•418 
AMERICAN AGRICULT U I1IST. 
[November, 
a level. When the house is in the desired 
position the screws are again placed beneath 
it, and it is raised so that the timbers can be 
taken away. The foundation, if not already 
prepared, is made ready, and the house is let 
down upon it. 
Supply of Water. 
We have often alluded to the common ne¬ 
glect of watering stock as often as is needed. 
Very absurd ideas are prevalent about watering 
stock. He who would permit an animal to 
gorge itself upon hay would prevent it from 
drinking the water needed to dilute the food 
so that it might be digested. Only those ani¬ 
mals that are stinted until their thirst is intol¬ 
Fig. 1. —CISTERN FOR WATER. 
erable suffer from drinking too much water; 
just as those animals eat too much which are 
insufficiently fed or fed at too long intervals. 
An animal with food and water always attain¬ 
able will never take too much of either, and its 
instincts may very safely be trusted to. There¬ 
fore we would advise the use of water-troughs 
in every field where cattle are kept, although 
they might be driven through a stream on their 
way to and from it. We have seen sheep 
that had access to a spring in their pasture go 
and drink from it a dozen times a day, taking 
merely a few sips each time, and the same with 
cows and horses. No harm can possibly come 
Fig. 3. —MOVABLE CISTERN. 
of such drinking. The stomach is not loaded 
with liquid at any time, nor is it ever in want 
of that amount which is necessary. 
Where there is no water in the field wooden 
troughs should be made. In the barn-yard, or 
where there is a permanent pasture, these 
troughs may be made similar to that shown at 
fig. 1. Hemlock plank dressed smoothly and 
jointed accurately are held together by bolts 
and nuts which may be drawn up tightly. If 
the joints are not made water-tight, a slip of 
paper dipped into tar should be placed in each 
one and the screws then drawn up tightly. 
The trough will not then leak. For a tempo¬ 
rary purpose in fields occasionally pastured a 
portable trough should bo used, made in the 
9amc manner as that in fig. 1, but mounted 
upon an axle and a pair of small wheels. A 
ring is fixed to the front by which it is hooked 
to a chain, and by which it may be drawn 
wherever it may be desirable (see fig. 2). 
To fill this trough the water-cart shown on 
page 41G might be used. The sprinkler should 
be detached, and the pipe would then discharge 
directly into the trough. If the importance of 
a constant supply of water were only well un¬ 
derstood the value of these appliances for 
watering would be appreciated. 
A Lock-Nut Bolt. 
The nuisance of loosening and lost nuts from 
machine bolts, thills of buggies or wagons, and 
other numerous places where farmers and other 
folks need and use bolts need no longer be sub¬ 
mitted to. The costly and dangerous accidents 
to machines, the dangerous dropping of thills 
when traveling at speed upon the road, the ex¬ 
pensive repairs needed in grist-mills and saw¬ 
mills due to the same frequent cause, and all 
the other too-numerous-to-mention troubles 
which thus arise may be prevented by this in¬ 
genious and very simple contrivance. Its sim¬ 
plicity is such that the wonder is that no one 
ever thought of it before, and almost contra¬ 
dicts its claim to ingenuity. The accompanying 
engraving shows of what the contrivance con¬ 
sists—an ordi¬ 
nary screw 
bolt and nut, 
with a groove 
cut in the bolt 
from the lower 
end across the 
thread of the 
screw and a short distance above, it. The 
nut is in no way different from an ordi¬ 
nary nut. A copper or other soft wire is 
placed in the groove, and as the nut is turned 
with the wrench it cuts a thread with ease 
upon the soft wire. When the nut is 
screwed home the end of the wire below it is 
turned up or “upset” with a common set- 
punch or a tenpenny-nail and a hammer. This 
locks the nut and entirely prevents it from 
shaking or jarring loose. The wire is soft 
enough so that the nut may be very easily un¬ 
screwed with the wrench, but can not be un¬ 
screwed by the fingers or by any less force 
than that needed to use the wrench. 
