fresh meat. It is easily caught by setting 
a steel trap (unbaited) at the mouth of its 
burrow, covering it lightly with leaves or 
dirt. It is very frequently found in all 
traps set for other land animals. When 
caught in a trap that does not kill it, the 
skunk makes the best of his situation, and 
dovours the bait which tempted him to his 
doom. When caught in a steel trap, detach 
the trap carefully from its fastenings, carry 
the skunk in it, on the end of a long pole, 
to the nearest water and drown it. If this 
is done carefully, it will not employ its 
natural menus of defense. If necessary, 
let t he animal remain under water two or 
three days, when it will be so far deodor¬ 
ized it may be skinned without inconven¬ 
ience. 
When irritated or attacked it elevates its 
tail over its back, and, by a strong, muscu¬ 
lar exertion, ejects in two thread-like 
streams, with unerring aim towards its 
enemy, to the distance of fourteen feet, the 
most nauseating and stifling scent that ex¬ 
ists In nature. If suspended by its tail it 
cannot ejoot this fluid. 
I once saw one removed from a cellar, be¬ 
ing lifted by the tail with a pair of tongs; 
and thus held, it was Bhot without trouble. 
It iB a cleanly animal, and its presence, 
during cold -weather, is not indicated by 
any bad odor, so that wholo families often 
live under a barn without tlieir presence 
being suspeotod. 
This fluid is very acrid, aud it is com¬ 
monly believed, if a drop of it is thrown in¬ 
to the eye it will cause blindness; dogs of¬ 
ten sutler very much from it in their en¬ 
counters with the skunk. It is a specilic 
for asthma, but it renders the patient so 
loathsome to himself and others that the 
remedy Is considered worse than the dis¬ 
ease. It will taint the air to some distance; 
and if milk, butter, and many other kinds 
of food are within its influence, they quick¬ 
ly become unfit for use. Repeated wash¬ 
ings, exposure to the atmosphere for some 
time, or along burial in the ground, will 
weaken the scent in clothes, but the most 
• li'ectual disinfectant is chloride of lime. 
The flesh is white and savory ; but a nat¬ 
ural prejudice will probably hinder its be¬ 
coming a popular article of food. Skunk’s 
oil is softening aud penetrating aud is reck¬ 
oned good for still' joints, and it is often 
used in cases of croup. We are unable to 
tell to what usob the skins are put; but 
during the last fifteen years they have be¬ 
come quite an article of commerce, and 
they are probably made up and sold under 
some other name. Their value depends up¬ 
on their color; the “black” brings about 
§l.f>0; the “ striped,” 75c.; the “white,” 
•10c. This increase of value has made a very 
perceptible decrease of numbers through¬ 
out the country. n. 
allowing them to remain in the pods or 
“ heps,” as they aro usually termed by 
rose growers, until wanted for planting. If 
a number of the heps are put into a box 
and kept moist, they will soon decay aud 
allow of a ready separation of the seeds. As 
soon as the seeds are separated from the 
pulp, sow in the open ground or in boxes 
six inches deep, filled with rich leaf-mold 
or other light, rich soil. The seeds should 
not bo covered more than one inch deep, 
and always with soil that will not become 
so hard and compact as to prevent the 
young plants from breaking through it. If 
OUR FUR-BEARING ANIMALS-V, 
DAILY RURAL LIFE 
COMMON SKUNK. 
(Mephitis Chlnga-FREIL.) 
FROM THE DIARY OF A GENTLEMAN NEAR NEW YORK CITY, 
The skunk is exceedingly abundant in 
the Eastern and Middle States, and is not 
unfrequently met with In many of the 
other States; and it is found as far North 
as the fifty-seventh degree. 
Its body is about, seventeen inches long; 
its tail, with its long hair, fourteen. Its 
head is small compared with the body, 
which is broad aud fleshy, and so much 
wider -at the hips than (he shoulders that 
the animal has a wedge-shaped appearance; 
forehead, somewhat rounded ; nose, ob¬ 
tuse; eyes, small; ears, short, broad and 
rounded; legs, short; feet, rather broad, 
covered with hair, concealing tlio nails 
which, in the fore feet, are stout, curved 
and acute; palms, naked; tlio glands con¬ 
taining the fetid liquid that renders the 
skunk of such bad repute, are situated 
either side the rectum, and will contain 
about three drams; their pyriform duets 
are about an inch long. The fur of the 
skunk is long aud coarse, with much longer, 
smooth and glossy hairs, interspersed; the 
hair on the tail is long and bushy, with none 
of the line hair, except near the root. 
The color varies very greatly in individ¬ 
uals, so ii is impossible to find two marked 
alike. Usually, there is a while stripe in 
(lie face, which, extending back between 
the ears, divides on the shoulders and runs 
towards the hips in the form of the letter 
“V.” As these stripes vary from narrow 
to wide, so the skins are termed “ black,” 
“ striped” and “ white;” the tail is black, 
usually tipped with white. The under fur 
on all portions of the body which aro dark 
colored, is dark brown; on other parts, 
white. 
The skunk is uot oonfined to thinly-set¬ 
tled parts of the country, but frequently 
takes up its abode near houses and under 
out-buildings and hay stacks; more fre¬ 
quently, it lives in burrows which its fore¬ 
paws are well fitted to dig out; these bur¬ 
rows, after extending seven or eight feet in 
a straight lino, end in a large nest of leaves. 
