1884.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER- 



43 



it meets the stock, and a large wartv potato 

 stuck on. The potato would represent wliat 

 some naturalists would call the "tip," and 

 what others would call the "knob" of the pro- 

 boscis. Prof. Macloskie declared that is was 

 a mistake to say tliat flies bite., the testimony 

 of all mankind to the contrary notwithstand- 

 ing. They didn't bite, they only filed. It 

 was for a long time said by naturalists that 

 this knob at the end of a fly's proboscis was 

 made up of muscular tissue, by which the 

 owner was enabled to rub his teeth, so to 

 speak, into the flesh of sufl'ering humanity. 

 Later investigation has demonstrated the fact 

 that this knob was made up principally 

 of small rods, the sharp ends of which pro- 

 jected a little beyond the end, making a sur- 

 face similar to that of a very sharp and eflec- 

 tive file. 



The lecturer weut on to describe just how 

 the flies go to work to file a person's face. 

 Having discovered a minute speck of some- 

 thing palatable, the fly .irst dropped a little 

 saliva upon it to moisten or dissolve the dainty 

 morsel. This done he went to work with his 

 little file, e.xecutiuga movenu'nt like that of a 

 snout of a pig wlien rioting up the earth 

 Having gathered up enough for a "swallow," 

 he drew up his proboscis, emptied the food 

 into his mouth and chewed it. To prove that 

 flies had teeth, although they were so located 

 as not to enable them to bite any external ob- 

 ject, the professor passed around a specimen 

 of a fly's jaws, adjusted under the objective 

 glass of a microscope, and showing ofl' the 

 fly's back teeth to great advantage. The 

 mosquito's apparatus was very different. 

 That interesting New Jersey bird was pro- 

 vided with a number of lanceletsset in among 

 a system of sucking tubes. This enable it to 

 bore for blood and draw it up at the same time. 



TO CAUSE THE HORSE TO FOLLOW 

 YOU. 



To cause him to follow you while Lis head 

 is confined with a bridle or lialter, put on the 

 Yankee Bridle," take hold about two feet 

 from the head, give him a few short, quick 

 side pulls to tlie right and left, llien taking 

 quickly hold of the rope further toward the 

 end as you step back, say decidedly : "Come 

 here, sir !" If he comes forward caress liim; 

 if he does not come give him a pull with a 

 sideways tendency, and repeat the attempt to 

 have him come forward until he does come ; 

 then start off either to the right or left with 

 the rope slackened ; if he does not follow you 

 give him more pulls sideways and try him 

 again. With an ordinary horse you can teach 

 the lesson in ten minutes, so as to be followed 

 ay him when you are near the head. Step 

 aartially behind him laying the rope along his 

 aack, and say : "Come here sir!" lie will 

 lot be likely to do it, because he has only 

 jeen taught to go forward at the words. To 

 ;each him to follow you in this direction you 

 will then chirrup to start him, repeating the 

 vords. If he comes, caress him ; if he does 

 lot come or moves in the wrong direction, 

 lull upon the " bridle," caressing him as he 

 ibeys. The same rule will api>ly to any direc- 

 ion in which you wish him to follow you. It 

 s quite necessary to teach the horse this 

 labit, as it is the foundation of many others, 

 md is one of the most valuable which the 

 lorse can 



To teach him, for your amusement, to fol- 

 low you when entirely loose, put on the near 

 fore-foot the long foot-strap and place on him 

 a girth ; pass the strap under tlie girth, hold- 

 ing the end in your hand, step away from him. 

 Then step toward him, and if he attempts to 

 step away from you pull on the strap and say 

 "whoa." If he stops step up and caress him. 

 Kepeat until he allows you to step up to him 

 without moving away. Now take a short, 

 blunt wliip in your right hand and the strap 

 in your left, standing by his side, pa.ss your 

 riglit arm over the withers and gently touch 

 him on the ofl^ side of the head. If he starts 

 to move off pull on the strap and say "whoa." 

 When he turns his head caress him, and gradu- 

 ally, with the whip, forcing him to turn his 

 head around toward you. When he will do 

 this every time you put the whip over you 

 may remove the foot-strap and practice him 

 in the lesson until he will come to you every 

 time you lay the whip across his neck ; then 

 put on the foot-strap again, put the whip in 

 the same position, and hit in the same place 

 quite hard, at the same time sayins : " Come 

 here, sir 1" After a little he will be very 

 prompt ; then place him in a corner and step 

 off at a distance of eight or ten feet and say : 

 " Come here, sir !" If he comes, caress him ; 

 ifhe does not come, hit him gently on the 

 breast with a long whip ; he will, perhaps, 

 struggle to get away, and if he attempts to 

 get out of the corner pull upon the strap. 

