93 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
February  13 
the  greater  part  of  the  day  a  casual  passer-by  will  see 
little  of  interest  within  the  inclosure  at  any  season. 
Only  occasionally  will  a  skunk,  driven  out  by  hunger, 
make  its  way  to  a  portion  of  some  freshly  slaughtered 
animal  that  has  been  placed  there  for  food.  Hut  about 
6  p.  m.  on  summer  days,  and  somewhat  earlier  in  the 
spring  and  fall,  the  colony  begins  to  show  signs  of 
activity,  black  heads  appear,  then  bodies  emerge  and 
make  their  way  down  zig-zag  paths  of  their  own 
making  toward  the  point  where  food  is  placed  ;  from 
this  time  on  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  night 
the  hillside  may  be  said  to  be  literally  alive  with 
skunks. 
The  question  of  obtaining  food  for  them  is  the  all- 
absorbing  one  with  the  proprietors  of  the  ranch. 
During  the  woodchuck  season  they  are  out  day  after 
day  scouring  the  country  for  these  animals,  and  other 
hunters  are  also  kept  busy.  Hut  woodchucks,  coons, 
and  other  small  game  are  not  found  in  sufficient  num¬ 
bers,  and  a  large  supply  of  meat  is  obtained  in  the 
shape  of  domestic  animals  which  have  outlived  their 
period  of  usefulness,  or  have  met  an  untimely  death. 
The  wants  of  the  skunk  breeders  are  pretty  well 
known  all  through  this  section  of  country,  and  they 
are  often  summoned  by  telephone,  letter,  or  verbally 
to  go  and  relieve  a  man  of  a  decrepit  horse,  a  dead 
cow,  or  abandoned  sheep.  When  the  supply  of  meat 
becomes  too  great  for  immediate  use,  it  is  cut  from  the 
carcasses  and  salted  down  in  barrels  in  the  cellar  of 
one  of  the  buildings  which  are  attached  to  the  ranch. 
Later  on  this  meat  is  taken  up  and  boiled  in  a  large 
cauldron,  meal  is  added,  and  the  mixture  as  well  as 
water  for  drinking,  is  placed  in  a  series  of  troughs 
along  the  base  of  the  hill.  As  skunks  become  semi- 
dormant,  they  consume  but  little  food  during  the 
coldest  parts  of  winter,  in  spring  and  fall,  carcasses 
are  left  out  for  several  days  until  consumed.  As  this 
can  not  be  done  in  hot  weather,  the  cooked  ration  is 
fed  largely.  The  skunks  breed  in  early  spring,  eight 
or  ten  making  a  litter.  By  fall  the  young  ones  are  full- 
grown,  and  cannot  be  told  from  the  old.  Overfeeding 
must  be  guarded  against,  as  it  reduces  the  size  of  the 
litter. 
Recently  I  visited  the  farm  during  the  annual 
killing,  which  begins  about  December  1.  Six  or  eight 
men  were  at  work  on  the  steep  hillside  digging  out 
the  skunks,  which  are  placed  in  sacks  held  by  helpers. 
These  holes  or  nests  are  made  by  the  proprietors  with 
spade  and  shovel,  by  digging  downward  into  the  bank 
for  three  or  four  feet.  As  it  is  hard  to  dig  under  it 
without  causing  it  to  cave,  an  earth  roof  is  not  gener¬ 
ally  made  ;  instead,  the  large  cavity  is  nearly  covered 
with  rails  and  boards,  and  dirt  is  thrown  over. 
Skunks  burrow  but  little,  and  in  a  wild  state  appro¬ 
priate  the  holes  of  woodchucks  and  other  burrowing 
animals.  New  holes  are  made  as  fast  as  the  colony 
seems  to  require  them.  There  is  no  regularity  as  to 
the  number  inhabiting  a  hole  ;  not  less  than  two  or 
three  were  found,  but  in  some  cases  15  or  20  had 
crowded  together  in  one  hole. 
The  males  also  wei'e  found  collected  in  one  portion 
of  the  grounds.  At  the  ‘  ‘  skunk  harvest  ”  the  roofs 
are  thrown  off  the  holes,  and  a  little  digging  brings 
out  all  that  are  inside.  When  a  bag  is  filled,  the  man 
throws  it  over  his  shoulder  and  carries  it  down  to  the 
skinning  room.  Here  the  animals  are  sorted.  The 
best  marked  are  saved  for  breeding,  one  in  ten  being 
a  male.  They  will  be  kept  in  the  building  until  all 
have  been  dug  out,  when  they  are  turned  into  the 
inclosure.  Those  to  be  killed  are  taken  outside  and 
dispatched  by  a  blow  on  the  head,  and  skinned  as  soon 
as  dead.  Only  rarely  do  they  throw  scent  at  this 
operation.  The  skins  are  hung  up  to  dry  with  the 
flesh  side  out.  The  building  contained  many  fox, 
coon,  and  muskrat  skins,  besides  hundreds  of  skunk 
pelts.  The  output  of  the  ranch  will  be  about  800  skins 
this  year,  as  many  live  skunks  will  be  kept  for  the  next 
year’s  breeding.  Before  the  carcasses  are  removed, 
after  skinning,  the  fat  is  cut  off  and  tried  into  oil. 
