1876.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



THE FACTS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 

 No. 7. 



No animals bclDiigiui; to tliti Sloth taiuily 

 (Bradyi'id.e) now exist in Xorlh Aiui'i-ica, 

 and only two species in South Anipiica, nei- 

 ther of which is a i^reat deal larger than the 

 domestic cat. IJut in some of the Sontliern 

 States, and especially in Smith Carolina and 

 Georijia (as also in Soutli America) in tlie su- 

 perlieial deposits of thos(f localities, fjii^antic 

 remains of animals allied to the "sloth " have 

 been discovered in a fossil stale, anions which 

 are the Miydhn-iiuii, the Miy doai/.i: and tlic 

 Mi/Iiiilon, all of wliich are of colossal size — tlie 

 first named luivini: a skeleton eiL;liteen feet in 

 leni;tli and ei^ht feet in lieight, tlie hones of 

 the femur heins three times as thick as that 

 of an elephant. These animils were ve^je- 

 table feeders, as tlieir coijencrs in Soutli 

 America at the presentday are— defoliators of 

 forest trees; and when we tliink of the enor- 

 mous quantities of tins kind of provender they 

 must have annually consumed, the army 

 worms and tlie Colorado potato-beetles sink 

 into utter insi'^nilii'ance. "Our lines have 

 fallen upon pleasant places," when our age 

 is compared with those periods in tlio world's 

 physical history wliich produced thase gigantic 

 animals. 



The sloths, of which there are two distinct 

 species, namely, B. trid i-ti/his and B. did tc- 

 ((y?i(.<— belong to the order Edevtata, or 

 quadrupeds without teeth in the fore-part of 

 their jaws; and soma bslonging to the saiiii 

 order — the " Ant-eaters," tor instance — have 

 no teeth at all. The family and 

 generic names mean "Slow-foot,'" 

 and arc Greek compounds. The 

 specific names mean "tlirce-fiu- 

 gered" and " two-tingered." 



Most of the accounts t)f old natu- 

 ralists have rather misrepresented 

 these animals than given a tru^ ac- 

 count of their history and habits. 

 Even the great Cuvier condemned 

 the sloth as a degraded and miser- 

 able animal, unable to move with- 

 out pain, and misshapen and 

 distorted in form ; and others have 

 stated, that when compelled to 

 move by hunger, it moved very 

 slowly and lazily, and fairly whined 

 and cried with pain. Yet it has 

 been clearly demonstrated by more 

 recent authorities, that no animal is 

 better fitted for its position in na- 

 ture than the .sloth. Wateutox 

 says that in its wild state, "the sloth spands 

 its whole life in the trees, an 1 never leaves 

 them but through force or ajcideiit ; and what 

 is mire extraordinary, not upm tlie brandies, 

 like the squirrel ami the miiikey, lint wider 

 them. lie moves susiieinled from the branch, 

 he rests suspended from the bramdi. and he 

 sleeps suspended frum the branch"— in this 

 latter respect his habit being not much unlike 

 that of the Ijat. In faet, as Sidney Smith 

 observed, " he passes a life of susppiis", like 

 a young clergyman distantly related to a 

 bishop." 



In order to lit it for this singular or very 

 peculiar mode of life, the sloth is provided 

 with long and powerful arnn, which are fur- 

 nished with strong curved claws, and these 

 the animal hooks around the branches, and 

 maintains its sus|):'nded position without any 

 special effort. Tliese long claw-i are very in- 

 convenient when it is on tlie ground, for they 

 then turn in upon the jialms or soles of the 

 feet, and it sliufHes along awkwardly and in- 

 conveniently ; but whi'ii it is up among the 

 Viranches, it is capalile of niDving with great 

 rapidity, particularly in a gale of wind, when 

 it can pass from branch to brancli, and from 

 one tree to another, witli an activity that no 

 one would suppose if they had only seen it on 

 the ground. It is alsn gifted with great te- 

 nacity of life — even surpassing the " opossum" 

 in that respect — and will survive injuries that 

 instantly prove inirtal to almost any other 

 animal. Our illustration repre.sents the tuxi- 

 fingered sloth {Brad;/piis didactylm), which is 



larger, has shorter limbs, a longer muzzle, and 

 less tail, than the <'i(W-(ingered species (/{. 

