FOREST AND STREAM. 



97 



A TAIL OF A COON. 



Au,i:-:x.v.rr. I'm,, February 1st, 1877. 



EDITOR FOUEST ABU STREAM:— 



"I was liv'uiu do wn south some yews asro; thai is to say, 



in Qeorgia. One day, Pme, a gentleman of ebony conn 



opal eyeballs ami ivory teeth— a thoroughly merry 



darkey, who was niy companion In many a fishing trip— 

 " i iiiiiinif up to mo with something tied up Is a 

 poolcet handkerchief , and on opening it there rolled out a 

 furry-looking little animal, which proved to be a half 

 grown raccoon, one which, on arriving at maturity, was its 

 tame companionable as a dog. Ho was a handsome look 

 ine little fellow, In bis dusky gray coat, white ringed tail, 

 and a patch here and I here ot while. But it is not of his 

 personal appearance that 1 wish to toll, but his antics and 

 tricks, lu the former he resembled a kitten in the way in 

 Which he would roll over, curl his tail, o] seize any hand 

 to pretend to bite it; in the latter he was A 1 in the cunning 

 he displayed. Take him down to a l.troon on a moonlight 

 bight, mid "Dick" would be in his glory. He would 

 scuffle out .to an overhanging hough, and thoroughly 

 assimilate himself by it by crouching so close that you 

 would hardly make him out; and he would allow .his 

 bushy tail to droop in the water, moviug it carelessly 

 about, and waiting for a bite. 



He did not wait long, as a rule, for over and over again 

 I have stood ami watched him, till I have'beeome aware of 

 a slight movement in the water, wlieu, with a spring that 

 was like lightning, " Dick" would throw himself ashore, 

 and in nine eases out, of ten with a crab tight hold of his 

 lush tail. 



l'h' n there would be a light, souffle. "Dick" would 



sit up on his hind legs, with the captive that tried bard 



io regain the water, hold his prey in his fore paws, and 



ra i in i n up with the greatest of zest before going lefish 



for another. 



But they were not crabs which always came to, "Dick's" 

 fishing tackle. Before now a little alligator of some 

 eighteen long had seized it, and been shaken off by 

 "Dick," who evidently did not wish for a nearer acquaint 

 auce. The other creatures attracted were a kind of turtle — 

 alligator turtles, we called [hem- hideous looting creatures, 

 and with a very small carapace, aud a long and snaky 

 looking head and neck, armed with a bird-like nipping 

 mou'h. 1 detested the things, placing them noxt to alliga- 

 tors; but "Dick" liked them, for there seemed to be a good 

 deal of succulent food contained between their shells. 

 These fellows were very easily attracted to "Dick's" tail 

 uponflsbing expeditions; they bit readily, but the result was 

 not at alt that could be desired. 



"Dick" would be crouching on a tree trunk, close over 

 one of the silent, oil-looking leed-lriuged pools, when sud- 

 denly, as I watched, a snaky-like head would rise out of 

 the water, followed by a lumpy shell. Then another and 

 another would be thrust up, and the owners would silently 

 paddle to the moving fur, look at it inleutly for a few 

 moments, and then one would make a grab. Evidently 

 knowing his customers, "Dick" would wait patiently to 

 let him get hold last before making his spring. Then off 

 he would go for shore or the shallows, with as Lug a bounce 

 as his muscles would sustain; but as a rule the result was 

 only a loud splash, the turtle fell hack into the water, aud 

 "Dick," had 10 resume his lacucu, and generally without 

 success till a crab came, when with a short bark of delight, 



\\ hen, however, by chance "Dick" did succeed in get- 

 ting his prey ashore, there was no Bght sho « n beyond une 

 Sharp simp, made by the turtle, one easily avoided by 

 "Did;, ' who would seize the reptile by the neck and drag 

 the soft part piecemeal from between the sheds; for if he 

 were not sharp over his work, a task whs in store for bin, 

 the turde giving up all hope of reaching the water, and 

 retiring within his hard, leathery carapace. "Dick's" 

 motto was evidently "a lite in the woods for me," because 

 one one day he ran away into the woods aud 1 never saw 

 him agaiu. Sotms. 