Good  black  skins  are  worth  in  the  neighborhood  of 
$1.50  each.  Arthur  n.  warner. 
Starting  Melons  on  Sods  in  a 
Hot-Bed. 
Mr.  John  H.  Riley,  gardener  for  the  Soldiers’  Home, 
Virginia,  purposes  to  put  out  five  acres  of  melons 
started  on  sods.  “  Our  soil  is  thin,”  he  writes,  “  and 
stable  manure  hard  to  get  and  I  have  thought  of  using 
nitrate  of  soda.  ” 
It  is  not  safe  to  depend  on  nitrate  of  soda  alone.  He 
should  use  400  pounds  of  nitrate  and  400  pounds  of 
superphosphate  per  aere,  sown  cither  broadcast  or  for 
about  two  feet  on  all  sides  of  the  hills  of  melons.  Let 
them  be  worked  into  the  soil  not  less  than  three  inches 
deep. 
For  starting  the  melons  in  the  liot-bed,  select  a  good 
piece  of  grass  such  as  you  would  use  for  sodding  a 
lawn.  Cut  it  about  a  foot  wide  and  roll  it  up  as  though 
it  -were  to  be  used  for  sodding.  But  it  should  be  cut 
a  little  deeper,  say  two  to  three  inches  thick.  Bring 
these  rolls  of  sod  to  the  hot-beds.  Cut  them  into  four- 
inch  squares  and  place  them  in  the  hot-bed,  grass 
down.  Press  them  tightly  against  each  other  on  all 
sides.  Put  a  handful  of  soil  on  each  sod  and  plant  in 
it  five  or  six  melon  seeds.  It  is  better  to  do  this  work 
all  at  once;  otherwise  when  the  sods  are  covered  with 
soil  you  cannot  tell  just  where  they  are,  and  may  set 
seed  so  near  the  edge  that  when  you  come  to  take  up 
the  sods  the  roots  of  the  plants  will  be  disturbed.  In 
my  own  practice  I  use  half  sandy,  garden  soil  and  half 
sifted  moss,  and  the  mixture  is  placed  at  least  an  inch 
deep  on  each  sod.  We  cover  the  seeds  by  pressing  them 
into  the  soil,  sifting  a  little  moss  over  them. 
It  is  not  easy  to  get  the  hot-bed  too  hot  for  melons. 
At  first  they  will  require  very  little  water,  but  after 
they  commence  to  grow  they  must  be  watered  regularly, 
and  ventilation  must  not  be  neglected.  The  plants 
will  stand  a  great  heat,  but  it  is  not  desirable  to  force 
them  too  much,  or  they  will  be  leggy  rather  than 
stocky.  Should  they  be  drawn  up  too  much,  put  a 
little  sifted  moss  around  and  among  them,  and  check 
the  too-rapid  growth  by  opening  the  sash,  and  as  they 
get  nearly  as  large  as  you  wish,  remove  the  sash  during 
the  heat  of  the  day  altogether  ;  and  for  several  days 
before  setting  out  the  plants  in  the  field  or  garden  the 
sash  should  be  kept  off  all  day  and  during  warm  nights. 
When  the  soil  in  the  field  is  warm  enough  to  set  out 
the  melons,  after  the  land  has  been  plowed,  mark  it 
off  in  rows  six  feet  apart  one  way  and  four  feet  apart 
the  other  way.  This  gives  1,815  hills  to  the  acre.  On 
my  own  farm  I  use  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  nitrate 
of  soda  and  superhosphate,  scattering  two  small  hand¬ 
fuls  in  a  circle  of  at  least  three  feet  where  the  hill  is  to 
be.  This  should  be  well  worked  into  the  soil,  and  see 
yourself  that  the  work  is  thoroughly  done,  so  that  the 
fertilizer  will  not  come  in  direct  contact  with  the  seed 
or  roots  of  the  melon  plants. 
Two  or  three  days  before  the  melons  are  set  out  they 
should  be  well  watered  in  the  bed.  Give  them  a  com- 
“  A  Coi.n  Day.”  Fig.  66. 
plete  soaking  till  the  soil  and  sod  are  saturated.  If 
this  seems  to  chill  the  plants,  put  on  the  sash  and  give 
them  a  warming  up  till  they  begin  to  look  vigorous 
and  full  of  sap. 
