198 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Your first and greatest care is to secure a good wide base 

 at the start; then let your beautiful green, compact hedge 

 fence rise gradually and evenly, and train it into whatever 

 form your fancy or taste may suggest— always avoiding the 

 system called the " topiary trimming." 



By the use of the foregoing rules and observations, any 

 skillful farmer can have a splendid hedge of the above 

 named plant. It is not necessary for him to raise his seed 

 plants, for he can secure them ready to his hand of any 

 responsible nurseryman. But as all may not be able to 

 procure plants, who can procure seeds, we have given at 

 considerable length our own experience and knowledge of 

 this hardy, reliable plant and our manner of handling it. 



Ollipod Quill. 



BEST TIME FOR EXTERMINATING 

 BUSHES. 



high, and with a diametric spread of 93 feet, which is very 

 large for an elm. In old coaching days, both the horses 

 for changiag and the passengers awaiting the Hereford and 

 Abergavenny coach were always in shelter under this elm, 

 around which there is a spacious seat, suf icient to accom- 

 modate some twelve 01 fourteen persons. — Land and Water. 



A FARMER in Western New York says:— "Having 

 been brought up on a farm I used to hear much said 

 by farmers in regard to the 'best time for cutting bushes,' 

 etc., and remember well the many uncertainties that ex- 

 isted and the various opinions given on the subject. Some 

 recommended to cut at one season, some at another; some 

 regarded the 'moon,' others the 'signs,' etc. I also remem- 

 ber that the same kind of underbrush, if cut at one season, 

 would start again and grow luxuriantly, but if cut at an- 

 other would be completely used up. I have also, within 

 the past few years, had opportunity to notice the same 

 facts, and the conclusion that I have arrived at is, that dif- 

 ferent shrubs may be cut at different seasons. Some are 

 killed by cutting at the first of August; others in October 

 or November, the rule is this: 'Out any plant or shrub 

 about the time it has done growing for the season, and its 

 destruction is almost certain.' If cut before this it will 

 generally start again the next year. The exceptions are 

 few. So much for the fact ; now for the theory. First, in 

 the spring of the year all roots are vigorous; hence, if a 

 tree or shrub be cut at this time, or while in full growth, 

 the root will send forth a new set of shoots. The excep- 

 tions are — first, evergreens generally, as pine, hemlock, 

 spruce, etc. ; second, those that have a copious flow of sap 

 in the spring, as the maple, birch, etc. Yet even some of 

 those will start again if cut soon after the buds have 

 opened; that is, after the spring flow of sap has ceased, 

 except in the case of old trees, in which the root appears 

 not sufficiently vigorous, or the evaporation from the new 

 stump too rapid, to allow of the formation of new shoots. 

 Second — in autumn, when a shrub or tree has done grow- 

 ing for the season, the active energies of the root cease, 

 beino- perhaps somewhat exhausted by its summer action. 

 If, then, the bush or tree be cut, after it has done growing, 

 but while the stem and leaves are fresh and full of sap, 

 the vital force of the root will scarcely be sufficient to 

 cause a new growth; but if left till the foliage is dead or 

 dying, the energies of the root are restored by the return of 

 the sap, and are ready for action as soon as the season of 

 growth'shall return. Hence, too early or too late cutting 

 will be equally unsuccessful. Cut your underbrush, then, 

 at the time above specified, and it will rarely start again. 

 If it does, the growth will appear stunted and sickly, and 

 soon die of its own accord, or a second cutting at the 

 proper time will insure success. • The same rule applies to 

 all plants, as Canada thistles, milk weeds, etc., with greater 

 or less certainty, according to the greater or less vital force 

 or tenacity of life peculiar to the root of each kind of vege- 

 table. The 'proper time' can easily be determined by ob- 

 serving whether new leaves continue to appear at the ends 

 of the prominent branches. If deferred long beyond this 

 time or till the leaves begin to turn yellow, or fall, cutting 

 will 'be of Uttle use, as the root will be 'strong' for a row 

 start on the opening of a new spring. 



-**♦«- 



Natural Growth on the Prairies.— A correspondent 

 to Appletons' Journal writes as follows :— 



Irving, Kansas, October, 1873. 

 " Havino- read in the ' Scientific Notes ' for the issue of 

 October 11th the opinion of Dr. Newberry, of Ohio, that 

 prairies are the result, and not the cause, of a diminished 

 rainfall will you allow me to state what I have observed, 

 durin" a residence of four years, in the heart of the district 

 put down as having the minimum rainfall, and lying be- 

 tween the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains? 



