affair; dogs and sportsmen 

 lose all patience, and as no expedient suggests it- 

 self, the cat escapes for the time. 



Of all the peculiarities of the wild cat, its un- 

 tameable and quarrelsome disposition is its most 

 marked characteristic. The western hunter, when 

 he wishes to cap the climax of braggadocio with 

 respect to his own prowess, says " he can wliip his 

 weight in w ild cats." "I am a tall specimen of an 

 earthquake, in a fight," bellowed out one of these 

 half-horse-and-half-alligator fellows: "lean strike 

 as hard as fourth-proof lightning, and keep it up 

 rough-and-tumble as long as a wild-cat." These 

 high encomiums on the cat's pugnacity, are justly 

 merited — for, considering its size, it can bite fierc- 

 er, scratch harder, and live longer, in a fight, than 

 any other animal \vlMtever. " .A singed cat" is an 

 excellent proverb, illustrating that a person may be 

 better than he looks. " A singed tvild-cur," as such 

 an illustration, would be sublime. There is no 

 half-way work, no exception, no occasional moment 

 of good nature; starvation and a surfeit, blows and 

 kind words, kicks, cuffs, and fresh meat, reach not 

 the sympathies of the wild-cat. He has the greedi- 

 ness of the pawnbroker, the ill nature of an old 

 usurer, the meanness of a pettifogging lawyer, the 

 blind rage of the hog, and the apparent insensibili- 

 ty to pain of the turtle. Like a woman, the wild- 

 cat is incomparable with any thing but itself. 



In expression efface, the wild-cat singularly re- 

 sembles the rattlesnake. The skulls of these two 

 "varmints" possess the same venomous expres- 

 sion, the same demonstration of fangs, and proba- 

 bly no two creatures attack each other with more 

 deadly ferocity and hate. They will stare at each 

 other with eyes filled witli defiance, and burning 

 with fire, one hissing and the other snarling, pre- 

 senting a most terrible picture of the malevolence 

 of pasion. The serpent in its attitudes is all grace 

 — the cat all activity: the serpent moves with the 

 i]uickness of lightning, while making the attack: 

 the cat defends with motions equally quick, bound- 

 ing from side to side, striking with its paws. Both 

 are often victors, for they seldom separate until 

 death-wounds have been inflicted on both sides. 

 The Indians imagine that the wild-cat has the attri- 

 bute of gloating over the displays of evil pa.ssions 

 in a quarrelsome person. — JV. Y. Spirit of ilie Times. 



Complication of Evils. — "What did Mr 



die of?" asked one neighbor of another. "Of a 

 complication of disorders," was the reply. "And 

 what is that .5" " Why, he died of two physicians, 

 a surgeon and an apothecary." — Selected. 



Forgive : let not the sun set upon your wrath. 



AGRICULTURAL IMFLEMEIVTS, &c 



The Proprietors of the New tini;land Asricuiliiral W 

 house and Seed Slnre No. 51 and 52 North Market sir 

 would inform their customers and the piiMic ^el:e^ally : 

 lliey have on hand the most extensive assoiimem ol A 

 cullnial and Horticultural Tools to he found in ihe In 

 Stales. Part of winch are the followins-: 



1000 Howard's Patent Cast 



iron Ploughs 

 300 Common do. do. 

 200 Cullivalors: 

 too fJreene's Straw Cutters 

 60 Willis' do. do. 



do. do. 

 Patent Cc 



do. 



100 C 



too Wllii; 



Shellcrs 

 50 Common d.j 

 2ii0 Willis' Seed So ... 

 50 " V'egetslile Cutlers 

 50 Common do. do. 



200 Hand Corn Mills. 

 200 Grain Cradles. 

 100 Ox yokes. 

 1500 Doz- Scvthe Stones. 

 3000 " Austin's Rifles. 

 March 17. 



100 doz. Cast Steel Shov 

 150 " Common do. 

 100 " Spades. 

 300 " Gra.ssScyihes. 

 300 " Patent Snaiths. 

 200 " Common du. 

 500 " Hay Rakes. 

 200 " Garden do. 

 200 " Manure Forks. 

 300 " Hay do. 

 500 Pair Trace Chains. 

 100 " Truck do. 

 100 Draft do. 

 500 Tie up do. 



50 doz. Halter do. 

 1000 yards Fence do. 

 23 Grind Stones on rollc- 



GRE.EN'S PATi-AT i TRAW CUTTER. 



.TObr..PII BRECK i't CO at the New England At, 

 tural Warehouse and Seed Stole Nos. 51 and52Norih M 

 ket Street, have for sale, G.-een's Patent Strjiw, Hay i 

 Stalk Cutter, operating on a nieehanical princijile not i'cel 

 applied to any implement i'or this purjxise. The most prt 

 inent effects of iliis application; and some of the ctiuscqu 

 peculiarities of the iiiachinc are: 



1. So great a reduction of the quantum of power rcqui: 

 to use it, that the slr.'iigth of a half grown boy is suffid 

 to work il efheieri;ly. 



2. With even ihis nmderatepower, it easilycut* twolin 

 els a minute, which is full twice as fast as has been ciaiit 

 by any other machine even when worked by horse or sir 

 power. 



3. The knives, owing to the peculiar manner in which t 

 cut, require sharpening less often than those uf any oi 

 straw cutter. -* 



4. The mnchine is simple inits construction, made and 

 togetiicr very slrnnsly. It is therefore not so liol.le as 

 compliciii-d iiuichiiie.s HI "cneial use to gel out of order 



SAYLE'S GARDEN EKGINE. 



TIlis is a splendid article. It will throw a constant stre 

 of water to the distance of 50 or fio feet, with great f'oi 

 and in e.Tso of fire would he a good substitute for a lire 

 gine. The most jierfecl article lor the purpose ever inl 

 dueed. lAirsale hyj. liRECK & CO., No. 51 and 52 No 

 Market street. 



DRAFT AND TRACE CHAINS. 



400 pair Trace Chains, suitable for Ploughing. 

 2110 •' Truck and leading Chains. 

 200 " Draft Chains. For sale by J. BRECK & C( 

 No. 52 North Market St. 



TYE UP CHAINS. 



Just received by 500 Chains for tyeing up Cattle. 



These chains, introduced by E. H. Derby, Esq. of Sale 

 and Col. jAcauES, for the purpose of securing tattle to t 

 stall, are found tc he the safest and most convenient mo 

 of fastening cows and oxen to the stanchion. 



For sale by JOSEPH BRECK Si CO., No. 62 Noi 

 Market St. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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TUTTLE AND DENIVETT, PKINTERS. 



