FOREST AND STREAM 
247 
USE OF PICKLE IN TAXIDERMY. 
Nr» Utrecht, N. Y., May 17, 1875 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Yon anonymous correspondent "Pickle”— an opinion given publicly la 
worth a name— whether an amateur or veterau taxidermist, evidently 
docs not understand practically all the “wrinkles" of taxidermy; for 
If he did he would not "wonder" at the simple process of cleansing some 
of our hard-feathered birds in a pickle previous to drying their plumage 
and mounting them. 1 would like to ask "Pickle" how he would pro- 
ceed to mount a flat, dry skin of a loon, grebe, guillemot, puflln, auk, or 
penguin that is split down the hack longitudinally from tho occiput to 
the tail? Surely he would not allow the grease and blood to remain on 
the plumage of a bird and sew up a dry, contracted skin, thus making a 
deformed and dirty specimen ; yell cannot see how he can overcome 
such obstacles to good mounting without soaking dry skins into a pliable 
and mountable condition. Verily, I believe "Pickle," if a professional 
taxidermist, will profitably bear a littlo further experience as a taxi- 
dermist, or else, in some coses, at least, ho must necessarily become a 
"modest taxidermist." Jos. H. Batty. 
THOSE SWAMP PEEPERS. 
Watervu-le, N. Y., May 17th, 1875. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Your answer to J. W. W. may bo correct as an abstract fact, but I 
think It would convey a wrong impression to the general reader. The 
peepers referred to arc not frogs according to the general acceptation of 
that term. If J. W. W. will some warm day, about dark, approach the 
spot on the margin of a swamp where he is certain he heard some of the 
peeps proceed from, he will notice that they will suddenly stop, but if he 
will patiently stand motionless a few minutes he will observe sisroe of 
life iu a little thing that has looked like a small brown, dead leaf. This 
will cautiously rise and prove Itself to bo a thing of lifo by puffing out a 
throat as wide as its body and nttcriug a peep. If he remains perfectly 
still he will soon see and hear another and another of Its companions 
join in the general cborns. He will discover that the little fellows are 
not green like the bullfrog, but brown like the garden toad, 'and that they 
are smaller than any tadpole-developed frog he ever saw; that It would 
take three of them to weigh as much as one of its slimy, green cousins 
of the same age. He will find it difficult to get one an inch long, al- 
though all the bullfrogs batched out last Summer were two inches in 
length before they went Into Winter quarters. The peeps are, in fact, 
toad8 - R. S. B. 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
Department op Public Parks, I 
New York. May 23, 1875. | 
Animals received at Central Park Menageno for the week ending 
May 2td, 1875:- 
One Clapper Rail, Ballus crepitans. Presented by Mr. Henry C. Win- 
ter. 
One Red Squirrel, Scluru s Iludsonxus. Presented by Master Wm. B 
Franklin. 
Two Sebastopol Geese, Anger domesticus. Presented by Mr. William 
Simpson, Jr. 
Five Wild Geese, Bernicla canadensis. Bred In the Menagerie. 
One White Fronted Goobo, A nserjronlalls. Bred in the Menagerie. 
W. A. Conklin, Director. 
—The following are recent arrivals at the Garden of tho 
Zoological Society, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia:— 
One Surf Coot, O persplcUlata. Presented by W. C. Cantwell, Phila- 
delphia. 
Two Red-crested Cardinals, Parvarla cucutlata. Presented by C. Sfn- 
nlckson, Philadelphia. 
One Menopoma, Mcnopoma AUcghaniensc. Presented by the Smith 
sonian Institution, Washington. 
One Crested Curassow, Crax alcctor. Purchased. 
One Red and Yellow Macaw, Ara chlowpttra. Purchased. 
One Red and Blue Macaw, Ara Macao. Pnrchaeed. 
Two Brown Capuchins, Cebus fatuelius. Purchased. 
One Black Snake, Bascauion conshictor; one King Snake, Opfilbolus 
0 etutus; two Copper-belly Snakes, Novella erythrogaster; one Water 
Snake, Nerodia taxlspllota; three Spreading Adders. UiUrodon sUnus; 
one Turtle, Cinosternum Pomsylvanicam; one Mud Tortoise. Cistud'a 
Carolina. Presented by J. W. Milner, Assistant Commissioner United 
States Fishery, Washington, D. C. 
Ono Mcnopoma, Menojxrma AUcghaniense. Presented by R. L 
Walker, Pa. 
One Black crowned Night Heron, A. discors. Presented by John 
Pearsall, Philadelphia. 
Twenty-two Horned Lizards, Phrynosoma cornulum. Presented bv C 
Noble, Philadelphia. 