1 Hundreds of magnificent oaks, from one to three feet 

 in diameter, far from any perennial streams, but protected 

 bv a rocky hill-side from the fire. 



2 Many groves of cotton-woods (preeminently a water- 

 lovino- tree), the product of chance seeds blown up on the 

 high prairies, and which now are often to be found thirty 

 feet in height and a foot in diameter. 



3 Groves of young trees, oftentimes covering an area of 

 a hundred acre and more, and as thrifty as any I ever saw 

 among my native Catskills. 



4 thousands of acres, now covered with tall, long-jomt- 

 ed trasses, which ten years ago^ produced nothing but the 

 short, wiry buffalo-grass." Respectfully, 



' Levi Chase, M. D. 



Noted English Trees.— On the picturesque domain of 

 Sir George Cornwall, of Moccas, a tree known as the 

 Monnino-ton Oak, measures 31 feet in circumference, at the 

 height of 5 feet from the ground, which exceeds by 6 f 3et 

 the largest growing at Longleat. It is in a somewhat de- 

 cayed state, but still a splendid specimen of antiquity. 



The belief is common in Herefordshire that the true old 

 British Oak {Quercus robur) lives upon an average to the 

 a°-e of twelve hundred years, and which is not inaptly ex- 

 pressed in the following somewhat quaint lines:— 



Three hundred years the oak expands in growth; 



Three hundred years in majesty stands forth; 



Three hundred years declines and wastes away. 



And then takes three hundred to decay. ^^ 



A very beautiful elm in the rectory garden at Stretton 

 Ruo-was, near Hereford, 21 feet 2 inches at 5 feet from the 

 cround'and running up as one mass of timber without di- 

 minishing much in size, for 35 feet, and there dividing into 

 two principal stems, it ascends to a total height of 92 feet. 



A picturesque elm at King Acre, in the same vicinity, 

 has a girth or 18 feet 8 inches at 5 feet from the ground 

 and 95-feet high. And a noted elm, very full foliage at 

 Trevil near Whitfield, 17 feet 8 inches m girth, 86 feet 



X FOOLING A COON. 



Editor Forest and Stream :— 



While hunting on Banana river, one day, I was a wit- 

 ness to one of those episodes in anima} life that seem to 

 warrant the belief that many birds are possessed of higher 

 attributes than are generally accorded them, and something 

 more than mere instinct. 



My guide had waded a long ways ahead in the shallow 

 water and was cautiously approaching a "drove" of spoon- 

 bills, leaving me to follow with the boat. 

 , Not relishing the idea of wading about in the muddy 

 water with stingrays and sawfish, pushing the heavy 

 craft before me, I concluded that such proceedings were 

 not in my line of duty and so sat upon the rail, idly plash- 

 ing the water with my feet. 



My attention was called to a disturbance among the 

 mangroves of a little islet near, and soon there flapped into 

 view, a black duck, a female, evidently wounded. Close 

 in her wake followed a sly looking coon, his attention so oc- 

 cupied with the duck, as not to notice me, till fairly in view. 

 Then he hesitated, but the duck brushed so near his nose 

 that he again took up the pursuit, throwing a glance occa- 

 sionally at me. It was interesting to watch them; keeping 

 just ahead of her pursuer, the duck would beat the water 

 quickly all the time in evident pain, and would so delude 

 the old fellow that he finally seemed to think of nothing 

 else but catching her. What a puzzled expression his 

 shrewd face wore, when, after nearly placing his paw upon 

 her, she would escape. Then he would stop, look at me 

 as if to say "what the deuce does all this mean?" and arching 

 his back, would again pursue with long leaps. For over a 

 quarter of an hour did the duck play with him, till having 

 enticed him a sufficient distance from her nest, she flew 

 away. If ever the face of a sharp-nosed coon wore a sheep- 

 ish look, it was the face of that same coon. I accelerated 

 his sneaking trot by a charge of duck shot. 



Fred Beverly. 



CAN TIGERS CLIMB? 



RAMBLING MARTINS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: — 



SEVERAL years ago I was going on a steamboat from 

 G-reen Bay to Little Baie de Noquet, and while sitting 

 on the deck my attention was attracted by two martins. 

