row of stones and the trap in the middle, 
just under water. Put a piece of moss on 
the pun and let the moss come to the top of 
the water so that it will look like the moss- 
covered stones. 
A wolf will not go in water if he can 
find something to walk on. He never can 
smell the trap under water. Foxes may be 
caught iu the same way; but some other 
time I will say more about trapping them. 
—J. Russ. 
cessive seasons. The entrance must lmvo 
been small for the size of the bird, even in 
the first year, and the continuing growth of 
the tree, and of the bark around and inside 
the hole, reduced the opening to such an ex¬ 
tent us to hinder the ingress of the bird; and 
it is probable that the titmouse, experiencing 
a difficulty in passing in and out, at length 
abandoned the site. Possibly the desertion 
was not from Choice, but from necessity, as 
ffiobfs anti $ tinners 
portsimw 
TROLLING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE 
MANNERS IN THE COUNTRY. 
Dear Sporting Editor Did you ever 
go trolling among the Thousand Islands on 
the St. Lawrence? If not, why not? Look 
in Scott’s “ Fishing in American Waters,” 
There are three classes of country people. 
The first, is as near perfection, both in heart 
and manner, as we have any desire for hu¬ 
man beings to be. The second is generous 
and kind in heart, not coarse intentionally, 
hut sadly lacking in manner, which is a re¬ 
sult of non-observance and meagerness ot 
opportunity. The third class form the bane 
of humanity, sneering at culture, and all ex- 
omrstic 
conoinn 
BACK YARDS OF COUNTRY HOMES, 
Tint one great curse of country homes is 
Neglect. The lack is not so much one of 
money us of care. It is enough to give one 
the “ Hives” to see the hack yards of four- 
fifths of the farmers. Cousin Amelia used 
to say that the tidiest of housekeepers had 
to have a catch-all somewhere. But tier’s 
was not her hack yard. Imagine a space 
grown over with ugly weeds, well inter¬ 
spersed with the lmrr sort, that grab vour 
dry goods with the Impudence and tenacity 
of so many imps ; chunks of wood lie here, 
there and everywhere^ old barrels falling 
into hoops and staves; ground soaked with 
slops; egg shells and vegetable parings fil¬ 
tering the ground ; old basins, pans and 
pails adding their rustincss to the crazy 
scene; doorsteps jagged, dilapidated and 
unsafe; low places here and there in the 
surface, for water to stand in and become 
fetid; stench greeting your nostrils from 
choked drains and illy - constructed out¬ 
houses. A. sweet picture, isn’t it? 1 ho 
pity is, ’Ua true. How excellent for fevers 
and cholera! If that Asiatic Dragon that 
coat suggestive of vermin, or a. woman for 
presenting a filthy, bibless baby at table, 
there might ho less violation of decency in 
such matters. And if I were sovereign of 
all, I should enforce eternal banishment upon 
all persons who discuss death, disease, decay, 
wounds, or impurities of any sort, at table. 
The saddest, provokingesl feature of such 
homes finds its limit, where there are chil¬ 
dren to aid and abet and prolong the dis¬ 
gusting manners of their parents, it would 
not matter so much if it were not that early 
habits are the hardest to eradicate; the boys 
and girls grow up, go l<> school, enter society 
and find their table habits Ibliwing them like 
a Nemesis, proclaiming the fact, that wher¬ 
ever they go, that, they came of vulgar pa¬ 
rentage. A child may forgive many de¬ 
ficiencies in a parent, bill, he ought not to tie 
expected to pardon glaring faults of training 
that, cost neither money nor time. If a man 
has a right to he poor himself, he has no 
right to engraft, it upon an innocent child. 
And what 1 say of a man means t he same of 
a woman and man; for I hold that the 
boorish ness of man is the fault of woman. If 
the mother trains her boy a boor, and many 
do, however they may seek to excuse it, the 
wife can weed the man comparatively free 
of it, if she employ love and perseverance in 
her work. 
I observe one indecency among many 
really excellent, families. I refer to the toil¬ 
ette ; combs, brushes and wash-bowl, per¬ 
haps, under looking-glass in the dining¬ 
room, ! It often happens that some belated 
member of the family washes himself and 
brushes his hair in the room while others 
are at the table. There is scarcely more 
than need to call attention to this matter, as 
a moment’s thought, will at once convince a 
person that a dining-room is not, the place 
for such conveniences. Neither would I 
suggest the cook-room, although a sugges¬ 
tion to that, effect seems to have been made 
at some past time, judging from what one 
TUHN DOWN OHiEAU WITXl OK A VAT FOR GEN- 
TLRMKN. 
pression of good breeding, and answering to 
the principal essentials of a nuisance. T he 
Declaration of Independence, which em¬ 
bodies that wonderful clause entitling man 
to “ life, liberty and the pursuit of happi¬ 
ness,” means so much, and might tie made to 
go so far, under congenial circumstances. 
