BEAVERS—THEIR WAYS. 39 
in a couple of weeks of high living that makes the good 
citizens tremble and the saloon-keeperssmile. They 
spend their money like water and, notunfrequently, go 
back to their farms with empty pockets. Notwithstanding 
their rough ways, they are good-hearted and they extend 
the warmest hospitality toa person who happens to 
wander among them. 
The butchering season begins the last of October or 
the first of November. Ifthere are several farms on one 
stream, the farmer whose corral is nearest the mouth of 
the stream butchers first. When he has finished the 
next one above him begins, and so on to the last farmers. 
The work begins by drawing off the ponds by the means 
of floodgates that are covered with wire netting to pre- 
vent the animals from passing through. Whenthemud 
houses of the beavers are exposed the farmer goes from 
one to the other and taps on them withaclub. The 
noise frightens the animals out. From the formation of 
their legs they are naturally slow runners. They are 
knock-kneed, and their hind legs are wide apart. 
When they leave the huts they are quickly dispatched 
with clubs. It requires but a short time to kill off the 
animals. Whenthe colony is planted the animals are 
branded, and at butchering time these are preserved for 
breeding purposes. It is said of the beaver that it lives 
active and vigorous, to the age of 50 years. 
As soon as the killing is finished, the gates are closed 
and the barn is flooded again. This is quickly done by 
the opening of the floodgates in the dam above. The 
pelts are taken off and stretched over forms made of bent 
elm strips. Saltpeter is rubbed into the flesh side of the 
skin, it is exposed to the atmosphere for two weeks,then 