 They were winging in their restless way about the boat, 

 now lighting upon the spars and braces, now sailing in 

 circles, easily adapting their flight to the rapid motion of the 

 boat. We were many miles from shore, and as they show r ed 

 no inclination to depart, I asked the officers on duty if 

 these birds were usually so companionable, and from them 

 learned that these birds were in the habit of going out from 

 Green Bay with the morning boat, and remaining with it 

 until the boat from Baie de Noquet came in sight. This I 

 verified, for when about mid-day the return boat appeared, 

 the birds at once left us, and beyond doubt joined the south 

 bound boat, as I was informed. This would secure their 

 return to Green Bay before dark, after a round trip of over 

 one hundred miles. It was in June, the nesting season, 

 and as ordinarily the martin is a very domestic bird, 

 devoted and courageous in caring for and defending its 

 young, these gay wanderers must have been bachelors try- 

 ing by change of scene to overcome their grief at disap. 

 pointments in affairs of love, or to seek a less romantic 

 cause for their wanderings, they may have found their 

 rural home too quiet. It is well known that they frequent 

 noisy bustling places, indeed the merriest family of martins 

 I know, live and revel amid the din of standing engines, 

 and the roar of more than one hundred daily trains. 



L. W. L. 

 «*..<>- 



The Hares at the Central Park. — On our inquiring 

 of Mr. Conklin, the Director of the Central Park Menagerie 

 in regard to the English hares imported some time ago by 

 Mr. Reiche for the Park, we are in receipt of the following: 

 " I am sorry to say the hares have not increased so far as I 

 can see, owing, I have no doubt, to the number of wild cats 

 tha/t have burrowed into the lower portion of the Park. 

 They have eaten up the levere's, B3- wild cats, I do not 

 mean the Felis C'atus, but the common domestic cat, which 

 have come from the neighboring shanties which adjoin the 

 Park. We are shooting these pests off as fast as we can. 

 The old hares have not changed their location a great deal 

 from where they were first let loose on the grounds. 



W. A. Conklin. 



THERE is quite a lively discussion going on in Eng 

 land in regard to the climbing capacities of the tiger, 

 and as to whether he should be shot from a high platform 

 or from a hole. We copy an incident of tiger shooting 

 given by a correspondent of Land and Water: — 



The commissioner of the division and an officer of the 

 Royal Engineers were out shooting, and were beating down 

 a nullah, having, as is usual, stationed men forward in the 

 trees to give notice of the brute's whereabouts, should it 

 get on foot. Of these, a Bunjara, who had taken up his 

 position on a branch 18 or 20 feet from the ground (the 

 exact distance was afterwards measured and was found to 

 be one of the two above numbers) was the first to see the 

 animal stealing along, and immediately began to wave his 

 turban, and to shout to the line, then about 200 or 250 

 yards off. The tigress, a small one, stopped, as the native 

 afterwards related, looked up, and seeing him, made 

 straight for the bottom of the tree, and began to climb it. 

 Of course the terrified man screamed out, and the line, 

 which had been coming on as fast as possiVe. being now 

 some 150 yards off, the officer of Engineers caught sight of 

 what was going on, and seeing that the man, who was too 

 paralysed by fright to try to climb higher, would be sacri- 

 ficed in another instant, pulled his elephant up, and risked 

 a long shot — 150 yards measured — and luckily dropped the 

 tigress just in time to save the man. Other instances 

 might be adduced, but I should think the above one ought 

 to satisfy one that tigers can climb; somewhat in corrobor- 

 ation, however, is the following extract from the Bengal 

 Sporting Magazine: " After relating an anecdote of a tiger 

 who selected a tree to die in (their resorting to one is not 

 uncommon), and last year, during the rains, Lieut. Nares, 

 of 53d N. I., shot one who bad perched himself in a tree to 

 escape being drowned)." Of course if anybody chooses, he 

 may say these tigers sprang into the trees, and did not 

 climb; but the mere fact of their being so commonly found 

 in them would be strongly in favor of their being able to 

 climb when requisite, even were there no other evidence on 

 the subject. 



