380 



FOREST AND STREAM" 



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foodknd, ^gkrm mn& (garden. 



TREES FOR TANNING PURPOSES. 



discussing Hie subject of trees whose bark can be used 

 in tanning our English contemporary, The Country, 



When we consider the comparatively small amount of 

 tannic acid -which exists in the bark of the oak, it is really 

 somewhat surprising that it should be mainly employed 

 both in Great Britan and on the European continent tor the 

 purposes of tanniug. The fact is, we suppose, that leather 

 curr'ers take what, is brought to the market, and bark 

 merchants are content to collect -what is procurable nearest 

 home, rather than go roaming in fresh woods and pastures 

 new for a superior article. It would be easy enough to 

 open up a new industry in this connection with the coun- 

 tries of South America, where so much British capital has 

 been sunk in the formation of railways and tramways, 

 which have not. sufficient traffic to enable them to return 

 substantial dividends. Probably when the "country of the 

 future "—Africa — is thrown open to our capital and enter- 

 prise, being nearer home, we may seek and find among its 

 hitherto unknown arboreal treasures vast stores of suitablo 

 bark trees as well as gold dust and ivory. Meantime it is 

 worth while considering whether the scanty knowledge we 

 possess of South American woods may not be utilized. 

 .Already we receive considerable imports of leather from 

 that quarter, notwithstanding that the climate is generally 

 unfavorable to the curing process. It often happens, in- 

 deed, that the hides begin to putrefy while the tanning is in 

 progress. Doubtless this may partly arise from ihe fact 

 that the routine observed is very much less scientific than 

 would pass muster in Bermondsey. Whatever the native 

 process in the Argentine Republic, for instance, may be, we 

 are unaware, but certain it is that it is not lack of suitable 

 material that interferes with the success of the currier in 

 these regions. Investigations carried out by the National 

 College of Buenos Ayies have indicated a large number of 

 trees, the bark of which contains a considerable proportion 

 of tannic acid. Among them may be mentioned the red 

 and black Gebil, the black and white Algarroba, the Algor- 

 obillo, the red and white Quebracho, the Espinillo, Lecheron, 

 Tipa, Lapachc, Chanar, Tila, Curupai, Guayacau, as also 

 walnut, coco, and cedar. In the Argentine provinces Salta, 

 Tucuman, and Jujuy, vast woods of both the black and red 

 Cebil, clothe the mountains and people the plains. The 

 red variety, Acacia oebil, yields the largest quantity of tannin, 

 the leaves containing about half the proportion afforded by 

 the bark. On account, however, of this kind imparting a 

 color to the hide, it is not highly valued, as it is important, 

 as far as possible, to retain the natural hue. The bark of 

 the White cebil is more easily dried than that of the red, 

 and when ground the proportion of tannin is but slightly 

 less. Chemical experiments show that the bark of the cebil 

 yields about IS per cent, of tannic acid, which is greatly in 

 excess of the produce of oak bark. The Quebracho is also 

 very rich in tanning matter, the leaves containing 27 per 

 cent. It is found in Cordoba, Salta, Cliaco, and Paraguay ; 

 but the different trees which go by this name in these dis- 

 tricts are scientifically diverse. The red quebracho of Par- 

 aguay is used in considerable quantities locally, as well as 

 being exported to the United States and to Europe. It 

 yields from 16 to 20 per cent, of acid, which is capable of 

 being applied to hides in its pure state. The white quebracho 

 found in Salta produces a high proportion of colorless acid, 

 the leaves being especially rich. If a moderate proportion 

 of this acid he mixed with that of the red cebil, the color 

 of the latter is neutralized. The Salta quebracho somewhat 

 Tesembles the German oau. The so-called quebracho which 

 obtains in Paraguay, the bark of the Curupai has been 

 employed in tanning from time immemorial. Another 

 Argentine bark tree is the Espinillo, well known by its 

 fruit, sharp thorns and delicate leaves. Both wood and 

 leaves contain tannin. The bark is thin and not easily re- 

 moved; it yields but per cent., but the husk of the fruit 

 yields 33 per cent., and the seed 12 per cent. The Lecheron, 

 or milk tree, in appearance is something like our willow, 

 and the bark contains tannic acid in the same proportion as 

 the oak. The trees locally called Molls are very rich in 

 tannin, yielding from 20 to 2.5 per cent. There "are three 

 varieties, one of which is used in the manufacture of ink. 