»■» 



Ingenious Rats. — A lady residiug in East King street 

 has had a remarkable illustration of that wonderful intel- 

 ligence in the rat family which we often read about but 

 Beldoni witness. She had several dozeu eggs stored away 

 in the cellar in a large earthern vessel. They were cov- 

 ered with lime water to preserve thiol. For sometime 

 past she was pnzzled to know in what manner the lime 

 water leaked out of the vessel, as she could find no traces 

 of a leak, and yet to keep the eggs covered she had to fill 

 it more frequently than it could possibly evaporate. 



The other day the servant called the" lady's attention to 

 the fact that there must be rats in the cellar, as she had 

 found egg shells in llie cork shavings bin on the opposite 

 side of the room from where the eggs were stored. Au 

 examination revealed the fact that one dozen and a half of 

 the eggs had been carried off, ami the presumptive proof 

 is thai the rats did if, as no other creature had access to 

 the cellar to whose charge the theft could be justly laid. 



To get at the eggs in the vestel they would have to rid 

 it of a portion of the lime water, which they evidently 

 drank. This shows that the rat. is a capital judge of a 

 good medicine as well as a square meal. Dr. Wood, in 

 the Uiuled Utiiti'.n J)i.y>emutory, =avs that, mixed with an 

 equal measure of milk, which completely covers its offen- 

 sive taste, it is au excellent tonic, and oue of the best rem- 

 edies for irritability of the stomach; that he has found a 

 diet exclusively of "me water avnl milk to be more effect- 

 ive than any plan of treatment, in dyspepsia accompanied 

 with the vomiting of food. No doubt Dr. Rodent has dis- 

 covered that the albumen, margarine, and olein of the egg, 

 combined with the lime water, is quite as wholesome aud 

 palatable as the milk, and that the stomach of a hungry 

 dyspeptic i at is just as good a place to mix them in as the 

 nurse's medicine glass iu the sick Chamber upstairs. 



Dr. Rat is welf known to be as ingenious in mechanical 

 devices as he is an fait in I he cuisine and materia medica 

 of cellars and pauuies, Mow did he lift the eggs up two 

 inches on the edge Ot Ills creok, and then lowcrlhem 

 twelve inches without breaking them? We kuow ihat be 

 engineers their transportation long distances by causing 

 one rat to lie on his. hack while others roll the cge upon 

 him, which he clasps and holds lirmly iu all fours, as the 

 "sappers and miners" drag him off by the ti.il to those 

 subterraneous re -nils of rodent engineering which house- 

 keepers detest but can seldom hud, or close when found. 

 This tail of the rodent, by the way, is a most wonderful 

 piece of mechanism. It has more muscles than the hu- 



man hand; it is, in fact, a chain of moveable bones and 

 muscles, and is covered with minute scales and short, stiff 

 hairs, rendering it prehensile, and capable of being em- 

 ployed as a hand, balancer, or projecting spring, ft was 

 no doubt a great help to the engineer and his corps of as- 

 sistants in safely lowering tho eggs from the top of the 

 vessel to the door. 



But this perhaps is not as astonishing as a well authen- 

 tii ated incident which took place in the same cellar a few 

 year Bgfl A quantity of ctrgs were placed on a shelf laid 

 flti I .,: '-.- iram.-s suspended from the joist. Thi shelf Was 

 sixfeetfrom the floor, and the only connection with the 

 joist, above was by the wooden pendants, the size of ordi- 

 nary roofing-lath. The eggs disappearing mysteriously, a 

 search was Instituted, and three of them found at tho en- 

 trance of a rat hole iu an opposite corner, two of which 

 were whole and sound and one shell empty. It was clear 

 that, the theft was the work of the rats. That tho process 

 of engineering by- which they wore removed must have 

 been ingenious, no one cau reasonably doubt. Just how- 

 it was done we are not prepared to demonstrate. — Lancas- 

 ter (Pa.) Mcomttiar. 