One American Bison, Bison Amsricanus. Born in Gaidens. 
badland, Jfjarm and (garden. 
THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE. 
W E very much regret to learn that already great injury 
has been done to the growing crops of Kansas 
Nebraska, and Missouri by the young grasshoppers, and 
that they have appeared in large numbers in Minnesota. 
The injury thus far is not general, even in the sections vis- 
ited last year, but Is great enough lo cause much uneasi- 
ness in itself and anxiety in view of the future. Dispatches 
of May 17th estimate the region in which they are worst at 
two hundred miles long and fifty miles wide, with St. Jo- 
seph near the centre in either direction. Thus far no ef- 
fective plan of destroying them has been devised, and it is 
evident that it would be a great task, in any event, as the 
numbers are so great. It is reported that the insect ene- 
mies of the grasshopper are more than usually abundant 
this Spring. In his annual report for 1874, C. V. Riley, 
State Entomologist of Missouri, who devoted much atten- 
tion to this pest, says: — 
“If, after the young hoppers hatch, we have much cold, 
wet. weather, great numbers of them will congregate iu 
sheltered | luces, and perish before doing serious harm; hut 
if, on the contrary, our Spring and early Summer prove 
dry and hot, which is hardly to be expected after the sev- 
eral dry seasons lately experienced, much damage will re- 
sult from these youug locusts, where no effort is made to 
prevent it. They will ruin most garden truck, do much 
injury to grain, and affect plants. They will become more 
aud more injurious as they get older, until about two 
months lrom the time of hatching, or about the middle of 
June, they will begin to acquire wings, become restless, 
and in all probability leave the loculity where they were 
born, either wending their way further south, or returning 
in the direction whence their parents came the previous 
year. Some bevies may even pass to the eastward of (he 
limit line reached in 1874, and fall upon some of the coun- 
ties bordering that line; but they will lay no eggs and will 
in time run their course and perish from debility disease 
and parasites. In 1876 the Rocky Mountain locust will 
scarcely be heard of within our borders; a few remnants 
from Kansas or Nebraska, or from the country to the 
southwest, may make their presence manifest, if the year 
should he exceptionally favorable to their development; 
but whether delayed till 1876, or even till 1877, the last one 
will eventually vanish from Missouri soil, and their race 
will be no more known among us till — perhaps within six 
or eight years, perhaps within the next twenty— a fresh 
swarm wings its way to our borders from the plains along 
the mountain regions. There is, therefore, no danger of 
their over running to the east of tho limit line, or of their 
doing permanent injury to the country they now occupy." 
ORNAMENTAL GRASSES. 
A MONG the grasses from which you can mako choice 
for garden decoration use we name several that in 
our American gardens would add material foatures of 
beauty to them. The cultivation of the grasses have been 
almost entirely overlooked, and only occasionally are our 
eyes pleased with the beauties of the tall waving plumes of 
the Gynerium argenteum. This is a favorite udjunct of 
English and European gardens, and no purden of well as- 
sorted selections is considered complete without a clump of 
the waving, plumy pampas grass. Our American gardens 
lack the tropical element and situations adapted to the 
growing of the lull, variegated grasses, so beautiful in the 
Fall months, and for that reason they are almost entirely 
discarded. This should not be. We would enter our plea 
for a little nook or corner in the garden where the pampas 
and the Slipapennata as well as tho violets may be grown. 
We do not urge the cultivation of these grasses, variogated 
and elegant as they are, in largo numbers, for that would 
be an impossibility, but we ask our readers, particularly 
the ladies, to procure from the florists in May at least one 
good strong plant of the two above named grasses, to which 
I would add the Andropogan argenteum , a slender growing 
species with silvery hued leaves and plumes. All the 
above arc quite hardy, and if large clumps of toots can he 
procured they will live and thrive weN. 
In procuring any of the above grasses bo particular to 
get a large sized clump of roots, as from one or two stalks 
your chance for raising good tall grasses are very poor. 
Having from this cause made numerous failures in the 
growth of these grasses, I would urge the fact that until I 
obtained good clumps of well rooted grasses my labor and 
success was entirely in vain. With the right kinds of roots 
I had good succes. Seeds of the various kinds of these 
grasses may be procured from most of our first class seeds- 
men, and from them you should purchase if you are desir- 
ous of getting tho true seed. You can sow the seed and 
raised your own plants if you are prepared to give much 
care to the work: if not you had belter buy your plants. 
