18-4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
"THE LAST SHOT 
etc., the plants may be put in any convenient 
place, such as the bank of a brook or other un- 
available land, and be left without other care 
than to cut them over, every year or two, or 
when the shoots get too large to be useful. This 
however, can hardly be called culture. In cul- 
tivation the land is well mellowed and the rows 
laid out at a convenient distance for working, for 
to get good rods there must be good culture. In 
England, where the work is done with a hoe, 
the rows are eighteen inches apart, but with us, 
where horse cultivation is almost universal, 
thirty inches would be better. The Willow 
grows perhaps more easily than any other plant 
from cuttings, and only the greatest neglect can 
cause a failure. Cuttings are made of last year's 
growth, a foot long, using only the strong wood 
and discarding the weak tips which would make 
weak plants. The cuttings are dibbled in at a 
foot apart in the rows, leaving a third of their 
length above ground ; the soil is pressed firmly 
against the cutting with the foot, and the work 
of planting is done. The crop should be cul- 
tivated with as much care as one of corn, and 
there should be no cutting made the first year 
after planting. The second autumn the shoots 
are cut down to within a few buds of the base, 
and tiie third autumn should give a full crop, 
(COPTRIGHT SECURED.) 
— FROM A PICTURE BY R. AKSDELL. — Drawn and Engraved/or the American Agriculturist. 
" The Last Shot." 
Our pacific pages are seldom startled by 
such a scene of blood and carnage as the one 
here presented, and we introduce it here 
not to draw any lesson of a practical charac- 
ter, but as a reminder of the hardships and 
dangers of frontier life — and the perils of the 
trappers among our northern and western 
wilds. The engraving is from a painting by an 
English artist, R. Ansdell, and represents the 
wolf of Europe — which, however, is so similar 
to our own that naturalists have until recently, 
generally regarded them as identical. Their 
habits are the same, they being the most treach- 
erous, cowardly, sneaking thieves imaginable. 
The presence of wolves in frontier regions is 
seldom dangerous to the inhabitants, except 
to young children, and even these are rarely at- 
tacked if calves, sheep, or pigs are to be found. 
When emboldened by numbers, or pressed by 
hunger, and attacking in packs, they are formi- 
dable foes. Following the trains of travelers 
or hunting parties to feed upon the refuse of the 
camp, they often attack isolated animals, as dis- 
abled horses, or cattle, or even the solitary trav- 
eler. Scenes like the above occur only in the 
depths of the forest, or on the unfrequented 
trails among the mountains. The dropping of 
a blanket saddle cloth, or something they will 
eat, occasionally shooting one of the pack, and 
similar expedients, are resorted to to direct 
their attention from pursuit, and a lasso trailed 
upon the ground is one of the best means 
of frightening them away. These attacks 
are directed against man only when the 
animals are driven by hunger to absolute 
desperation, but are then made with aston- 
ishing perseverance and the most savage 
ferocity. The bite of the wolf is a quick suc- 
cession of gnashes, so that when once they pull 
an animal down, or have a fair chance at one, 
they soon disable him. We believe nothing of 
flesh and blood can withstand these bites — for 
when wolves are really hungry they will make 
short work of even dry rawhide ropes, and 
leathern wagon traces. The pack of wolves runs 
down the traveler's horse, and then frightened 
and exhausted he falls an easy prey, unless his 
rider makes a good fight. In the above picture 
the artist's grouping is effective,his mauagement 
of light and shade is excellent, and the whole 
scene spirited, as if it were the portrayal of one 
in which the artist had been at sometime an 
actor. It will soon give place to a scene of " still 
life," if the "last shot" is as effective as the others. 
