1883] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



91 



through a public road thirty-two feet wide- 

 lie came home with the liorses, and we liad 

 to go and dig out tlic wagon. It was quite 

 warm in marcli and the early part of April, 

 and the i)eaolu'S were already as large as 

 small shot, but not a peach was left on the 

 tree ; indeed, all the leaves and youug growth 

 of that spring, even in the woods, were frozen 

 black, and all the new growth fell off. Some 

 say the seasons repeat themselves ; if so, then 

 we should have a series of dry and mild sea. 

 sons before many years. — .7. Ji. Garbrr in Neuf 

 Era. 



ABOUT ALLIGATORS. 



Six thousand baby alligators are sold in 

 Florida every year, and the amount of ivory, 

 number of skins, and quality of oil obtained 

 from the older members of theSuarian family 

 are sullieieut to entitle them to a high place 

 among the products of the State. 



The hunter sell young " 'gators " at $•!') per 

 hundred, and the dealers from 75 cents to one 

 dollar each. Live alligators two years old re- 

 present to the captor hO cents each, and to 

 the dealer from two to live dollars, as the sea- 

 sou of travel is at its height or far advanced. 

 A 10-foot alligator is worth .flO aud one four- 

 teen feet long $25 to the hunter, while the 

 dealer charges twice or three times that price. 

 The eggs are worth to the hunter 50 cents per 

 dozen and to the dealer 25 cents a piece. 



The dead alligator is (piite as valuable as 

 the live one, for a specimen nine feet and 

 reasonably fat will net both branches of the 

 trade as follows : 



THE HUNTER. 



Oil .... $5 50 

 Skin .... 1 00 

 Head . . . . 10 00 



THE DEALER. 



Oil .... $7 50 

 Skin .... 4 00 

 Head ... 25 00 



SIG 50 " «!36 50 



The value of the head is ascertained by the 

 number and size of the teeth. Dealers mount 

 especially fine specimens of the skull, but the 

 greater number have no other value than that 

 of the ivory they contain. 



Tlie wages of the hunter depend, of course, 

 upon his good fortune in finding the game. 

 One of the most expert of these gives as in- 

 stances of successful hunts the items of three 

 days' work which yielded thirty-nine dollars 

 and seventy-five cents ; of six days with a 

 yield of twenty dollars and ten cents, and of 

 eight days' hunting which netted forty dollars 

 add twenty-flve cents. 



Without s)ieaking of those enemies of the 

 '"gator" who liunt him for sport, there are 

 about two hundred men in the State of Flor- 

 ida who make a business and try to make a 

 living by capturing or killing him. Very 

 many have eaten alligator steaks from simple 

 curiosity to learn its flavor ; but many more 

 eat it because it is the cheapest, and, often- 

 times, the only meat they can afford. The 

 flavor when it is fried or broiled is that of 

 beefsteak plentifully supplied with fish gravy, 

 while the fore-legs roasted taste like a mixture 

 of chicken and fish, and have a delicate fibre. 



Very methodical in his habits is the alliga- 

 tor, and very suspicious of anything around 

 his home. When he starts out in search of 

 food it is invariably an hour aftei' tide has be- 

 gun to ebb, and he returns about four hours 

 after low water. If he has a land journey to 

 perform, he goes and comes by the same route, 



never deviating from it until he sees evidence 

 that .strangers have tr spassed on his domain. 

 He lives on the banks of some streani, for he 

 has decided objections to stagnant water, and 

 to make his home he digs a hole at least 

 twelve inches below the level of the water. 

 This whole' is perfect! , straight, although on 

 an incline, and from tweniy to thirty feet in 

 length, terminating in a chamber sufficiently 

 lai"gc to admit of his turning in it. There he 

 or she dwells alone, save when the female is 

 caring for a very young brood, in which case 

 the one room is converted into a nursery. 

 Full-grown alligators not only do not occupy 

 the same hole, but they will not live near 

 each other. 



The alligator usually lays her egirs about 

 the first of July, and during the month of 

 .Tune she is busily engaged in preparing the 

 cradle for her young. Selecting a place on 

 the bank of some stream or creek, she begins 

 work by beating hard and level with her tail 

 an earth platform about six feet square. She 

 scrapes togetlier with her fore-feet, often- 

 times from a distance of lifty yards from the 

 proposed nest, dried grass, sticks and mud 

 until fifteen or twenty cubic feet of the ma- 

 terial is in a place convenient for her purpose. 

 On the day following the completion of these 

 preparations she lays from thirty to fifty eggs 

 on the prepared ground, and piles over them 

 dried grass and mud deftly worked in with 

 sticks until a mound six feet in diameter and 

 three feet high has been raised. The surface 

 of this is quickly hardened by the sun, and in 

 order that it may be as neaily air tight as 

 possible, the female visits each day, covering 

 with mud any crevices that may have ap- 

 peared, as well as remodeling such portions ms 

 do not satisfy lier sense of beauty. 