 The Algarroba was once plentiful in every part of the 

 .Republic, but it seems now to be fast disappearing. 



Ooe AppEOAonraa Winter. — Mr. Henry G. Vennor, whose 

 success in forecasting weather has earned for him a wide- 

 spread reputation in both the Dominion of Canada and through 

 a large part of the United States, has now in press his almanac 

 for the winter of 1378-70. Prom summaries of this which 

 have appeared in Canadian papers, we observe that we have 

 in store for us some very severe weather and heavy snow falls 

 for the month of December and a part of January. Follow- 

 ing this there is to be a lull or great break in the winter, dur- 

 ing which the weather is expected to be unusually moderate, 

 causing a very rapid melting of the snow and possibly exten- 

 sive floods. In March severe weather will again set in and 

 will be accompanied by more snow falls. The spring of 1879 

 is pictured by Mr. Vennor as wet and backward, ushering in 

 a cool and wet summer season. So successful have these fore- 

 casts been in the past that implicit confidence is placed in Mr. 

 Vennor as a "true prophet;" and although there are — as 

 there ever is wbeu new theories are first started — many 

 scoffers, these are altogether lost in the crowd of staunch fol- 

 lowers of the "Weather Prophet." The London Times, Eng., 

 in a recent long editorial, attaches great value to these fore- 

 casts of the weather. — A.dv. 



Habtfokd Poultry Snow.— Hartford, Dec. 9.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream : The first poultry exhibition of the Beason 

 is now being held in this city by the United Fanciers club, a 

 new poultry organization formed this year. Nearly all 

 varieties of fowls are represented, and also a large variety o'f 

 pigeons and pet stock. Upon entering the building the visi- 

 tor's attention is first attracted by the large and meritorious 

 show of game Bantams, there being some very flue specimens 

 of this pugnacious breed. In contrast with the bantams is the 



exhibit of Asiatic fowls, some specimens weighing 12 and 15 

 pounds. My attention was particularly attracted to the fine 

 display of dark brahmas by J. S. Oilman, of Hartford, and 

 light brabmas of P. Williams, Taunton, and B. S. Wood- 

 ward, Newington, Ct. The black cochins were few in num- 

 ber but fine in quality, P. Williams winning first in both 

 fowls and chicks. In the Spanish class Geo. E. Strickland's 

 brown, and E. F. Porter and S. Cushmau's white Leghorns 

 were first-class. The largest exhibitor is C. E. L. Haywood, 

 of Peterboro, N. H., a portion of his exhibit being a pair of 

 both golden and silver Pheasants, Rouen, Wood, Mallard, 

 Cayuga and white call ducks, Egyptian, Embden, African, 

 wild, gray Chida, Toulouse aud Hong Kong geese. The 

 game class was small, the most noteworthy being the whites 

 bred by Geo. S. Merntt, and the red pikes bred by Curtis & 

 Chapin of this city ; these gentlemen have a faculty of breed- 

 ing fine high station birds. I almost forgot to mention the 

 beautiful black Hamburgs exhibited and bred by 0. E. Dus- 

 tin, and the silver gray Dorkins of V. A. Blakeslee. The 

 pigeon class is a large and interesting feature of the exhibi- 

 tion, comprising all the different varieties. The club is en- 

 titled to a considerable praise for affording the public so fine a 

 display, and its effect cannot help being beneficial to the 

 poultry interests of this section. On the 31st of this month 

 will be held the ninth annual exhibition of the Connecticut 

 State Poultry Seciety, which will be the event of the season 

 to poultry fanciers in these parts. Nutmeg-. 