Here, in winter, five to fifteen individuals 
may be found, lying half asleep. Though 
rarely seen out of its burrow during De¬ 
cember and January, it lavs up no Winter 
stores, 
It is not strictly nocturnal, though usual¬ 
ly, during the daj r , it remains concealed in 
its burrow, or in stone walls or some other 
place of shelter, and prowls at night for its 
food. Being very slow in its movements, 
it is strange it should always find enough, 
as its good condition indicates. It feeds on 
eggs, young birds, domestic fowls, mice, 
frogs and lizards, and during Summer, in¬ 
sects form no inconsiderable part of its 
food. 
Audubon says, on dissecting a specimen 
found in Carolina, he discovered the ani¬ 
mal had devoured, the previous night, a 
dozen very rare beetles, a greater number 
than he had been able to find in a search of 
ten years. Its young are produced in early 
Spring, from five to nine in a litter. 
No animal is more easily caught in traps. 
It readily enters tbo dead-fall, box trap, or 
steel traps, to obtain u bait of any kind of 
the seeds are sown in the open ground, 
select some half shady border for a seed 
bed, and be sure to get the seeds in oefore 
the ground freezes. When sown in boxes, 
of course the operation may be delayed 
until mid-winter, or even later if necessary. 
Mice are very fond of rose seeds, and it is 
always a safe plan to keep the vessels con- 
taiulng such seeds carefully closed. It is 
frequently the case that the seeds will not 
germinate until the second year sifter sow- 
portion may appear the 
ing, although a 
first; therefore it is not best to neglect the 
seed-bed or boxes if no plants should come 
up the next Spring after sowing. 
When the young plants do appear give 
plenty of water and keep free from weeds; 
in other words hasten growth in every man¬ 
ner possible. If the varieties grown aro of 
some tender species like the Bourbons and 
Teas, the young plants should be taken up 
in the Autumn of the first season, and 
either put in pots or otherwise protected. 
They should also be cut back to within two 
or three buds ut the base at the tamo time, 
as this will make them produce far more 
robust shoots, and insure blooming much 
sooner than if allowed to go unpruned. 
There are varieties which are called shy 
bloomers on their own roots, but when bud¬ 
ded or grafted upon strong stocks, bloom 
quite freely; and by adopting this system, 
nearly all seedling roses can be brought in¬ 
to bloom the third year. I wish our Amer¬ 
ican ladies would take a little more inter¬ 
est than they do in the culture of (lowers, 
even to the raising of new seedling roses. 
Patching Evergreens.—Oct. 19.—Last 
Winter many of my evergreens were killed 
outright, and others only badly scorched 
on one side, or just enough to spoil their 
beauty. In some Instances one entire side 
would be killed and t he other remain fresh 
and uninjured. For a while I was at a loss 
to know what to do with these half-killed 
specimen?; but it occurred to me that if 
the two halves of separate trees that were 
alive could be placed together, perhaps a 
good specimen would be the result. Of 
course with very largo trees this would be 
entirely impracticable; but with Arbor vi¬ 
tas, Junipers, aud similar evergreens, that 
were not more than six to eight feet high, 
it might be done, aud 1 gavo the thing a 
trial and it worked well. All the dead 
branches from the injured side w ere cut oil' 
close to the stem; also the roots from both 
the specimen to be patched and the one 
Used as a patch, and the two planted to¬ 
gether as one tree. Where only a few of 
the lower branches were killed on a large 
specimen I patched them by planting small 
trees to All up the vacant places. I have 
just been looking over this patchwork 
among my specimens aud find most of it a 
decided success. I recommend this prac¬ 
tice to those who have injured evergreens. 
ORANGE AND LEMON TREES 
After some little trouble, I have suc¬ 
ceeded in raising a lemon tree, and would 
like your advice on the treatment and tem¬ 
perature it needs in Winter. Plcaso state, 
also, if the orange plant varies in treat¬ 
ment.—M. W. 11., New Yuri; Vity. 
Obanoe and lemon trees require similar 
treatment, and in this climate must be 
kept, in a warm room or greenroom during 
Winter. If placed in a cellar, they will 
lose their leaves and become unhealthy, al¬ 
though many aro kept over Winter in this 
way; but we have never known one to come 
out in Spring as healthy as it was when put 
in the Fall previous. Light and warmth are 
required, and frequent syringing of the 
leaves to keep the pores from being filled 
with dust. This syringiug or washing of 
the leaves of all such plants as camellias, 
oranges, lemons and gardenias, is a far 
more important operation than many ama¬ 
teurs suppose it tube; and many a choice 
broad-leaved evergreen, as well as children, 
die for the want of a clean face. The soil 
for such plants should be a compact, rich 
loam, not too light or too heavy, but of a 
nature that will pack firmly, but uot crack, 
and become brick-like when dry. Keep 
the plants well watered when growing rap¬ 
idly; but when at rest, give just enough 
water to pre vent the dropping of the leaves 
and shriveling of the bark. If the orange 
leaf or bark scale appear, syringe the plants 
thoroughly with soap suds heated to 150°. 
This minute insect, which is covered with 
a tortoise-like scale, is a great pest to 
orange, lemon aud oleander trees ; but 
6trong soap suds, of the temperature we 
have named, will usually destroy it. 