For instance, farmer Morning Glohy in¬ 
vites mo to dine with him, and appears at 
the table in a dirty coat, dirty finger nails, 
and with unkempt hair. That is an insult 
to good breeding to begin with, and destroys 
the aroma of the dinner. 
TKOLIjXNT<3- ON 't’HH 
copious rains in early spring, and the rise of 
sap after the eggs had been laid, would in a 
very short space of lime reduce the apert ure 
sufficiently to bar the entrance of the bird. 
Eventually the opening would become closed 
and covered with bark, thus obliterating all 
outward indication of the cavity within. 
There is nothing remarkable in the fact of 
the eggs being whole when discovered,since 
t heir contents would have dried up and hard¬ 
ened long before the tree was cut, down.” 
8T. LAWRENCE. 
and you'll find a perfect picture of us as we 
“ wended our way ” among those beautiful 
islands, not so long ago as it. might have 
been. [We've transferred the picture here 
for our readers'benefit.—Eos. Rural.] We 
lured a boat and boatman. Didn't, have to 
carry any tackle, for it was all supplied. 
And there we sat—“ my John and I ”—in 
comfortable chairs, onr feet on a carpeted 
floor, enjoying what I would go a long dis¬ 
tance to enjoy again in the way of sylvan 
beauty, and watching, meanwhile, for a bite. 
And didn’t we reel in black lmss and pick¬ 
erel! O, it was funt But, poor tilings! 
What did we catch them for—what could 
we do with them. I suppose some one ate 
them. We only took homo enough for our 
supper, arid there were a score left in the 
boat. But if you want, excitement and the 
most, serene enjoyment combined, go a troll¬ 
ing among the Thousand Islands next, sea¬ 
son. Fannie G. 
NOTES FOR NATURALISTS, 
OrnItlialoaicnl Question. 
Amos of Penn Yan, N. Y., is trying to 
make a collection of birds’ eggs, and wishes 
to know the habits of the birds in order to 
find their nests. We cannot, spare the space 
required to give the proper information, and 
would advise him to purchase some good 
work on Ornithology before making the first 
move towards collecting eggs or studying 
the habits of birds. It is not only a waste of 
time but folly for "to commence 
studying or forming a caoitfet in any branch 
of natural science without first knowing 
wlmt others have done in the same field. 
CliicaKo 1’iuldliur. 
WniLE in the country wo had for dessert 
one day a palatable pudding, which our 
hostess called “Chicago,” on the ground 
that it “ beat all.” This is how she made 
it:—One quart of sweet milk, throe well 
beaten eggs, three tablespoonfula of wheat 
flour, or corn starch, stirred to n thin paste 
of the milk. Place the milk in a 
when it is 
; when it is to the 
stir in the flour, or starch; 
igh to prevent the flour 
, pour over the top a teu- 
cover close to prevent 
let it stand a minute, take 
NOTES FOR SPORTSMEN. 
SCARF CRAVAT FOR GENTLEMEN. 
No man, no matter who he is, or what he 
is, lias any right —lie may have the power — 
to appear at table in an untidy condition. 
He can always he bodily clean, have his hair 
brushed and a clean coat on. if it be made of 
nothing holler than calico. To further ex¬ 
hibit. his depravity, he seems to think lie has 
a license to dive his own knife, fork or spoon 
into various dishes designed equally as much 
l' ( )r ot1 1 ers as 1 1 inisei f. He wipes his kulfe on 
the roll of butler, spoiling it for anybody 
else who possesses finer instincts than hitn- 
TrapiiiiiE IUUi»kriil». 
1 have been trying for the last two years 
to learn to trap. The way I trap muskrats 
is: I take a small trap and set it under water 
about an inch ; 1 then take a stick and place 
an apple on it about eighteen inches above 
the pun of the trap. As 1 do not know much 
about trapping, l would like to know how 
others trap mink and muskrats.—Y oung 
Trapper. ______ 
llow io Tmp Wolves. 
Thirty-eight years ago I was a hunter 
and trapper in Lenawee Co., Midi., and I 
reply to H, II, S.’s inquiry about catching 
foxes. The main thing in trapping for fox, 
or wolf, is to keep them from smelling the 
trap. Find a suitable place In liie woods 
where your game is, where there areshallow 
water, logs and trees. Find some old log 
in some 
pan over a kettle of hot water 
warm, stir in the eggs 
boiling point 
when cooked cnon 
from tasting raw 
cup of white sugar 
escape of steam 
off, remove the cover when the pudding is 
cool; serve cold; no sauce is required. 