We look upon this contrivance as of vast im¬ 
portance to farmers especially, and expect to 
see it in universal use in all farm machinery. 
It is patented, and is manufactured by the 
Lock-Nut and Bolt Company of New York, 
who furnish the bolts and for a very small sum 
confer licenses to use them on any machines. 
Do Snakes Swallow their Young? 
BY PROF. G. BROWN GOODE. 
This is what naturalists have been asking 
each other for nearly a century. In that most 
fascinating of books, “ The Natural History of 
Selborne,” Gilbert White mentions the popular 
belief, but does not venture to indorse it. M. 
Palisot de Beauvois, a member of the French 
Institute and a councilor of the University of 
France, who traveled in the United States 
early in the present century, claimed to have 
seen five young rattlesnakes, “ each about as 
thick as a goose quill,” run down their moth¬ 
er’s throat, run out, and then down a second 
time. John D. Hunter, in his celebrated 
“ Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians of 
North America,” gives similar testimony. Sir 
William Jardine, an eminent English natural¬ 
ist, wrote in 1853: “We have always looked 
upon this as a popular delusion, and the sup¬ 
posed habit is so much at variance with what 
we know of the general manners and instincts 
of animals, that without undoubted proof we 
are still inclined to consider it as such. ” In 
1865 Mr. M. C. Cooke, of “ Science Gossip,” 
strongly advocated the affirmative, citing many 
instances observed by his friends. In 1869 Mr. 
F. W. Putnam, of the “ American Naturalist,” 
considered the case unproved, though he in¬ 
clined to believe with Mr. Cooke. During the 
past year a lively discussion has been carried 
on in “ Land and Water,” Mr. Frank Buckland, 
one of the keenest of English naturalists, stren¬ 
uously opposing the idea. So stood the ques¬ 
tion, the authorities being about equally 
divided. 
To the American Agriculturist is due the 
honor, it seems, of finally deciding it. Last 
February the editors kindly inserted a para¬ 
graph asking for information, and in a few 
weeks about eighty letters had been received 
from subscribers in twenty-four different 
States and provinces. Some of these were not 
to the point, but most of them contained the 
statements of those who had personally ob¬ 
served this very curious habit. Many were, 
very naturally, indignant that a fact so well 
known should be called in question. 
These statements, together with many others 
collected by diligent personal inquiry, were 
embodied by the writer in a paper read at the 
late meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science. The paper eli¬ 
cited some discussion but no opposition. Prof. 
Gill, of Washington, one of the most skeptical 
as well as one of the ablest of American scien¬ 
tists, expressed himself as convinced by the 
testimonies of so many witnesses, and so did 
many others. 
Many of the letters received deserve to be 
printed in full; but since want of space for¬ 
bids, only figures can be given. Our witnesses 
are 104 in number. 58 saw the young enter 
their mother’s mouth; 19 heard the mother 
warn them by a sharp whistle or hiss or click; 
three were considerate enough to wait and see 
the young reappear when danger seemed to be 
passed; eighteen saw the young shaken out by 
dogs or running from the mouth of the dead 
mother; 32 who saw the young enter killed 
the mother and found them, living, within her; 
while only 14 of the 58 allowed the poor, affec¬ 
tionate parent to escape ; 29 found the young 
in the body of the parent, but as they did not 
see them enter the mouth this testimony is 
rather dubious. 
Among the witnesses are four naturalists of 
reputation, whose word is as good as gold in 
other departments of natural history. Eminent 
physiologists admit that there is nothing im¬ 
possible in the habit, for living tissues are not 
easily affected by the gastric juice, and reptiles 
could not easily be smothered, even in the 
mother’s stomach. The habit is known to be 
shared by the English Scaly Lizard. The males 
of certain species of South American fishes re¬ 
lated to the “ Cat-fish” and “Bull-head” carry 
their eggs in their mouths and gill openings, 
depositing them in places of safety and remov¬ 
ing them at the approach of danger. Equally 
singular though not similar habits of protect¬ 
ing the young are found in the well-known 
Surinam Toad, in the Kangaroo and Opossum, 
and in the Pipe-fish an 