In  mixing  the  fei-tilizers  in  the  hill  the  land  should 
be  made  ready  for  the  plants.  The  soil  must  be  worked 
till  it  is  fine  and  mellow,  and  the  sooner  it  is  exposed 
to  the  sxm  so  as  to  warm  it,  the  better.  Do  not  select 
a  cold,  damp  day  for  setting  out  the  plants.  We  have 
more  to  fear  fi*om  cold  than  from  evaporation. 
When  everything  is  ready  we  take  a  stone  boat  to 
the  hot-bed.  A  careful  man  takes  up  a  sod  on  which 
from  three  to  five  melon  plants  are  growing,  and  hands 
it  to  an  assistant  who  places  it  on  the  boat  with¬ 
out  breaking  the  sod  or  disturbing  the  roots.  "When 
the  boat  is  full  drive  to  the  field.  One  man  takes  up  a 
sod  with  plants  growing  on  it  and  hands  it  to  the  man 
who  sets  it  out  in  the  hill  and  then  drives  to  the  next 
hill.  In  this  way  it  is  not  much  work  to  set  out  an 
acre  of  melons,  and  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that 
evei-y  detail  of  the  work  is  carefully  attended  to. 
Place  the  sod  in  the  hill,  straighten  up  the  plants  with 
one  hand  and  with  the  other  carefully  put  some  fine, 
mellow  soil  all  around  the  sod  and  plants  and  if  some  of 
them  are  an  inch  or  two  distant  from  the  others  put  a 
little  soil  round  them  to  hold  them  upright.  They 
may  be  lightly  covered  with  fine  soil  up  to  the  first 
leaves.  If  dry,  the  soil  should  be  well  pi-essed  down 
about  the  sod.  This  is  all  there  is  to  be  done.  But  as 
a  measure  of  precaution  I  deem  it  very  important  to 
plant  some  seeds  of  the  same  variety  in  each  hill  at  the 
time  of  setting  out  the  plants.  The  cost  of  seed  and 
the  expense  of  planting  are  very  little  and  it. gives  a 
double  chance  of  getting  a  crop.  If  the  transplanted 
melons  are  injured  we  still  have  a  lot  of  young  plants 
from  seed  in  each  hill.  If  things  go  well  and  you  do 
not  need  these  plants,  hoe  them  out.  Joseph  Harris. 
An  Experiment  in  Child  Culture.— II. 
After  the  children  have  read  books  of  Second  Reader 
grade  until  they  are  quite  familiar  with  words  of 
that  grade,  I  give  them  a  simple  geographical  reader. 
The  one  we  use  to  begin  with  is  called  The  World  and 
its  People.  We  use  the  first  and  second  volumes,  one 
made  up  of  stories  conveying  a  large  amount  of  ele¬ 
mentally  geographical  knowledge  in  a  simple  way. 
There  are  no  map  exercises,  only  a  few  maps,  but  there 
are  pictures  and  poems  and  lists  of  new  words  and 
definitions.  They  are  valuable  books.  These  are  for 
winter  reading.  The  next  winter  we  go  over  the  same 
or  nearly  the  same  ground,  using  the  first  volume  of 
King’s  Picturesque  Geographical  Readers,  entitled 
Home  and  School.  This  is  a  story,  but  more  advanced 
than  those  we  use  first,  and  very  finely  illustrated. 
Only  two  volumes  of  this  series  have  been  issued.  My 
attention  was  called  to  them  by  a  notice  in  The  Rural 
two  years  ago  when  the  first  volume  was  issued,  and  I 
find  them  very  excellent  for  home  study  or  reading. 
Then  there  are  two  geographical  stories  of  which 
my  children  are  very  fond.  One  is  “  The  Seven  Little 
Sisters  who  Live  on  the  Round  Ball  that  Floats  in  the 
Air.”  The  other  is  the  seqxxel  to  it,  “The  Seven  Little 
Sisters  Prove  Their  Sisterhood.”  Another  valuable 
book  by  the  same  author,  Jane  Andrews,  is  “  Ten 
Boys  Who  Lived  on  the  Road  From  Long  Ago  to 
Now.”  The  value  of  these  books  lies  in  the  amount 
of  information  which  they  impart.  My  children  read 
them  over  and  over  and  never  seem  to  tire  of  them. 
They  are  worth  scores  of  the  ordinary  children’s  books. 