—The Western Poultry Club will give an exhibition of 

 poultry and pet stock at Chicago, Jan. 17th to 20th pro*. The 

 Secretary is O. J. Ward. The show promises to be very large. 



How to Strengthen a House's Foot.— A correspondent 

 writes desiring to know how to strengthen and straighten a 

 horse's foot. If by this he means how to strengthen and 

 straighten the wall of the hoof aud also the sole, as we pre- 

 sume he does, we would say that the only way to do it is first 

 to take out all fever or inflammation there may be in the foot. 

 This fever or inflammation in the foot is what prevents the 

 growth of the wall and sole. Remove it, and the deposit be- 

 comes much more rapid, and the wall and sole thicker, and 

 grow strong rapidly. With the increase of size the foot can 

 be shaped little by little until it takes the desired form. In 

 cases where the wall and solo of the foot were deficient, or 

 had any of the imperfections brought about by inflammation, 

 we have found that the use of the Clark shoe remedied the 

 disorders quicker than any way that veterinary practice could 

 suggest. The packing used with the shoe rapidly removes 

 all inflammation and gives the normal circulation to the foot. 

 The deposit of hoof material is vastly increased ; brittlcness 

 departs; contraction is expanded, and a permanent, cure 

 effected. We cordially recommend it to all horsemen. What 

 our correspondent means by " strsighteng of the foot," we do 

 not apprehend, unless it be expanding a contracted foot till 

 the proper curvature of a well made, natural foot is reached. 

 In cases where the contraction is severe and the expansion 

 speedily desired, the Dunbar system of expanding the heel by 

 mechanical pressure, where the operation is properly per. 

 formed, we have found safe and successful. But great care- 

 fulness, and some degree of skill, is necessary in weakening the 

 hoof on either side of the frog preparatory to the operation. 

 We should not recommend it as a safe operation in inex- 

 perienced hands. — Golden Hide. 



How to Fred Colts. — Feeding of colts should receive the 

 most careful attention of the breeder. Our own opinion is 

 that in large fashionable breeding establishments too much 

 grain is fed to them. It does not do to " push " a colt 

 through the pressure of the corn-crib or the oat-bin. Good 

 wheat shorts are probably the best food, in connection with 

 hay and roots, that can be fed a colt. We have fed on our 

 home farm with great success boiled rye reinforced with a 

 strong sprinkling of wheat shorts. The boiled rye alone, if 

 fed in any but limited quantities, is apt to make the bowelB 

 too loose. With rye at 60 to 70 cents a bushel, and shorts at 

 12 to 14 dollars a ton, no cheaper feed can be obtained. We 

 shall experiment more than we have done the coming season 

 on wintering colts without any grain at all. So far as our ex- 

 perience goes we think that good, clean, bright bay, carrots 

 and potatoes, with good fresh water and a lump of rock salt 

 in the bin, which they can lap at any time, will bring colls 

 through a winter season as well as all the high pressure tid- 

 ing that can be given them. To the above diet we should 

 have added plenty of out-door exercise. It does colts good to 

 wallow around in the snow and nibble at the occasional 

 patches of turf. Colts shouldn't be fed like old horses, any 

 more than babies should be fed like men.— Golden Rule. 



— " Snugging up things generally," as the sea-farers say in 

 anticipation of a storm, is a part of the November work on a 

 farm. Teams are generally in good condition, and drawing 

 stone and the like is easier for a yoke of oxen, when the ground 

 is a little frosty in the morning, than it is when the thermome- 

 ter stands at seventy degrees, A farmer of our acquaint- 

 ance intends to take all the surface stone from three acres of 

 a stony farm each year, and November is his month for doing 

 it. Pleasant warm days he gives to digging them out of the 

 ground, and in colder weather he does the moving, and if a 

 little snow comes, all the better. The cellar must be pro- 

 tected from the cold by an ample outside banking. Missing 

 shingles on the house or crib or barn, must be replaced by 

 new. Corn fodder stalks and haystacks must be re-trimmed 

 and perhaps re-topped. Farm improvements are very much 

 like woman's work — never done; and until winter shuts in 

 and thus make work of this sort impossible, it should have 

 considerate aud constant attention. 