 When he faces you step up to him and caress 

 him, placing him back in the corner, and re- 

 peat ; if he finally shows a disposition to fol- 

 low step back coaxingly, and when he stops 

 caress him ; at each further repetition use the 

 words: " Come here, sir," at each motion 

 of the whip ; in this way he will soon learn to 

 follow out at the words, if you have a whip 

 in your hand. Don't take him out of doors 

 to practice until he is quite perfect, and then 

 beginning in small yards and alone. 



TANNING AND TAWING. 



Clias. W. Lawrence asks in the Farmer how 

 to tan dog, coon, cat and squirrel skins with 

 hair on and off. Tanning used to be my 

 trade, and I am happy to be able to give the 

 desired information. First, soak the skins in 

 water. Smooth off a half round log, or a 

 slab, and put legs in one end, for a "beam." 

 Then for a "fleshing knife" use one-half of an 

 old scythe; place the skin on the beam and 

 with the fleshing knife scrape off all the filth, 

 fat and flesh adhering to it. If the skins are 

 dry they require several days' soaking, and 

 considerable rubbing to get them as soft as 

 when they came ofl" the animal. 



Next, place them into a lime bath, of about 

 the consistency of thin whitewash. Stir them 

 once a day until the hair comes off, then place 

 them on a beam and remove the hair and 

 what flesh may still be attached. (Ashes will 

 al.so remove the hair.) Next place them into 

 a solution of, say one pint of hen manure to a 

 pailful of water. This is called "bating," 

 aad removes the lime. Handle each day for 

 a few days, and then place on the beam and 

 scrape again. 



They are now ready for tanning. If you 

 want to tan with the hair on, omit the liming 

 and bating. The trouble will be if you have 

 no bark, or a mill to grind it, you are at a 



great disadvantage. You can, however, in a 

 copi)pr kettle, boil the leaves and twigs of oak 

 trees and with several repetitions extract 

 enough tanning for a few small skins, by using 

 a tub or barrel, and immerse the .skins in the 

 solution after it becomes cool. Commence 

 with a weak solution, and gradually increiise 

 its strength. The first day or two frequently 

 "handle" or stir the skins in the ooze. When 

 tanned, wash and scrape the leather and 

 api>ly fish oil on the grain side, and a "dub- 

 bing" made of two-thirds fish oil and one- 

 third melted tallow, mixed, and hang up to 

 dry. To black the leather on the grain side, 

 use extract of log-wood, a little copperas, and 

 if you can make an ooze of black oak or quer- 

 citron bark, you have a blacking that can't 

 well be beat. This blacking is just the thing 

 to use on your harness before you grease. 



Tawing is a much quicker process than 

 tanning. Proceed as above directed to get 

 the skins "ready for tanning," with the ex- 

 ception, if you want to tan with the hair ofl", 

 instead of hen manure, use wheat bran for 

 bating, say about two pounds of bran to a 

 gallon of water. When through with this, 

 make a "white bath," compcsed of a boiling 

 solution in the proportion of, say one gallon 

 of water, one pound of alum, and one-fourth 

 pound of salt. Pass the skins separately 

 through this hot solution, and then immerse 

 them together, and leave them in it for ten 

 minutes. A paste is then made by gradually 

 adding during careful and constant stirring 

 firstly, one ifnd a-fourth pounds of wheat 

 flour to the above alum bath gently heated, 

 and subsequently, the yolks of four eggs, and 

 then incorporating the whole thoroughly. The 

 skins, eithei with or without the hair on, are 

 passed through this paste singly, and then 

 transferred to it in bulk and left for a day. 

 Then hang up and dry slowly. When dry 

 take hold with both hands and rub across the 

 edge of a shovel, until they become soft iis 

 velvet, and white as snow. 



Sheep pelts tanned in this way make very 

 nice rugs when colored ; four of them sewed 

 together and lined make a good robe. Coon, 

 rabbit and squirrel skins make good furs. The 

 skins of the heads and necks of ducks tanned 

 this way and sewed together would make an 

 elegant ladies' hat or collar. It is indeed 

 ''fancy work," or "an airy nothing," and 

 stealing a march on "Fanny Field." 



Equal portions of pulverized alum and salt 

 rubbed on the flesh side of a skin, then rolled 

 up and immersed for a few days in a solution 

 of the same proportions of alum and salt, will 

 also tan, or taw it, but it draws so much 

 dampness. A ground hog or a woodchuck 

 skiu, after the hair is taken ofl', then im- 

 mersed a couple weeks in soft soap, is an ex- 

 ceedingly handy thing from which to cut 

 strong strings. A calf or deer skin witli the 

 hair taken off and then oiled, rolled up and 

 pounded with a mallet, this repeated each 

 day for a week, then hung up to dry, and 

 then drawn across the edge of the shovel, 

 makes shoe or belt lacing of the strongest 

 kind, as it will be " oil tanned," and farmers 

 can easily keep themselves supplied with so 

 useful a material. For bag strings it is unsur- 

 passed. The Indians tan with brains. After 

 the hair is removed they place the skin along 

 with the brains in an earthen pot ; the cou- 