 tridnrliilu.t]^ and the artist .seems to have 

 represented it under the erroneous impression 

 that it only m ives in an agony of pain. Al- 

 thougli our subject has only two claws on the 

 front feel and Ihree on the hind ones, yet liolh 

 speeies are fundamentally tive-loed animils, 

 the rudiments of the undeveloped claws being 

 concealed. The hair on the liead. bai'k ami 

 limbs is long, coarse and elastic, bearing some 

 resemlilaiice to dry grass, which gives the 

 animal a forbidding aspect. The color is 

 grayish, often spotted willi brown and white, 

 particularly when young. 



Some writers have ma<le out a third species 

 — till' liriid'ipn.i t'li-ijii ilns of (i-eof. — which 

 others deem only a variety ; but it ditlVrs not 

 only in color, but also in the bjuy structure of 

 the' head. 



The sloth is an enormous feeder, and never 

 leav(^s a tree as long as any of the foliage re- 

 mains upon which it feeds, an I wlien the tree 

 is isolated, it is said to let itself drop to the 

 ground, ralhi'r than take the trouble to come 

 down the trunk before it ascends another 

 one. The fein lies bring fortli only one young 

 at a time, wiiicli they constantly carry with 

 them from place to place. Th -s ■ auiui lis are 

 indigenous to the hot parts of South .Vm M-ica, 

 anil where the forests are so d;Mise as they are 

 tliere, with the branches of the trees often 

 interlo'jking eaeh other for miles, it is seld im 

 necessary for tiiem to eoine to the ground in 

 changing their positions. ThiMr long, (Mar.se 

 auJ sliaggy hair protects them from the at- 



THE SLOTH, OR Al (Bradypus didactylus). 



I tacks of in-?3Cts ; and, as Prof B ickland re- 

 in irks, " t!ie peculiar conform ition of th'r-ss 

 animils ouglit no mire to e.Kcite our com.ias- 

 sioii than the circu.intance of lish 's bdiig de- 

 I prived of feet." Tii.^y are just as aduiir.ibly 

 ] adapted and litly orgiaizid for th 'ir siu.;ular 

 m )de of life as any other subjeets of the ani- 

 mal wirld. Taeir stoni ichs are very large in 

 proportion to their size, and are divided into 

 four com^i irtm ^uts, som 'what analogous to 

 the four stomiclis of ruininants, but without 

 the network lea'.l^ts of their intern.il parts, 

 while the intestines are cmi lar.itively short. 

 In this respect — lltliou^h purely vegetable 

 I feed 'rs— th'y dilfM" froai ruminants, in w lich 

 i the intestines are Vi'ry long. Ofourse, they 

 are not very desirable pjts, an i cann it bs do- 

 m^sticat 'd, but thosj c.iptured and contiaed 

 will continu '. their forest life by hanging to a 

 pereh, if an opp irtiinity of the kind is oft 'rod. 

 We often think we can disc ive.'huiu m idiir- 

 acteristics that are in perfect outwird c >r- 

 res]V)ndence with these anim lis in others; an 1 

 perliajis, if we lo ik a little deeper, w,' may 

 discover more or less of them in ourselves. 



Potatoes for Stock. 

 Mr. Billings, of Xew Ilamishire, wh>ha3 

 been experim 'iiting on (he subject, says he 

 thinks potatoes are worth thirty cents per 

 bushel to feed to stock. Thi'y arenot only nu- 

 tritiou.s. but are excellent appetizers and iiro- 

 moters of digestion. Kxperimeiits go to show 

 that a peck of potatoes will produce as mueli 

 milk us a bushel of beets, turnips or carrots. 



DEATH TO THE APPLE TREE BORER. 



I li.ivo waited for 8onio one to invr'iil an easy way 

 of killiiii; the apple tree borer; but the ehlriel, mallet, 

 knife unit wire are only reeoriiiiieudecl, ami In UBlng 

 them I have hail lo eut a nix Ineh apple tree until I 

 eoulil see daylight thronijh It lo kill u single Iwrer. 

