R-USN 



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3-1^-30 



Over in the dairy section they accupe some snakep of sucking milk cow?, 

 and the little undcvclo ■)ed teats oil tro cow's udder are sometimes srjcken of as 

 snake tesits. In order for a snake to close its rr.outh and create a vacuum around 

 the cow's teat, it would "be necessary to sirJk: its teeth or fangs nto it, and 

 your radio listeners, whether you live in tl-.e country or on the 10th floor of a 

 city apartment, know that no cow is goini;, to stand still while a snake does this. 

 You just try pinching her teat when you are milking and see how quick she kicks 

 you off the milking stool. Now that ough' to be sufficient proof tl-^at snakes 

 don't suck milk cows, and I'm going to say that the so-called 'mxlk snake' does 

 not harm man at all. 



In another section of the country we have another mythicil story about a 

 snake that takes the end of its tail in its mouth and rolls like a hoop, in thii 

 position outruns the fastest hoi se \n the country. This account refers to the 

 horn snake which is harmless. This horn snake is bluish-black with a few red 

 bars across the belly, and its tail tapers to a fine ooint, h.-iving the a'opeararidfei 

 of a horn or spike, but this spike is quite harmless and incapable of stinging 

 anything. 



Early one morning I was picking beans near the banks of the M;. ssissippi 

 River. Suddenly I heard a faailiar hissi rjg sound right close to my liand, and 

 saw a spreading, viper coiled apparently read}- to finish me up. In those boyhood 

 da^s I usually went with half of my jump executed anyway so I finished the jump 

 and landed many feet away frcxn the snake, llovi this particular snake is known as 

 the spreading viper, puffing adder, blowing aader, hissing viper, and sand snake, 

 and is actually oneof the greatest bluffers among all snakes. It is harmless, 

 but many superstitious stories ai^e told about its poisonous venom, one of which 

 is that the breath of this snake will k^.H a erson 20 feet away. The snake is 

 net poisonous, however, and its teeth are too short to inflict a wound in case it 

 tried to bite you — but I didn't know this that morning when I was picking beaiif 

 and thereby h.angs the strong thread of th^ s whole snake talk. 



We have listened to stories about snakes, heard the reptiles rattle and 

 hiss, seen them raise their heads in the air and chase something and that v/as 

 enough — we took it for granted that all snakes were bad, iDoiscnous, dangerous, 

 and to be killed. Such is not the case. Jviost snakes are beneficial — helpful 

 to the fanner, and should not be killed without cause. Snakes devour large 

 numbers of insect? and mice, many of which are injurious to garden crops and es- 

 pecially to stored grains and foodstuffs, 



Kingsnakes used to be considered poisonous. They are not. Kingsnakes ar^ 

 actually able to kill rattlesnakes and laave been known to eat them. Now this 

 is a case where one snake someti.nes befriends .-r,an by helpirg him kill another 

 that is dangerous. 



Chicken- snakes and blacksnakes have been kno'Am to steal eggs, and some- 

 times to eat baby chicks. This is an objec oicnable habit, of course, but steps 

 can be taken to stop such losses by snake-prcof ing poultry buildirgs. These 

 snakes usually feed on mice, rats, young rabbits, and insects. 



At the end of this talk I'm going to g"" ve you listeners the tiiles of 

 two free publications listing the poisonous and nonpoisonous sn?Jces, and telling 

 what to do in case you are bitten by one that is poisonous. At this tin.e let's 



