u gtotunitist 
fox are in partially cleared flelds, lying ad¬ 
jacent to woodland, where lie has been 
mousing in the early mowing. Taking it 
here, the hounds will work out the Borae- 
what cold scent, to w here he has taken to 
the woods, or, perhaps, has settled himself 
for a nap on some sun-warmed stump or 
knoll in the open. A wild burst of canine 
music announces that the game is a-fooi, 
and the hunter gets with all speed to the 
nearest spot, promising a shot. When pur¬ 
sued by hounds too swift of foot, the fox is 
forced to flee to the fastnesses of the moun- 
2—THE SILVER FOX. 
Wulpes fulvus.-VAR. ARC ENT AT US.) 
upon all the Horticulturists of America to 
commence at once an investigation, and I 
will furnish them with the hide, which I 
have carefully preserved as couelush-e tes¬ 
timony against him. It. L. Dorr. 
DansviJle, Liv. Co., N. Y„ Oct- (l, 72. 
We did not know that President Wilder 
was in any way responsible for any of the 
qualities the trophy tomato may possess. 
Tnrs fox is found, though nowhere in 
abundance, in the colder regions of this 
continent. Those found in the far North¬ 
west are the finest. It is rarely found on 
mountains in the Eastern and Middle 
States, though silver-gray foxes are often 
reported as having been seen here, yet when 
killed they usually prove to be dark speci¬ 
mens of the cross fox. Its sizes, habits, 
peculiarities and instincts are the same as 
OUR FUR-BEARING ANIMALS-IV, 
1- AMERICAN RED FOX. 
<Vulpes fulvuo.—AUDUBON.) 
The red fox is found in all the Northern 
parts of the United States and in Canada. 
The length of the body is thirty inches; 
that of the tail seventeen. This animal is 
formed for lightness and speed, and is more 
perfect in its proportions t lmn any other 
species of this genus. Its eyes are near to¬ 
gether; its legs long and slender; its tail 
very busby; huir on the whole body, soft, 
silky and lustrous; the toes are so clothed 
with hairs as to conceal the nails; t he body 
has a strong, musky smell. Audi mow says 
in addition to the distinct varieties of this 
species, the black and cross fox, there is 
difference in the color of the red variety; 
the common color ho gives as follows: 
“ Point of nose, outer extremity of ears, 
and outer surfaces* of legs below the knees, 
black; forehead, neek, flank and back, 
bright-reddish ; 
1 In; back and f( 
nostrils, margin 
pure white; 
space on the under surface, dingy white; 
extreme end of bush, tipped with white.” 
The hair on the body is of tyro sorts—long 
hairs, interspersed among a dense coat of 
softer, brighter, and more yellowish fur; 
nn the tail the longer hairs are more nu¬ 
merous, and many are quite black, giving 
l lie tail a dusky appearance. 
Foxes live chiefly in burrows of their own 
digging, but sometimes ejecting the maker 
and owner, they use the residence of the 
woodchuck. These burrows, usually ex- 
iending under ledges of rock or roots of 
trees, have two or three openings. Though 
.sometimes seen in the daytime, the fox 
usually goes abroad at night, prowling 
through woods and fields, and sometimes 
among out-buildings in search of booty; this 
consists of rats, rabbits, and other small 
quadrupeds, eggs, and various kinds of in¬ 
sects. lie catches birds, both by lying in 
wait for them and by trailing them up in 
flic manner of a pointer dog. He feeds on 
beechnuts when the} 7 are plenty, and some 
say upon many kinds of berries. The young 
are produced in early Spring, from four to 
six in a litter. They do not letive the den 
tor six weeks or more. 
Probably there are few country boys in 
New England, who have not t ried to entrap 
this wily animal, having obtained from 
some old trapper the formula for an infalli¬ 
ble ” scent,” or, working on some nice plan 
of their own invention, only to discover at 
the cost of some time, labor and disap¬ 
pointment, that the proverbial cunning of 
the fox is no myth. The methods of trap¬ 
ping foxes, successfully, are secrets known 
to comparatively few. and by t hem carefully 
guarded, round prices being demanded by 
the possessors for initiation into the mys¬ 
teries of the art; so ttiat we could not, if 
we would, give directions for trapping 
them; aud as, in those parts of the country 
where they are hunted for sport, we con¬ 
sider trapping them the meanest kind of 
poaching, of little profit to the trapper and 
ruining the sport of the hunter, we would 
not if we could. 