Writing  is  much  neglected  in  country  schools.  It  is 
of  no  small  importance  to  become  a  good  writer.  In 
this  busy  age,  if  a  letter  is  poorly  written,  it  often  gets 
scant  courtesy.  It  may  do  for  people  like  Horace 
Greeley  and  Dean  Stanley  to  be  wretched  writers,  but 
it  will  not  do  for  the  young  man  or  woman  who  is  in 
business,  whether  on  the  farm  or  behind  a  desk.  Chil¬ 
dren  should  begin  early  to  learn  to  write.  There  is  no 
need  of  setting  copies,  for  there  are  copy  books  which 
contain  all  that  is  necessary.  They  are  well  gotten  up, 
but  do  not  do  away  with  the  need  of  careful  supervis¬ 
ion,  especially  of  younger  pupils.  Writing  can  be 
learned  at  home  ;  it  is  practice  that  makes  perfect — 
daily  practice.  Be  careful  about  the  position  of  the 
child’s  hand,  the  way  the  pen  is  held,  and  the  length 
of  the  letters.  We  use  the  Normal  Review  System  of 
Writing,  considering  it  the  best  we  have  examined  for 
home  use.  It  would  do  many  young  people  good  to  go 
through  one  or  more  series  of  these  books,  and  improve 
their  handwriting. 
Another  neglected  branch  of  study  in  many  country 
schools  is  language.  Children  ought  to  form  the  habit 
of  using  language  properly  in  speaking  and  writing. 
We  were  very  fortunate  in  getting  an  excellent  series 
of  language  books,  Powell’s  Language  Series.  There 
are  three  books — How  to  See,  How  to  Talk,  and  How 
to  Write.  The  titles  suggest  the  value  of  the  books  ; 
for  home  use  they  are  very  good.  Between  the  first 
and  second  books  we  have  used  Greene’s  First  Lessons 
in  Engb'sh.  The  children  like  these  books  and  improve 
rapidly  with  their  use.  They  are  finely  illustrated, 
and  very  attractive.  How  to  See  may  seem  a  queer 
title  for  a  school  book,  but  there  are  few  people  who 
can  see  as  well  as  they  ought,  for  lack  of  training.  To 
see  a  thing  properly  and  then  to  be  able  to  describe  it 
vividly  and  correctly  is  a  valuable  accomplishment. 
The  teacher’s  edition  shows  how  the  book  is  to  be 
used. 
But  all  this  teaching  takes  time.  Yes,  and  it  saves 
time  to  have  the  children  at  home  to  do  little  chores. 
But  if  they  go  to  school  while  it  keeps,  say  20  or  25 
weeks  in  a  year,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  they  ai-e 
taught  at  home,  it  will  be  a  great  help  to  them.  You 
can  supplement  their  school  studies  with  other  neces¬ 
sary  branches  which  are  not  taught  in  school.  Then 
teaching  at  home  leads  the  parents  to  take  far  more 
interest  in  their  studies  when  they  are  at  school ;  and 
it  brightens  up  the  parents’  minds,  too.  A  great  many 
farmers  and  farmers’  wives  need  something  out  of  the 
beaten  track,  and  teaching  a  child  to  read,  or  helping 
him  day  by  day  in  his  lessons,  would  set  their  minds  at 
work  on  a  new  track.  When  the  children  are  not  in 
school,  try  to  have  them  learning  something  about 
nature  or  literature  evei-y  day.  Nature,  God’s  works, 
and  books,  the  writings  of  good  and  gifted  men,  the  child 
on  the  farm  should  study  day  by  day.  J.  w.  newton. 
Some  Points  on  Plum  Culture. 
REVIVAL  OF  THE  INDUSTRY  !  NEW  VARIETIES. 
There  has  been  a  revival  of  interest  of  late  years 
among  fruit-growers  in  plum  growing.  This  is  due 
to  several  causes.  Among  them  is  the  fact  that  the 
ravages  of  the  curculio  have  become  controllable  to  a 
great  extent ;  new  varieties  have  been  introduced 
which  are  vei’y  valuable,  and,  besides,  there  has  been 
an  increased  demand  for  fine  fruit.  The  display  of 
this  fruit  at  the  State  Fair  at  Syracuse,  in  September 
last,  was  vei-y  fine,  notably  the  specimens  shown  by 
S.  D.  Willard,  of  Geneva,  an  enthusiastic  nursei-yman 
and  fruit  grower  of  that  place.  A  repi-esentative  of 
The  Rural  met  Mr.  Willard  recently  at  Geneva,  and 
drew  from  him  some  talk  on  plums  which  may  interest 
Rural  readers. 
“Tell  us  something  about  the  newer  varieties  of 
plums,”  said  The  Rural. 
“With  pleasure,”  said  Mr.  Willard.  “  What  do  you 
wish  to  know  ?  ” 
“  Well,  we  should  like  to  know  your  opinions  of  the 
new  plums — their  qualities,  good  and  bad — in  short. 
