428 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
[COPYRIGHT SECURED.] 
SMOKING OUT SQUIRRELS .—Drawn BY J. BolleS .—Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Most boys are natural-born hunters. Almost every one 
of you looks with a feeling something like envy upon a 
brother who is old enough to be trusted with a gun. 
How you would like to go out hunting squirrels or rab¬ 
bits with a gun! But as you cannot do that, you set traps 
for the rabbits and try to circumvent the squirrels by 
smoking them out of the quarters they have chosen for 
the winter. Rabbits are fair game, as they do much mis¬ 
chief, and trapping them will prevent injury to young 
trees in the orchard. But the squirrels, we are not aware 
that they do much harm; but as they make a very good 
pie, we suppose that they come under the head of game, 
and that boys are not much to blame for trying to capture 
them. Probably the squirrels, if they were consulted, 
might be of a different opinion. It is not so pleasant for 
them after they have put away their winter’s stock of 
nuts in the most comfortable of hollow trees to have all 
their nice plans for the winter disturbed. The very spir¬ 
ited picture which Mr. Bolles has made for you, tells the 
story of one way in which boys hunt squirrels. The 
homo of the little animals in a hollow tree being discov¬ 
ered, the boys organize an expedition. There is no fun 
in going alone, there must be several to enjoy the sport. 
Not only our boys, but neighbor Jones’ hoys must go, 
and if the Smiths can go along, all the better—we will 
make a Saturday of it. In the first place, we need a 
strong bag which has a wooden bottom tacked to it, 
some nails, some matches, and a sharp axe. We must 
first guard the hole at the root of flic tree, and then 
find out how far up the hollow extends. Then the best 
axe-man of the party makes an opening at the top of the 
hollow and tacks the mouth of the bag securely over it. 
Now for the fire; some sticks are soon lighted; and leaves 
thrown upon the fire make a smudge which goes into 
the hollow tree with a warning for the tenants to quit. 
They cannot come out below, for the fire is there, but 
they soon find the opening we have made above, and a 
squeak and a bounce soon tell us that the game is bagged. 
Upon looking at the picture again, we do not think that 
it was our squirrel hunt that the artist sketched. These 
boys took a poor bag, and the game has escaped. It is 
no use for that tall fellow to try to stop his flight with a 
stone, for Mr. Bushy tail will soon be laughing at him 
from the top of a neighboring tree. After all, we are not 
sorry to see the little animal out-wit the boys. Squirrels 
seem to enjoy life so much, and their ways are so full of 
activity and grace, that we can hardly make up our mind 
to kill them, even if they are good to eat. 
Shelters from Young IPeopIe. 
It gives us pleasure to get letters from our young read¬ 
ers. Boys and girls, particularly quite young ones, write 
just as they would talk, say what they have to say, and 
then stop. Wo wish some older people would do the 
same. We have several letters from little folks that we 
should like to answer, did we know how to send a reply. 
When you write a letter to us or to anyone else, first 
put down the Post-Office address, County, State, and date. 
Learn to do this in your first attempts at letter writing— 
don’t write another word until you are sure that this is 
done. If this habit becomes fixed it will save much 
trouble in after life. You would be surprised to see the 
number of letters—not from young people, but from old 
ones—that come to the office of the Agriculturist in which 
this very important part is left out. These letters are 
usually upon business matters, of consequence to the 
persons sending them, and are of no more use than if 
they had never been written. Don’t begin by making a 
long apology for writing—or use any of those tedious 
phrases, such as “ I take my pen in hand.”—Most people 
do take their pen in hand, and it is not necessary to say 
so. State what you have to say clearly, and in as few 
words as the suject will allow. Of course, if one has a 
story to tell, or an experience to relate, the style will be 
different from that of a mere business letter. When you 
have said what you have to say, stop—without any ex¬ 
cuses. Don’t wind up by the information that “ It is get¬ 
ting late,” or that “ I have already tired your patience.” 
Young people generally have letters addressed to the 
care of their parents, or some other person. When this 
is the case it should be distinctly stated. Sometimes wo 
receive letters from our young friends with the request 
that we shall “answer right off;” just as grown people 
say, “reply by return mail.” As our letters each day 
may be numbered by hundreds, each one of you must see 
that we can only answer the most important ones of 
those boys and girls who have written us expecting a 
reply; and those who receive none must accept this as an 
apology. We answer all of their favors that we can. We 
often wish that we could write with both hands at once, 
and that there were many more hours in the day. 
The following list of those who have sent answers in¬ 
cludes some names which were mislaid some time ago. 
Geo. D. Bunyan, C. F. Deibert, C. Murphy, C. G. Newton, 
W. II. Sunderland, G. E. Leach, Sara Leaurie, L. E. El- 
tinge, G. Wormerslcy, H. E. Simon, I. McCormick, Min¬ 
nie Bloss, Wm. Griffith, J. II. Mulkey, Bell Greeley, II. 
R. & E. F. Warner, J. C. Slater, W. M. Allaire, A. W. 
Kelley, J. W. Lamb, J. C. Morrow, F. Spaulding, L. II. 
Schley, E. J. Bridge, S. C. Herron, C. W. Phelps. 