The perennial kinds are the best as a general rule, but the 
annual and bienniul species are beautiful and unique, and 
if added will repay all your care. I have often looked at 
the tall stems and silvery plumes of the pampas grass, full 
three feet in height, glistening and changing from deep 
green to silver while. This grass is a little tender, and iu 
norlhern latitudes a little impatient of cold, but with a 
little straw covering the roots it will go through with our 
Wiuters in safety, I have often cultivated it, and cun rec- 
ommend it as a beautiful ornament. I recollect a garden 
in one of our pleasant New England towns in which I 
placed in good position six very fine Yucca filamentosa and 
six Gynemum argenlerum. About the beds and foregrounds 
were placed the diversified and many colored geraniums, 
and when the garden was in good condition the appearance 
was particularly effective; then ouc plaut helps to set off 
the beauties and graces of the other, and the decline of 
the sun not only scattered the fragrance fcf the pearly flow- 
ers of the Yucca, but drew around its hundreds of bell 
shaped flowers numberless species of the humming bird 
and wren. Here our lady readers, for whom this article is 
specially penned, can for a small outlay (say a year’s sub- 
scription to our weekly visitor, Forest and Stream) ob- 
tain a large amount of pleasure and instruction us to the 
management and culture of plaut life. 
In ordinary garden culture all these plants will grow, and 
there are many others of this species of easy culture, 
which, if transferred from their native haunts, would be 
much improved and beautiful additions to our gardens, 
With one more plant, the Arundo donax, a very large and 
beautiful one growing in clumps, we close this article. 
This plant, uuder good cultivation, will send up a long, 
reed like stem to the height of ten or twelve feet iu our 
very Northern States. It seldom flowers, but in sheltered 
or made protections it will give forth its fine blossoms. 
Even without its blossoms, this plunt is very fine and pic- 
turesque. In ordinary good position it will flower every 
moderately warm year. Ollipod Quill. 
§[lte fennel. 
AMERICAN KENNELS— No. . 3 
mr. a. c. Waddell’s. 
W E HAVE hitherto described kennels wherein partic- 
ular strains were perfected and adhered to, accord- 
ing to the inclination of the owner. The one now under 
discussion varies from those, inasmuch as its shelter is 
offered to all descriptions of sporting dogs, and the visitor 
fleds an omnium gatherum of setters, pointers, cockers, 
and beagles. The aim is also different. Mr. Waddell's 
kennel is essentially a public institution, wherein dogs are 
boarded, broken, bred, and sold at all ages, from puppy- 
hood to full development. Many of the most celebrated 
dogs in the country have at one time or other passed 
through Mr. Waddell’s bauds, and roi'-ocrous fine field per- 
formers, now delighting the hearts of their owners, have 
either been bred and broken by him, or been purchased 
through his medium. This kennel is also located at New- 
ton, N. J., on the Sussex Railroad. A line farm with ap- 
propriate outbuildings, and pastures through which runs a 
brook, provides excellent and ample quarters for even u lar- 
ger number of dogs than are now occupying them. The fields 
afford fine opportunity for exercise, and the brook, afford- 
ing a plentiful supply of pure water, struck us us being a 
great feature of the kennel, insuring cleanliness, and being 
a great preventative of disease. As some fifty dogs were 
inspected, our space will not permit of more than a passing 
description of some of the leading representatives, many 
of whom are known to fame as first-class field performers 
and getters of good puppies. — 
6KTTRR8. 
A setter, used as a stock dog; fine In 
coat and feather, and tho sire of a litter of five fine pup- 
pies out of r r 
q' — Red; one-half Gordon. 
3. Duke— Black and tan Gordon, imported. This dog is 
a grandson of Old Kent, the great field trial dog. He Is a 
pure black and rich tan without a speck of white, aud ia 
of the true Gordon type. 
4 Dash— A nearly pure white setter. Ho is a grandson 
of Greeu s (of Newurk) Old Duke, one of the bust dogs of 
his day. * 
5. Faun— A fawn-colored bitch; sire, the Colburn Dash. * 
6. Bess— A black hitch; sire, the Colburn Dash. 
7. Count — Red Irish Gordon. 
8. Bang— Red Irish Gordon. 
M i)y— Orange and white setter bitch ; English. 
10 - Kitty — Liver and white setter bitch; English. 
11. Nelly— Orange and while setter bitch; Gildersleove 
strain. 
13. Carrie — Red Irish Gordon; imported. 
13. Louise — Red Irish Gordon; imported. 
14. Bello— Black and tan; pure Gordon. 
15. Maggie— Black and tan ; Irish Gordon. 
16. Pauline— Blue ticked; Irish Gordon. 
POINTERS. 
17. Phil — Black; used as a slock dog, better known as 
the Colt (Hartford) dog. Phil took first prize at Mineola, and 
is the sire of Mr. Strong's handsome black dog. Pete, first 
and extra prize at Springfiold. We shall publish Pete’s 
picture in a week or two, and at I he same time a more ex- 
tended description of handsome old Phil. 