Hunting the fox in the English style, on 
horseback with hounds, is, from the nature 
of the'eountry, out of the question in the 
Northern States; for no horse could by any 
possibility follow the course of the hounds 
and fox, for an hour, in the mountainous 
parts of New England, the chase often 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP 
the books. The books state that there are 
two — the yellow and green. Dr. II. had 
grown this fruit since 1837, on various soils 
and under various circumstances. The 
green (so-called) pippin was always yellow 
when ripe. In Kansas they have to top 
work or graft it in order to succeed with it. 
Mr. Puller said that Wm. R. Prince used 
to insist upon making cuttings from and 
propagating from different trees; but. with 
the exception that the bark of one was 
rough and the other smooth, l could see no 
difference in the characteristics of the trees 
from which Green and Yellow Newtown 
Pippins were respectively propagated. Dr. 
Howhlky' said he had never been able to 
find any one who could tell him just where 
the Green Newtown Pippin originated, but 
has had no difficulty in tracing the history 
of the Yellow one. Mr. Feller says he 
believes the Green Newtown Pippin to 
have originated in some nurseryman’s cata¬ 
logue. 
Keeping Apples in Maryland.— Geo. 
\V. Foreman, Mochaniostowu, Md., asks if 
it injures apples to freeze, and wants to 
know how he can keep his apples during 
the Winter. Ilis crop being lurge, he 
doubts if he can keep them from freezing. 
He can keep his apples without any difli- 
culty, probably, and much easier than he 
supposes 
i)d a little deeper tint on 
k> shoulders; around tlie 
of the upper jaw and chin, 
throat, breast, and a narrow 
1-AMEEiGAH RED POX. 
2.—THE BILVER POX, 
The essentials to keep apples 
well Is to keep them dry a nd an cool as 
■possible Without freezing; but they will en¬ 
dure a greater degree of cold without freez¬ 
ing than most people suppose. A Jersey 
correspondent kept a large quantity of 
apples through the Winter of 1870-71 by 
piling them up in a dry plnoeon the ground 
and ooveriug them with salt hay. We have 
kept apples well by selecting a dry place in 
the field, and when there became danger of 
freezing, pile up the fruit as one would po¬ 
tatoes. Cover with straw and then with 
dirt sufficient to protect from frost. The 
Winter varieties may be kept till the first 
of April, safely, in this way, if one has no 
cellar room. 
tains, or betake himself to his burrow, 
either wav spoiling all sport, unless by skill 
nr chance he Is waylaid in his retreat. But 
If not too hard pressed he will run in cir¬ 
cles, ometimes a mileor more in diameter, 
sometimes in lesser ones, and often for a 
while confining bis course loan acre or two. 
Many times during bis course be. will resort 
to the tricks, to put the hounds at fault, 
for which ho is SO famous, such as running 
in sheep paths and through flocks of sheep, 
across newly-plowed fields, on t lie top rails 
of fences, and picking liis way over rocks— 
wiles which call forth the utmost powers 
of scent and sense in the best dogs, and 
which utterly baffle the hound of second- 
rate qualities. In his wider courses, at 
some point the fox will almost always run 
so nearly in t he same path that if the hun¬ 
ter can find that point lie will be rewarded 
by a shot, which, perhaps, he gets within 
the first half-hour of his waiting, perhaps 
iii the course of the day, or, fortune not fa¬ 
voring, not at all; but it will be strange, 
indeed, if once, or more than once, he does 
not feel the rapt ure of delightful expecta¬ 
tion of a shot 
the red fox of which it is a variety. The 
body is covered with two kinds of fur. The 
long hairs extend two inches beyond the 
under fur, and are especially long on the 
neck, throat, shoulders, flanks and tail; it 
is soft, fine and glossy; the under fur is 
long and dense, exceedingly fine aud soft; 
it surrounds the wholes body, even to the 
tail, on which it is coarser and more like 
wool. When viewed separately the hairs 
have a wavy appearance. The soles of the 
feet are so t hickly clothed with woolly hair 
that no callous spot s are visible. The under 
fur is blaekish-br 
the long hairs are 
brown at tbo root, then silver-gray, tipped 
with black; hairs on the neck and along 
tins back, black; whole under surface, 
brownish-black; upper parts, glossy, sil¬ 
very-black ; tail, brownish-black, broadly 
aud always tipped wilh white. 