— Many of the disappointments which come to young farmers 

 are the result of miscalculation. Because the buildings are 

 tidy, the fences up, and the location desirable, they are be- 

 trayed into buying a worn-out farm. This is especially fre- 

 quent in old settled communities. For years the hard-fisted 

 owner, who didn't believe m " new-fangled, notions," kept 

 on skinning the old farm, until it was good for nothing but 

 to help hold the world together. For a young man to take 

 hold of such a farm as that is as discouraging an experiment 

 as to pump all day, under a broiling July sun, at a dry well. 

 To re- fertilize it is about as much as the farm is worth. Look 

 over your prospective land-purchases with a view to find oat 

 what they have yielded, if you don't know the owner has not 

 been one of the skinning sort. — Golden / 



JP* IIw£ 



Massachusetts Kemket. Club. — At the annual meeting of 

 this club, held in Boston on the 4th Inst., the following gen- 

 tlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year : J. Fottler, 

 Jr., President; F. B. Greenough, Vice-President; J. F. Cur- 

 tis, Vice-President ; T. T. Sawyer, Jr., Treasurer ; E. J. 

 Forster, Secretary. 



Dog Poisoning.— A correspondent writing from Newport 

 R. I., says that there wero five valuable dogs poisoned in that 

 town on one morning. One of them was saved through his 

 owner administering four raw eggs to him and the next day 

 giving a dose of Brandreth's pills. The other dogs died. 



A Cobbeotion.— In tho list of entries for the Nashville 

 Field Trials, which we published last week and which we re- 

 ceived from Nashville, there were one or two errors which we 

 desire now to correct. Maida was reported as entered by W. 

 W. Ackerman while the entry should have been in the name 

 of Dr. S. Fleet Speir. The latter gentleman's Romeo was 

 also made black, white aud tan, whereas he should have been 

 black and tan. Dr. Speir's entries were, in champion stakes, 

 St. Elmo, Romeo and Maida; in brace stakes, St. Elmo and 

 Maida. Mr. E. S. Sanford, of this city, entered in the brace 

 stakes Spiero and St. Elmo, and should have been credited 

 with them. 



The Birmingham Doo Show. — The nineteenth "national " 

 dog show was held at Gurzon Hall, Birmingham, on the 2d, 

 3d, 4th and 5th of this month. The number of entries has 

 hitherto been limited to 1,000, but aB the hall has Been found 

 too small for even tliis number, on the present occasion it has 

 been reduced to 975. The entrance fee has also been raised 

 to seven shillings and sixpence, but we believe that exhibitors 

 must also be members of the association, nt a cost of one 

 guinea. Exhibitors in this country should not, therefore, com- 

 plain of having to pay an entrance fee of $2, particularly as 

 the prizes are much more valuable. The hall was lighted by 

 the electric light. The following list gives the number of 

 entries in each class : 



Bloodhounds 11, deerhounds 25, greyhounds 31, otter 

 hounds 4, harriers 0, beagles 9, fox terriers 110, pointers 68, 

 English terriers 41, black and tan setters 31, Irish setters 21, 

 retrievers 52, Irish Bpauiels 6, water spaniels (not Irish) 7, 

 Clumber spaniels 9, Sussex spaniels 13, large spaniels 82, 

 small ditto 7, Dachshunde 27, foreign sporting dogs 8, mastiffs 

 43, St. Bernards 40, Newfoundlands 18, sheep dogs 78, Dal- 

 matians 7, bulldogs 38, bull terriers 33, smooth-haired \c-j tiers 

 11, black and tan terriers (large) 21, small ditto 9, Skye ter- 

 riers 13, Dandle Dinmouts 18, Bedlingtou terriers 17, Irish 

 terriers 12, wire-haired terriers 25, broken-haired terriers 1, 

 Yorkshire terriers 4, Pomeranians 15, pugs 26, Maltese 7, 

 Italian greyhounds 10, Blenheim spaniels 3, King Charles 

 spaniels 3, smooth-haired toy terriers 4, broken-haired ditto 5, 

 large-sized foreign dogs 0, small-sized ditto 2. 