18. Ben— Red pointer; stock dog. This dog Mr. Wad- 
dell has bred to for tho last four years. Ho is tho sire of 
his noted bitch. Dream, now dead; also tho sire of Shot, 
sold to Mr. Arthur Chapman, of Doylestown, Pa., who 
pronounces him the best poiutor in America. The strain 
is a distinct strain of pointer, imported by Mr. Foot, of 
Morristown, and designated as the rough haired pointer. 
10. Rock — Dark liver pointer; sire, Ben. 
20. Dell— Red pointer bitch; sire, Ben. 
21. Jule— Orange mottled pointer bitch; sire, Ben. 
23. Lott— Liver and while pointer bitch; sire, Ben. 
23. Topsy— Black pointer bitch; sire, Phil. 
24. Phil, Jr.— Black poiutor; sire, Phil. 
25. Sam— Black pointer; sire, Phil. 
26. Queen — Black and white pointer; sire, Phil. 
27. Dream— Black, white and Ian pointer; sire, Phil. 
28. Nolly —Orange and white pointer bitch ; imported. 
^20. Bell— Liver and whito pointer bitch, aud five pups by 
30. Start— Orange pointer, by Phil. 
31. Phil — Black licked poluter. 
COCKER SPANIELS. 
Bell and Still — Black and tan Burdette cockers. These 
cockers ure by some considered the most vuluablo of all tho 
cocker spaniels. Mr. Ilubbcll bought the mother of these 
spaniels at a cost of £80 ($400). They are very Intelli- 
gent, natural retrievers, and liuvo romarkahly keen noses, 
equal to the best setters or pointors. 
In uddition to the above Mr. Waddell bus fifteen setter 
puppies, and by July will have at least fifty. He has also 
thirteen dogs now with trainers being broken, and will have 
them for sale during the coming shooting season. We also 
saw a pair of fine, pure beaglc9— Lotty mid Jack — weighing 
seventeen and twenty-seven pounds respectively. 
A visit to the green slopes of Newton and an examina- 
tion of the fine dogs to be found there, will well repay the 
traveler. We would wish, did space admit, to give a more 
extended description of these kennels, as well as of the 
dogs in the po-session of Mr. Northrup and uiuuy other 
sportsmen who have made Newton their home. 
A VERDICT AGAINST A DOG-KILLER. 
W E APPEND herewith tho report of a trial hold at 
Morristown, N. J., which will be of interest to all 
owners of valuable dogs. The result is important, not so 
much in the amount of damages awarded to the plaintiff 
for the loss of his dog, ns in establishing the fact, and that 
through the rare means of a country jury, that dogs are 
really property, und that their owners are as much entitled 
to the protection of the law in their holding as though they 
were horses, cattle, or any domestic animal. It is a healthy 
indication that the value of dogs us personal property Is 
being appreciated, and that their indiscriminate slaughter 
ou frivolous prctcuces will no longer be permitted. The 
case in point is more remarkable from the fact that the 
jury was composed of furmers, a class — particularly the 
sheep owners — who are apt to look with suspicion upou all 
dogs but their own, und who would almost necessarily have 
a leaning towards the side of one of their own class. They 
have proven themselves to he sound and honest men, and 
the damages awarded are no doubt, in their minds, equal 
to the value of the best dog that ever barked. The coun- 
sel in the case must also have shown marked ability in 
overcoming their prejudices and getting a verdict. The 
report is of value as being a precedent for like causes In 
the future:— 
Morris County Circuit Court— Jwlge Dixon Presiding. 
OhCOTT VS. TUNIS. 
This was sn actloo for trespass, brought by tho plaintiff, a non-resi- 
dent of the Stale, against the defendant for killing a dog the property of 
the former, and was tried before a Jury at Morristown, N. J., on tho 
12th and 13th May. 1875. 
The evidence showed I hai the dog, wlilab was a *ery valuable, highly 
bred and remarkably well trained cocker spaniel, had strayed away front 
the house of Mr, Quuiiby. at Morristown, on the morning of July 28th, 
1871. and was killed ut LR'Ieton, some four miles distant, on the eyen 
lug of the same day. Dcfsndant admitted the killing, and put in the 
pleudlug as Justification that tl,». J ,og was mad. 
The trial lasted I J days and wa* rot: sly a r.uustlnn of fact aatotho 
dog's condition at the time of the killing. "A N oi shown by several wit- 
nesses that t’onto, the spaniel, not five minutes before hi* death, and In 
sight of the defendant, had run up to and played In b f^endly war with 
a Utile boy belonging to one of the wltucases, and no snupplshnesa, 
sulkiness, or other strongly marked symptoms of rabies wa- ’hown to 