« i » 



—At a lecture a few days ago in Chicago, a letter 

 was read from John G. Wintrier, who, speaking of the 

 advance of modern scieuce, said: — 



Admitting the theory of evolution to be true, I do not 

 see that it, need disturb the feelings or faith of the religious 

 world. No deductions or science can change the facts of 

 sin and holiness. We know that something calls upon us 

 to be pure, true, merciful and just— that, something holds 

 us to the great, idea of duty ■ This to me is God speaking 

 directly to me, as He does to all; and because be asks me 

 lo be good 1 know that He is good. ' Hero is a rock with 

 which geology has nothing to do. 



faadl&nd, $mm nnd (§nrdm. 



For forest and Stream. 



IWONDEB if tlio urowii earth feels a pain, 

 Wlien tbn plongU tnrus up the soil 1 

 If it feels tbo weight of the tiny s6ed, 

 Dropped in l>y the hand of toil ? 



Ah ! the farmer knowetb, the soU he tills, 



And if earth doth fuel & paiu, 

 Jn silence it talcoth the precious seed, 

 And yieldeth the autumn grain. 



ing hearts, grief ploweth deep— 



..ied He drops, 



inteth thy harvest's gain. 



0, yesorrowing 



Think not Of thy hitter pain ; 

 But no " 



Who 



— E. M. Woods. 



■WILDERNESS GARDENS. 



ON reading over the article on "Country and Suburban 

 Residences" we were irresistibly remindedof a beauti- 

 ful shooting lodge beside a Scottish Loeh; of one on Lake 

 tiopatkong, where we spent many happy hours; and of 

 another (though much more elaborate) near New York. 

 Each of these was built with reference to use as well as beauty, 

 but it was the surroundings that took our eye, and carried 

 our hearts by storm. They had of course their vegetable 

 garden, etc., removed to some distance in the rear of the 

 cottage, though of easy access for the fragrant mint, or the 

 cooling strawberry; (One had a neat grapery or two) but to 

 us their. chief beauty was in the abandonment of all straight 

 lines, walks of close cut grass where you would look for 

 gravel. A knoll of cedars jkere, fragrant with spicy 'odors; 

 there a group of scarlet maple, that will shine like a pioture 

 set in dark green, in the fad. months, when the gorgeous 

 colors are lighted up by the setting sun -.beautiful plants, too, 

 in profusion where least expected, here a group of Oolens or 

 Salvias, to lighten up dark or grey; there svnrlH geranium or 

 fhil'wreas, beds of Poriufaetfs mrbentts, MonMy roses, a bunch 

 of Gladioli, here and there a noble plant of Triloma, or the 

 lovely Pampas grass, standing out like sentinels, or fading off 

 in the distance; all was charming, but the chief beauty jwas 

 the naturalness (if I may use the term) of the whole sur- 

 roundings. We most thoroughly endorse your correspon- 

 dent's remark: 



"In nine cases onl of ten it is better to build the house 

 to suit the trees, than to clear a site by their removal. 

 The loss sustained by cutting down some majestic 

 elm or knarled oak is irreparable, and no man, with a soul 

 worth saving, could be guilty ot such an enormity, unless the 

 operation be a necessity of the most imperative kind. If they 

 obstruct a particular 'view, it is better to make a window 

 somewhere else, from which the prospect can be enjoyed." 



