390 
AMERICAN AGRIGULTQRIST. 
[OCTOBEB, 
October. 
Last mouth we told you that we had come to the 
months with oames from their DumhiTs; as that was 
the seventh month, so this was the ei^'hth mouth of the 
old Roman year, which we told you began with March. 
Octo is the Latin for eight. There is nothing of special 
historical interest connected with the month, but it is 
one in which boys aud girls make history very fast. 
We said last summer that June was the young- 
ster's month; we were a little hasty in saying this. 
It should by all means have hcen October. Now 
come the perfect days, now the gorgeous colors, now 
that wonderful stillness in the woods, when you can 
hear a nut drop. Nuts and nutting I We said that you 
youngsters made history this month, aud when you 
boys and girls grt oldi-r, you will look back on some 
Saturday this Octobc-r, as one of the happiest iu the liis- 
tory of jour lives. It is not a history that will be down 
in books, and no one else will read what is written in 
your memory. But these October days, their sights, 
sounds, and even odors, the words, smiles, and little 
kindnesses, these when you are o]d<T will, when you 
least expect them, all come back with a strange frcshnees. 
No, 446. Puzzle Picture.— You see the sea 
-you can't miss that ; but you are to see a Miss. She 
may be going to sea ; she may be waiting along the 
shore. She's quite young, but of a most uncertain age, 
as yon will find her over nine and under eleven. 
Au.<>iiTers to Correspondents. 
BY TUE DOCTOR. 
A Little Lame Giul.— Her name is Bell, and she 
lives in a log house near Lnki' Mcmphramagog. Do you 
know where tliat is? some perliaps will say it is in Can- 
ada, aud others that it is in Vermont, aud both will be in 
part right, for the lake is about half in each. Lit;le Bell 
is only 10 years old. and she writes a very pleasant letter 
to The Doctor. The drar little cliild says she has always 
been lame, but she does not let tliat prevent her fruiu 
using her eyes, and she says "■ I look around and sec all I 
can."— She sent me an insect "he fnund on the door-step, 
but it was so broken in pieces by ihe mail, that I can not 
make out what it is. She write- : " I have a splendid 
dog, and his name is Rover. I have three cars, aud the 
prettiest one has two kittens; the old cat is black and 
white, and so are the kirtens. "—Enjoy yonr pets my little 
one, aud every one in our great family of boys and girls 
will join with me in wisliing you much happiness. 
A Kentucky Boy fsES IIis Eyes. --Here is a veiy 
clever letter from Charles Martin, wlio lives in Kentucky. 
Charlie is only 11 years old. and I let him tell his story 
in his own words. He says : " I have concluded to write 
and tell you what I have seen. I have a very kind Pa, 
who built an aqnarium for the pleasure of us children, 
and while my little brother and myself were playing 
around it the other day, we found a cricket which we 
threw into the water. We soon saw two horse-hair 
worms, which appeared to come from the cricket, and 
when we had lold our Pa of them he told us whore to 
\ook \t\ W\Q AgricuUnrifit for yonr letter on the «nbject. 
Wc had often heard of horse-hair snakes, and that 
horse-h lirs turned to snakes, and had seen the worms, 
but we never knew how they came until we saw 
those, and n-ad your letter. They were quite a cnri- 
osity for brother and mc ; wc saw the worms laying the 
eggs of which you speak; they came out of the worm 
looking like a white thread several inches long, wc put 
this thn-ad-lookiug thing under the microscope, anrl 
could not see anything in it that looked like Qg^f^^ until 
we burst open the shell or skin, by squeezing it between 
two glasses, then we saw hundreds of roundish looking 
things, tluit we supposed were thu eggs, and this thready 
looking thing appeared to have been i^tudV-d with the 
eggs like a sausage skin. 
Birds as Pets. -Charlie S., in Venango County, Pa., 
wishes me to tell him how to catch humming birds and 
crows to tame as pets. There are some birds which 
seem to enjoy life in confinement, and not only become 
tame, but so attached to those who have the care of them 
that they will not go away when allowed their liberty. 
Then there are other birds which will not live in a 
cage, but mope and pine away when depiivcd of liberty, 
and others which, while they will ]ive, never become 
contented, but always appear like prisoners on the look- 
out for a chance to escape. However it may be with 
other birds, I do not think it right to shut up those of 
either of these two kinds. Indeed I am not sure that it 
is best to shut up atiy of our native birds at all. Those 
who keep cage birds say that they arc much better off. 
as they are not shot at by overgrown boys or hunted by 
hawks, owls, and other enemies. I will not talk about 
the right and wrong of the matter now, but only say that 
from a selfish view of the matter the birds should be free, 
as they can then serve us much better than when caged. 
There are but few birds which do not at some time in 
their lives feed iipon insects, and every farm in the 
country needs many times more birds than it now hag. 
to kill the injurious insects— so for our own good we 
should neither kill nor shut up the birds. But to answer 
Charlie's question we must say something about the 
habits of 
HusiMrxG-BiRDS.— Though so beautiful and so small, 
the humming-bird, (for but one is common in the north- 
ern states), is one of the most quarrelsome of all birds, 
and as full of fight as a game fowl. As with passionate 
boys, the humming-bii"d"'s disposition often gets it into 
trouble. Did you ever see one of its nests? It is a cun- 
ning aft'air, usually on the ujiper side of the limb of an 
apple tree ; it is only about an inch aud a half acro-s, 
lined with soft down, and so covered on the outside with 
lichens, (some call them mosses), that you might hunt 
for a long time without finding it, as it appears much 
like an old knot upon the tree. Whenever a person 
comes near the ne>*t, the birds immediately show fight 
and attack him. It seems rather foolish of the little 
things, after taking so much pains to hide the nest, to 
get into a passion and let the secret out. The nests are 
rarely fonnd in any oth^T way, and wh'^n thus discovered 
the young birds when about ready to fly have been taken. 