 .My way of ifetting ul this inlherable " worm of tlio 

 du»l" Is an eanier one ami iii'ire elfeelual. I I'ut a 

 Hiiinae or alder one foot, more or less, lou';, pnneh 

 out the pith, eut one en I with a slope, liuul the 

 Ixirer's hole, elean it out at the entranei' wllh a wire, 

 plaee the bevelled en 1 of my tnhi' airalnst 11, take 

 some pulty like elay that 1 ire't In our spriir,' braiieli, 

 plaster It waler-lli;lit aronn I the end next the tree, 

 nil the tube Willi very strong' soap su Is, and the thinif 

 is done. No mutter how e rooked the hole Is, or 

 whether It ifoes up or tlown, the suds In the tube will 

 foree itself lo Hie end. I have Irled It two years and 

 have not falleil nurv. Of luurse, anv kin I of small 

 hollow lube will do. and anylhin;; liial will m.ike It 

 water-tight will do to plaster it with.— for. .V. TT. 

 Trihiiitc. 



We confess we have some faith in the abovu 

 remedy, and we thank the disc )Verer of it ex- 

 ceedingly, for his "of course," otherwise it 

 miglit have involved the tronblesoin" necessity 

 of hunting up a sum le or an alder cane, things 

 which are not always on litind on farms tliat 

 liave no neglected fence irorners or .b;irren 

 ridges. We fully apiirchend the dillieiilty of 

 reaching and dislo Igiiig the b uer by the "me- 

 ch itiical me ins describe I, witluat often doing 

 serious injury to the trees, the mutilation of 

 which might liappi;ntobe w irse for them than 

 th t depr.' lalioas of the Itirirx. It is known 

 tint Ihiids, by a hydrostatic 1 iw will rise very 

 nearly as high as their source, and therefore 

 we woiilil recommend a tube two or even 

 three feet in lei'igtli, in ordc^r to make 

 sure that the lluid is i~aised high 

 enough to reach the borers, for we have 

 found them as mncli as eighteen 

 incites above the point of ingress. 



Of course, the rise of the lluid in 

 the tube is effected by atmosplieric 

 pressure — whether it lie a soap solu- 

 tion, a tobacco decoction or simply 

 water — and to facilitate this we would 

 suggest an old funnel or an old tin 

 cni) attached to the top, ;i.s a sort of 

 reservoir. I'erhaps an old discanled 

 dinner horn, the wide end upwards 

 and the narrow end proiM-rly attached 

 to the aperture in the tree, would lje 

 better still, provided it did not leak 

 and was properly f.a,stened above. 

 Now, we are not recoinmending these 

 oldarti(dessimiily liecaii.se they arc old 

 — as if tliat were any merit — but be- 

 cause, if such old articles wen- at hand 

 itwiuld save the expense of providing new 

 ones. We have tested the effects of "Dr. 

 Pierce's nasal douche" in forcing lluids up- 

 ward, and therefore an apparatus made on 

 that plan would be best of all. This is simply 

 a lluid-c inlainiiig vessel with an elastic tube 

 attached t) or ne ir the b ittom. This might 

 be hung on a lower branch near the trunk of 

 the tree, and the lower end of the tuln; securely 

 attached to the aperture of the borer. If 

 there were no ajiertures below through which 

 the llniil might escape, it would, in time, be 

 forced n|i to the borer and destroy it. 



Soiu'such kind of apparatus, acting upon 

 similar philosophieal principles, might be con- 

 fidently left to do its own work in its own 

 good time, and if skillfully executed, wi- think 

 it would be elteetive. We know that the 

 simple application of hot water, inide through 

 the nozzle of a tea-kettle, Ivis been destructive 

 to both ants and borers, but then it could only 

 affect those which were below the aperture 

 through which it w;is jioured. Tlie foregoing 

 apiiaralus, however, seems to cover the whole 

 groun I. 



The infestations of wood-boring insects are 

 becoming so numerous over the whole country 

 that it becomes absolutely necessary to employ 

 skilled and persevering applications in order 

 to destroy them. Farmers, therefore, cannot 

 afford to be negligent any longer. They m1t.1t 

 do something, and whatever is done mii.st be 

 done with thi'ir might. R-ui'dies are often 

 applied inacareless, hurried manner, and then 

 unhesitatingly denounced, when the cause of 