Here, the "forest primeval" was judiciously thinned. At 

 one tree a 'BUfttSXaa rc'ocacs- was planted, at another a red or 

 white Oliuihiiiij rose; by some sharp angle you come upon a 

 goigeona ('lemniis OMrea, or the lovely Virgin's Uiarei; and 

 anon in some bosky dell, or on rustic bridge or arbor, the 

 M/ujOsh Ivy, or perhaps the Virginian "v., -r, showed their 

 glossy foliage. Muarandios, JPhysta&tflMS , ,,, and other 

 climbing plants, were all called upon, and responded nobly, 

 even the darning M^tuHUMs was made bo do homage, and add 

 to the general fitness of things, while festoons were carried 



from tree to tree and flu birds d to vie with the 



flowers in making the place a Paradise. 



Closely shaven glades and wide grass bolts wound all 

 around the place, lovely views here and there of bay, or lake, 

 or mountain side, a rustic seat beneath a fragrant honey- 

 suckle, with its humming birds— all free from lleaS OJ 



offensive geometrical twirlings, on barren expanse of 

 gro , :, il surface-., and all kinds of puerih'ties, old-fashioned 

 .„■ ,, ,,.,-i i , I id; just such a, paradise as a hard worked busi- 

 aesamant Lenjdy— and make enjoyable— during the suth.- 



mev mouths; make him forget (if possible) Ms iedgi I 

 Stookfi and make Ins friends Is Mi's ••• because being, removed 

 from the conventionalities tit life, ■'<>:■ li"- more naturally, 

 and through studying nature in her various moods, "Look 

 through Nature— -up to Nature's God." w. J. D, 



Ivies.— In the garden ivy is nnm estt live] BBi d than 

 formerly, the green, free-growing kinds as edgings to walks; 

 th, dnser growing kinds as coverings for banks, roeke i 

 and rooteries; and the choicer sorts for staircase, hall, corn- 

 dor, or even for conservatory decoration. For all these pur- 

 poses ivy is particularly worthy of being employed, while 

 for covering low walls in almost all sorts of posifcio i 

 and with all aspects, a collection of the choice variegated 

 kinds is extremely ornamental. 



As pot plants for associating with groups of flowering 

 plants, well-trained specimens of ivy are not only among 

 the finest, but are the most easily preserved and permanent 

 of plants. How effective (pyramids of ivy are was shown si 

 the great show at South Kingsington last year, when the 

 nurserymen made the grand and spontaneous offering of the 

 best of their collections, producing an ■ -si il il ion which has 

 not been equaled in London for many years. Fin" as were 

 all the collections then exhibited, rich, valuable, and rare as 

 were many of the plants composing the groups — yet, no bank 

 Was more strikingly ornamental, or won higher encomiums 

 of praise, than the group of specimen ivies associated with 

 /,',■,» otovrtum, from Mi-. 0. Turner, of Slough. 



Ivies in a small state are also admirable for the furnishing 

 of window boxes, balconies, hanging baskets for indoors and 

 out, and the variegated kinds for lively edgings of flower- 

 beds in winter. The uses of this plant in its several ivarie- 

 ties are so manifold that there is no wonder that the demand 

 for plants is increasing year by year, and very large supplies 

 have to be provided to meet the ever-growing requirements 

 for this now popular plant. Some sorts are of slow growth, 

 but that is an advantage for many purposes of decoration, 

 admitting the plants to places, whero luxuriant flowers 

 would' be'quite unsuitable — London Journal of Ihirit- n/ss„ 



Massachusetts Histohioai. Society. — Through the kind- 

 ness of Curtis & Cobb, seedsmen, Boston, we are in receipt 

 of a copy of the Constitution and By-laws, Schedule of Pre- 

 miums for 1877, and the Transactions of the [Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society for 1876. 



This society is undoubtedly the most flourishing in this 

 Country, having a large membership, and quite a large in- 

 come- from .its hall and stores, independent of its receipts 

 from Mt. Auburn. The weekly meetings are well attended, 

 and the large exhibitions, notably the Azalea and the fall ex- 

 hibitions, bring out a wealth of floral beauty rarely seen in 

 this country at least. To a stranger .these weekly meetings 

 are doubly valuable, and the members vie with each other to 

 make him feel at home in the "Hub." 