The Detroit Doo Show. — Editor Fewest and Stream : No w 

 that the Nashville Trials are over, greater interest is being 

 evinced by the sportsmen of the country to the success of this 

 show. Special prizes arc still coming in, and still more are 

 promised, so that we will not heuble to get them classified 'ill 

 next week. The additional specials received are from the Le 

 Roy Shot Co., of your city, who donate 250 pounds of their 

 famous tin shot . ; Sncllenburg, of New Brighton, the Eastern 

 sportsman's clothier, gives one of his canvas suits and hats for 

 the best native setter bitch ; the Union Metallic Cartridge (Jo. 

 have given through your correspondent. L, F. Wbilinan, of this 

 city, a handsome prize, consisting of 1,000 No. 10 paper shells, 

 1,000 No. 18 shells, two dozen boxes of No. 10 au.t No, 13(250 

 each) piuk edge wads. Captain Bogardus, with bis usual 

 liberality, gives one of his patent glass ball traps ; 8. W. 

 Goodhue, of Grafton, Vt., generously donates one of his 

 hand-made trcut rods, which will be on exhibition during the 

 show. Last, but not least, we have to acknowledge tbe. receipt 

 of your handsome offer of a silver cup, through Mr. L. F. 

 Whitman. The "Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun 

 Cup" will no doubt be highly esteemed by tbe winner. The 

 committee sincerely hope to receivu a good representation of 

 Eastern dogs. The railroad facilities are all excellent. As 

 we anticipated, the Adams Express Co. will carry dogs on the 

 same terms as the other express companies. 



Detroit, MM., Dec. 7, 1878. Chah. Lincoln, Supt. 



—First snow of the season in this city, Dec. 9 ; a half inch 

 fall, turning to rain. 



Dart/ord, Dec. 9. — There is a growing interest in our canine 

 friends' in this vicinity, und we hope eventually to have as 

 fine stock as is to be had. I read with interest your article 

 on "Dog Taxes" in the last issue of PoESff] /.no BlBBAMi 

 and trust that some day breeders will adopt some plan which 

 will remedy the matter concerning the sale of bitches. 



Nutmeg. 



Spkatt'b Dog Biscuits.— Tbehighest award for dog biscuits 

 and the only silver medal in the class was given at the Paris 

 Exhibition to Spratt's patent meat fibrine dog cakes. The 

 order for feeding the dogs at the great International Dog 

 Show, held in conjunction with the great International Exhibi- 

 tion at Paris, was given to Spratt's patent by the Minister of 

 Agriculture, and the dogs were sent home, after twelve days 

 confinement (the longest on record), in perfect health and con- 

 dition- 



■ — .» — . ■ 



— Mr. John Fottler, Jr., President of the Massachusetts 

 Kennel Club, has sold his Irish setter Red Hugh to Mr. 

 Richard T. Fay, of Boston, for a good figure. Med Hugh 

 was imported by Mr. Fottler, and is by Goings Bob out of 

 Mali's Fan, and has a double crop of Hutchinson's celebrated 

 old Bob's blood in his veins. 



Dog Lost.— A red Dish setter, sixteen months old, ran 

 away from his breaker. Mr. S. S. Pease, near Bridgeport, 

 Conn. Any information regarding him sent to Mi 

 Bridgeport. Conn., or to Mr. Tileston, at this office, will be 

 thankfully' received. 