I never knew the old birds to bo taken in but one way ; 
I have known several of them to be canght which had 
flown into a room or greenhouse where there were 
flowers in bloom, and by quickly shutting the windows 
the little birds were captured. I never knew one to live 
long after being taken, but have read nceounts of those 
which have been kept several months, but they are 
warm weather birds, and die on tlie approach of winter 
in spite of all care. As so many have failed in trying to 
keep them, I do not think my young friend need feel 
very sorry that they are so difficult to catch. It is much 
pleasanter to see them about the flowers, with their 
beautiful plumage glittering in the sun. than to shut up 
the impatient little things. Most persons think that 
they visit the flowers for the boney, and they probably 
do eat some of it, but their chief food is insects, which 
are attractt;d to the flowers by the sweet liquid many of 
them contain. As these birds fear cold weather, yon 
will probably wonder how they pass the winter. They 
go south. In S(.'ptember, wlien the young birds get 
strong, they all. parents and young, start on their long 
journey towards a warmer part of the country. Isn't it 
wonderful tliat these tiny things will go on and on for 
hundreds of miles I There is some reason for thinking 
that either the old or the young ones come back to the 
same place the next season, as a nest has bi^cn known to 
be occupied three seasons, one aft^r another. But I 
have given so much space to humming-birds I have little 
room left for 
The Crow, which can only be tamed by being taken 
from the nest before it can fly ; then it must be bro ghl 
up by hand until quite able to feed itself, and this is 
more of a job than most people care for. Young Jim 
Crow is a great eater, and wants his food very often, at 
least every hour or two, or he will begin to cry for it. 
Something is said on another »page about the taming of 
crows by young Indians: they will do well enough as 
pets for them, hut if you have any regard for the com- 
fort of your family or that of your neighbors, you had 
better pet something else. I had one once, and did not 
know before how much trouble such a solemn-looking 
individual could make. 
"Penny" and Nails.— ''H. S. M.," wonders why 
nails are called four-penny, six-penny, etc.. to describe 
(heir sizes. It is said to be from the old English way of 
reckoning the sizes, the " penny " being used instead of 
pound. Four-penny nails were such as weighed 4 lbs. to 
the 1,000; ton-penny were 10 ibs. to the 1,000, and so on. 
^Vliat do Yon Call Yonr FatUer? 
''The old man won't let mo go."— " Pr^haw ! my 
gov'ner '11 lei //w go "— ■' Well, I haveut said anything 
to my pop about it. "—Such talk among boys is very 
common. When boys get to be of a certain age— from 
12 to IH— they seem to think it manly, in speaking of 
tlieir fathers to otiier boys, to use some slang word. 
We hear --Old Man," *• Dad," "Old Squaretoes," 
" Pop," " Governor," or " Gov.." instead of father, one 
of the best, and which should be— uoxt to mother— the 
dearest of names. This nicknaming is not by any 
means confined to rude and rougli boys, but unfortu- 
nately prevails among those who have been well brought 
up, properly educated, aud have pleasant homes. It 
would be sad indeed, if these names wire used to 
express disrespect, or contempt, but they are heard, and 
more's the pity, from the lips of those boys who really 
love their fathers, and would at once resent it if any- 
thing disrespectful were said of them. Not one of the 
boys who is iu the habit of speaking of Ins father by a 
slang name, would go to him and say *' Old man, won't 
you please" do this or that, or say '• Good-night, pop." 
It is a very safe rule never to speak of your father— or in 
fact any one dse— by any name you would not use in 
speaking to him. The good old Saxon name father, is 
n:)t only a pleasing word, but it is appropriate at all 
ages, whether from the tiny child or the full grown man. 
Boys, don't use slang at all, but especially not when yon 
mean Father. 
'riie Hydra, and How it lLiives» 
BY aiRS. MARY TREAT. 
The Hydra is an animal low iu the scale of being, as 
compared with some of the other minute animals. By 
tbis is meant, that it has but very few parts, and these 
are very simple. We may say that tlie Hydra is all 
stomach and arms, for though we speak of it as having a 
body, this is nothing more than a bag or sac, which is 
both stomach and body ; this is usually fastened by one 
end to some object, and at the other end is a hole which 
is Ihe moutli ; around this are several arms, or ieniacleSy 
of the same matt;riai as the budy, with liitle wart-like 
projections scattered along their whole length. We will 
see the use of these little watt-like bodies further alonq. 
The animal can withdraw or extend these arms at 
pleasure, and the creature has the power of distending 
its stomach to an astonishing size, for so small an animal. 
The kind of Hydra here figured is common in fresh 
water ponds, among growing plants, and even in ditchcB 
by the roadsidi;s, but it is so small that we cannot easily 
see it with the naked eye ; so the best way to capture it, 
is to take a wide-mouthed bolile and fill it with water 
and some of the plants from the pond or ditch. We now 
take the vial home, and set it aside wliere it will not be 
HYDRA —MAG NTT I ED. 
a, a, arms or tentacles ; ft, 6, buds ; r, mouth. 
disturbed for a few hours. After giving lime for the 
strange animals to make themselves at home, we take 
the vial and ho] 1 it up to the light, and if we have caught 
any Hydras. l)y looking carefully, we may see tht-m cling- 
ing to the side of the vial, or hanging head downward 
from some little spray of plant. To see the little animal 
properly, it must be magnified ; a hand-class wi'I help, 
bur the bist view is had by the aid of the microscope. 
The en'j:raving shows the Hydra largely maL'uified. 
It is a slow, slui.'gish fellow, too lazy to pursue its prey, 
and so it fixes the extremity of its body iu a suction-like 