As for their library we will let Mr. Buswell speak for him- 

 self: " I only wish the library could be made more valuable 

 by more frequent and constant use. It is to-day the best of 

 its kind in tbo world, but is beneficial only in proportion as 

 it is consulted. 



The visitors to our rooms, for 'the use of the library nnd 

 for mutual intercourse increase in numbers year by year, to 

 a degree truly encouraging. Friends of horticulture abroad 

 will please accept an invitation, to make our rooms their 

 head-quarters while in the city. Our members, of course, 

 need no invitation. 



•♦'«• 



Sunflowers and Malaria.— Tuissubject received some 

 attention about three years ago, when a conversation be- 

 tween General Sherman and the correspondent of a London 

 paper, respecting the pestilential marshes around Rooie, 

 was published. The General said: "We utilize such 

 places, and make them healthy; wc just sow them -with 

 Sunflower seed— common .Sunflower— aud that, does it." 

 Mj r own experience points to the same conclusion. Taking 

 up the cultivation of the Sunflower a few years ago, my 

 attention was forcibly drawn to the subject of its extensive 

 cultivation having a markedly beneficial effect on the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere, by the fact that one season the 

 village near which I resided was visited by a severe epi- 

 demic of scarlet fever and typhus; many children died — 

 one in a cottage, where the whole family was prostrated at 

 one time, not a hundred yards from my own house. All 

 my family escaped without a touch of sickness. 1 had at 

 thai time about sixty very large Sunflower plants in my 

 garden surrounding the bouse, many of them being twelve 

 feet high. My per>omd experience of the efflcieney of the 

 cultivation of the Sunflower as a preventive of miasmatic 

 lever has been fully borne out by other aud worthier au- 

 thorities, of whom General Sherman is oue. A land- 

 owner on the banks of the Scheldt sowed the Sunflower ex 

 tensivelv on h,is property near the river, with such effect 

 that there has not been a single case of miasmatic fever 

 among his tenants for years, although the disease con- 

 tinues to prevail in the neighborhood. The medical men 

 iu France, Ita y, and Germany, believe the cultivation of 

 the Sunflower to be effectual in removing the abui 

 diseases. It may not be generally known that the Sun- 

 flower absorbs, during its growth, a vast, quantify of im- 

 pure gases; il feeds largely by its leaves, absorb., uitTOgOB 

 mote rapidly than any other plaut, and will evaporate as 

 much as a quart of water daily. 1 am convinced that the 

 cultivation of this much neglected plant ou a larger scale 

 would not only be beneficial; but remunerative. Tho fibre 

 cau be used for making paper; the ripe seed is mem, useful 

 as food for poultry, especially during the nioultiim -season ; 

 from 'ilaflno oil— second only lo olive— is extracted; the 

 leaves are much relished by rabbits, and the thick stems 

 may be used as fuel. — Public Opinion. 



AuTUM-NAX-TlNTED VlNE LeAVF.S.— I kllOW of 110 leaves 



which become more richly tinted in autumn than those of 

 certain varieties of Grape Vine, a houseful of different 

 kinds of which presents at that season as interesting and 

 diversified an appearance as a mixed plantation. The 

 leaves of Barharoasa attain the illicit of hues, which con- 

 sist of golden-yellow, vivid reddish-scarlet, and deep green, 

 la some the center is yellow, belled with crimson and 

 ed ed With green; iu others these colors are reversed. 

 Tli,--e markings arc nol oonflped to decaying leaves, but 

 also exist ou fresh foliage, whose veins and tUSUBB 

 of sap. In some places leaves o. this kind arc -,-n, 

 for garnishing; this variety of Vine is, therefore, alike 

 useful in autumn for its delicious fruit aud its strikingly 

 pretty foliage. Old planted out rods of the Black Alicante 