This beautiful fox supplies one of the 
most valuable furs in the world. Owing to 
its richness, beaury and variety the skins 
are always in demand, and will bring from 
fifty to one hundred dollars, or more. It is 
said the skin of this fox was considered by 
the native. Indians of New England equiva¬ 
lent to forty beaver skins; and when offered 
and accepted by their kings it was looked 
upon as a sacred pledge of reconciliation. 
Apple List for N, Louisiana and S. 
W. Mississippi.— James Barker, Sum¬ 
mit., Miss., gives the following ” list of such 
choice varieties as long and careful experi¬ 
ence enables mo [him] to conscientiously 
vouch for.” We find it in Rural Alabami¬ 
an:—Red Astrachan ripens last of May 
and June 10; Sweet Bough ripens June to 
July 20; Garretrou’s Early ripens July 25; 
Primate ripens last of July; Duchess of 
Oldenburg; Rhodes’ Orange ripens last of 
July; Bruce’s Summer ripens last of 
July; Robinson’s Superb ripens last of 
July; Sugar Loaf, late Summer and early 
Autumn apple. Bradford’s Best ripens in 
August; Belle de Havre, a September ap¬ 
ple, sometimes ripening in July; Taunton ; 
Eloxkee. Of later varieties he names as 
among the best Hockett’s Sweet, Southern 
Winter, Yates, Stevenson’s Winter, Shock- 
ley, Residence, Southern Limbertwig, Car¬ 
ter. 
The Snyder Blackberry-—A corre¬ 
spondent of the Prairie Farmer highly 
commends this new variety for its pro¬ 
ductiveness and hardiness. In his partic¬ 
ular locality, at Normal, HI., it succeeded 
much better than the Kiltatinny. The 
same result may not occur again, or in dif¬ 
ferent places. But the variety is worthy 
of furl her attention. It is described in the 
transactions of the Illinois Horticultural 
Society as very productive, and as partak¬ 
ing of the character of the Rochelle and 
Kittatinuy, and as hardy as the latter. 
the next best thing to get¬ 
ting one. 
^In many parts of the country there is 
nothing left worth hunting but the fox, 
who is so admirably fitted to take care of 
himself that he will maintain a foothold 
long after other game is exterminated, if 
he have but half a chance for his life. And 
in neighborhoods where he is frequently 
hunted by hounds he seldom does any mis¬ 
chief among poultry or lambs; but he does 
make great havoc among the meadow mice, 
and is thought by many to more than make 
auieuds to the farmer, in this way, for any 
injury he may do the sheepfold or poultry- 
yard. 
To skin the fox, rip, inside the legs, from 
one hind foot to the other; skin the legs 
and tail as directed in a former article; 
then haul the skin off, whole, over the fore 
legs aud head. It should be stretched, 
wrong side out, on a board the proper size 
and shape, being careful to stretch it to the 
utmost. 
Most fox-skius are exported to Russia, 
where they are greatly used by the middle 
classes. Until recently, if they were used 
in this country, they were so metamor¬ 
phosed hy dyeing as not to be recognizable 
by the original wearer; but the visit of the 
Grand Duke turned fashionable heads fox- 
ward. The prices of fox skins range from 
one dollar to three. 
Uincnimt 
FREAK IN A VINEYARD 
or lobe. It was found on a cluster of oue 
of Rogers’Hybrids, and a peculiarity is, 
that the grape is blue, while this is red. 
The flesh and seeds and all else is a perfect 
grape. President Wilder’s trophy toma¬ 
to stands about three rods from the vine. 
T call upon President Wilder to explain 
with what sort, of propagating qualities he 
has invested his trophy tomato, to know, 
if we continue the cultivation of that fruit, 
whether our apples, plurns, cherries, etc., 
will or will not turn into trophy tomatoes. 
I have saved the eight seeds for a further 
solution of the problem. 
If President VVilder declines an expla¬ 
nation forced'/- o.T trie consequences, I call 
Plums Hot on Trees, ususually, because 
they have been stung by insects.’ This an¬ 
swers G. F. Foudham. 
The Yorkshire Beauty Apple is at¬ 
tracting British attention as a tine large 
early oulinary apple, a great bearer and tree 
perfectly hardy, of a good upright habit; 
ripens the end of August. It may be that 
it is worth importing. 