< * » *».■ 



Pre- Historic Remains as Described by the French 

 Scientific Congress. — From the Revue dm Deux Monties 

 we take the following interesting account of an explora- 

 tion in search of pre-historic remains, made by various 

 members of the Scientific Congress, on the occasion of their 

 late visit to Lyons : — 



"Salutre is a small village some twelve kilometres from 

 Macon. Our expedition was under the charge of several 

 scientific people from MUcon, assisted by members of the 

 Conseil General of Sadne de Loire. Lnder the guidance 

 of the Maire of Macon we soon got to Salutre\ The la- 

 mented M. de Ferre first explored this region and brought to 

 light its treasures. Here we found in hollow trenchos of three 

 to four mitres in depth, stone flagging, such as are usually 

 discovered in researches of this character. Whether these 

 stone platforms were used as hearths, or as sepulchres no 

 one can tell. " Near these platforms we found innumerable 

 utensils made of flint, such as arrow's and lance heads, all 

 neatly cut, either lozenged shaped or resembling in form 

 the leaf of the willow T . Here were knives, scrapers and the 

 broken remains of innumerable tools. No hatchets nor 

 saws w r ere upturned. The bone instruments were evident- 

 ly used as polishers (for dressing skins — Ed.) or as bodkins, 

 or for the handles of their flint inplements. Any objects 

 of art distinguishable b} r the least idea of design were 

 wanting. Near the remnants of this early civilization, we 

 found an enormous quantity of bones belonging to the 

 horse, the rein-deer, the elephant, the stag, the ox, the bear 

 and the hare. The remains of the horse and deer were in 

 the greatest quantity. Solutrti is quite remarkable for the 

 enormous accumulation of horse bones, which are all splin- 

 tered and broken, or have been partially burnt, and which 

 are found covering an area of several metres in depth and 

 breadth. Calculations seemed to prove that no less than 

 the bodies of forty thousand horses must have been brought 

 together and slaughtered at this particular place. In vain 

 all kinds of suggestions, some of the most curious charac- 

 ter, were advanced by members, of the Association, to ex- 

 plain the presence of this mass of animals. Human re- 

 mains were by no means rare. They were disinterred be- 

 fore our eyes. The skulls brought to light seemed to 

 prove that two different races must have died at Solutr&, 

 the older of which was dolichocephalus and probably ex- 

 isted at the close of the quatenary period. 



— — +++- 



Structure and Action op fur. — "A fur is so arranged 

 that its fine hair projecting into the air intercepts all the 

 heat which flows from the surface of the body by radiation 

 and conduction, and distributes this heat through the air 

 which circulates between the single hair-c3dinders. Thus 

 the aii', however cold it may be, reaches the nerves of our 

 skin as a warmed air. Furred animals in winter, when 

 touched superficially, give a very cold sensation; it is only 

 near the skin that their hair feels warm. In a severe cold, 

 certainly little of our animal heat comes as far as the points 

 of the hair, from which it would escape by radiation or 

 conduction, as the current of the air in the fur cools the 

 hair from its points towards its roots, and a severe cold 

 penetrates only a little farther into the fur, without reach- 

 ing the skin of the same. This can take place only at an 

 exceedingly low temperature, or when a very cold air is 

 in violent motion. In a well-furred animal the changes of 

 temperature in the surrounding air only change the latitudes 

 at the cold and warm zones in the fur; the place wmere the 

 temperature of the body and the air equalise each other, 

 moves between the roots and points of the hair, and for 

 this reason a furred animal is not warmer in summer than 

 in winter. In summer its heat leaves at the points, in 

 winter near the roots of the hair. " 



Here is evidently an authentic account of a snake swal- 

 lowing her young:— 

 Editor Forest and Stream :— 



In the summer of 1860 I watched the movements of a 

 large striped snake, unseen by her. She crawled out of the 

 stone wall into the sunshine, opened her mouth, and out 

 came ten young snakes, four inches long I should judge, 

 and began to play with the old one. I watched them for 

 some time, then made a movement, and the old one gave a 

 hiss, and in dove the young, and before I could get a club 

 she was out of harm's way J. L. Hehsey. 



— Some months ago a Lithuanian lynx escaped from a 

 traveliug menagerie at Altona, Hoistein, and $20 reward 

 was offered for its capture, but in vain. Not long ago a 

 sentinel at Kiel observed a strange looking cat-like animal 

 coming out of the mouth of a hVge cannon on the ram- 

 parts, and after a short time returning with a duck in its 

 jaws. The man got assistance; a net was spread over the 

 muzzle of the gun, and the missing lynx was recaptured, 

 together with a domestic cat and a litter of three young 

 ones. These curious kittens have been transferred to the 

 botanical garden of Hamburg, where they have been visited 

 by many naturalists. 