The ordinary time of incubation is about 

 two months, aud then the newly hatched 

 brood may be heard yelpiu'? and snarling for 

 their mother to continue her work by releas- 

 ing them from their prison nest. On the sec- 

 ond or third day after the first noi.sc has been 

 heard, the female bites a hole in the side of 

 the mound, out of which the young ones, 

 barely more than eleven inches long, come 

 tumbling in the most vigorous manner, crawl- 

 ing directly toward the water. Until the 

 young arc three years old the mother exer- 

 cises a pai-ental care over them, always re- 

 maining within sound of their voices, not so 

 much to protect them from their natural 

 euemy, man, as for their unnatural enemy 

 their father, who has an especial fondness for 

 his own children in the way of food. 



When the hunter finds a nest, he carries 

 the eggs home to hatch them, where he can 

 easily capture the brood if the eggs are fresh 

 or if the young in them are not more than 

 five inches long ; at any other stage they will 

 not hatch if removed and are of no value ex- 

 cept for the shell. The captured eggs are 

 then packed in straw as nearly'as possible in 

 the natural way, and the young may be thus 

 hatched out very successfully. One farmer 

 reared sixteen hundred and another a thous- 

 and last season. The young will eat immedi- 

 ately after coming out of the shell, but they 

 thrive best if given no food for at least three 

 months. 



The cry of a full-grown 'gator is not unlike 

 the bellowing of a bull, except that it is of 



more volume, sitice the voice of a male can, 

 on a calm day, he heard a distance of five 

 nnles ; and they may be said to be sun wor- 

 shii>pers, since they seldom "resolve them- 

 selves into .song," save at the rising of the 

 Sim ; in fact, the only exception lo this morn- 

 ing melody is when a storm is approaching. 

 The average Florida " cracker " needs no 

 other barometer than the alligator in the 

 neighboring creek or swamp. 



One cea.ses to be astonished at the volume 

 of sound which comes from these monsters 

 when he sees a full-grown one put forth all his 

 strength to produce the effect. lie stretches 

 his body to its full length, inhaling sufficient 

 air to puff him up nearly twice his natural 

 size ; then, holding ids breath, as it were for 

 an instant, he raises bolh head aud tail until 

 he informs the segment of a circle. When all 

 is thus complete, the " roar " comes with 

 sitflicieut force to startle one, even though he 

 be prepared for it. 



Since, in order to guard his head, the 

 alligator is obliged to turn bis body 

 .somewhat and since, when his Jaws are once, 

 closed he is unable to open them if only a 

 moderate amount of strensth on the part of 

 man be used, the hunter selects this point for 

 attack when it is possible for him to steal 

 upon his game unawares. If the intending 

 captor gets a firm hold upon the jaws of his 

 game in thL« way, the monster becomes rea- 

 sonably easy prey ; one rope soon secui'es his 

 jaws, another is tied around his neck and 

 fastened to a tree, while a third secures his 

 tail in the same way, thus stretching the cap- 

 tive in a straight line ; liis fore paws are tied 

 over his back, a stout pole is lashed from the 

 end of his snout to the ti|i of his tail, and the 

 'gator is helpless. 



It is seldom, however, that the hunter gets 

 his game at a di-sadvantage, and to secure 

 him alive he must set about the work much 

 as boys do when they snare rabbits. A tall, 

 stout sapling near the water's edge is the firet 

 requisite, and directly in front of that in the 

 water, a narrow lane or pen is made with 

 stakes, the two outer ones being notched, ;is is 

 the spindle of a box-trap. At the end of this 

 pen, and nearer the shore, a stake is driven 

 into the mud, and on the top of it is fastened 

 a piece of tainted beef. A stout roi>e at one 

 end of which is a large noose, is fastened to 

 the top of the sapliiig and to the upper part of 

 the noose is attached a cross-bar, or trigger, 

 which, when the tree is bent, catches in the 

 notches on the outer stakes just below the 

 surface of the water, the noose hanging 

 around the entire opening. To get at the' 

 meat the alligator attempts to swim under 

 the bar, but his back displaces the trigger, 

 and he is a captive, with the rope fastened 

 just back of his fore legs. 



It is neces-sary to bind the captive while he 

 is in the water, aud then to carry him to the 

 shore in a boat ; for, amphibious iis he is, he 

 «in he drowned if dragged through the water. 

 When once properly secured and on land, 

 the alligator can do nothing in the hope of 

 effecting a release, save to roll over, and this 

 he does by a mighty effort wilh his shoulders, 

 frequently working himself over a quarter of 

 a mile in distance in a single night. 



Those who are f.amiliar with the habits of 

 the alligator, as seen in the Southern States, 