Try it. __ 
To Color Cotton Carpet Ram* Ornnae, Mn- 
scenta, Pink anil Salmon. 
Make a strong suds of soft soap and rain 
water; put one ounce of annatto in a bag 
and rub it well with the hands until it. is 
dissolved iu the suds-; when it is sodding hot 
put in four pounds of goods; stir constantly 
a few minutes; then take it out and expose 
it to the sun. The time for it, to remain in 
the dye depends upon the depth of color 
desired. A beautiful magenta on cotton, 
woolen, or silk, may be obtained by putting 
one drachm of nnaline in pure rain water; 
when scalding hot dip four pounds of goods 
in for one minute; also expose to ihe sun. 
Dip four pounds of other goods in the same 
dye and let it remain until you have a pale 
pink; after dry, dip it. in the orange dye un¬ 
til you obtain the shade desired, and you 
have a beautiful salmon, which looks -well 
for carpet warp.—A New Scbscriber. 
- - 
How to Moke Kltiaes. 
Two pounds of powdered sugar, whites 
of eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth, then add 
the sugar, flavor with lemon or vanilla. The 
whole should be beaten very hard a few 
minutes; then drop in oval shapes on white 
paper; place in a moderate oven, hake a 
pale brown; they should then he taken from 
the paper, placing the flat sides together 
while warm.— i,. E. K. 
How til® Rattlesnake Rites. 
Being a subscriber's son, and an interested 
reader of your paper, and seeing F. C. 
Haukman’s statement in I fie Rural New 
Yorker in regard to rattlesnakes carrying 
their poison under their tongue and making 
the wound with their tongue, it struck me 
rather forcibly that ho knew very liitle 
about them. I have seen and examined a 
good many of them, and I find Iheir poison 
in a little sack or hag at the roots of the 
fangs, there being two—one on each side of 
the upper jaw. The fangs are in shape like 
a cat's claw; they are hollow except the 
extreme point, which is very sharp; and 
with them the wound is made, the poison 
flowing out of a small opening in 
the fang up about one-sixteenth 
of an inch from the point, the (i\\ 
pressure causing the poison to || 
enter the wound.—E. Griggs, li EiV 
STANDING COLLAR WITH TURNED DOWN CORNERS 
AND CRAVAT FOR GENTLLMKN. 
self. He cuts the meat as freely with his 
own knife as with a carver. His spoon has 
unlimited inlimacy in soup bowl, honey dish 
or fruit tureen. When lie swallows, it is 
with a gulp and a smack, audible across the 
room. When dinner is over, he settles back 
in his chair, proceeds to pick his teeth, gape, 
emit wind from his stomach, blow his nose, 
clear Ids throat and go through an accus¬ 
tomed series of hawking, snuffing and other 
disgusting performances that upset a civil¬ 
ized stomach. I have seen people who wore 
Toiul In an Elm Tree. 
J. C., ill Land and Water, tells 
the following story:—“A large 
elm tree, apparently of consider- \\t -jl 
able age, was cut down not far 
from Harrow the other day; there tSjjuy 
was found on sawing it across, just 
below a point where the trunk uy 
branched into two parts, a hole |q'L 
containing a large toad, the point |UrQ 
where the hole was being twenty mil 
feet from the ground. The wood rwjl 
surrounding the hole is in parts JyjE 
peculiarly soft and spongy, and anC 
the continuity of the wood to¬ 
wards the bark is not quite com- is 
plete. The hole, in which the fit 
gentleman is still residing, is II] J 
about eight inches deep, in a lon¬ 
gitudinal direction, and from three 1 
to four inches in diameter. It ’ L : | 
has the appearance of being nrti- x| ; , iLfi 
fioinlly hollowed out inside. The 
animal was discovered an hour 
after the tree was cut across, and 
was then nearly white in color. I 
saw him yesterday—he was then dark. He 
shunned the light very much, and did not 
appear to see my finger when approached 
to his eyes. 
BIRD’S NEST IN OLD TIMBER. 
A recent English paper contained a com¬ 
munication from a gentleman in Stafford, 
England, an extract, from which we publish 
explanatory of the accompanying illustra¬ 
tion. He says;—“1 this day forward to 
your offices four pieces of timber cut out of 
a large hulk, which, to my knowledge, )ms 
been buried thirty-eight years ; and in a box 
I send you a bird’s nest, which was found in 
die hole you will find in the timber, with 
ten eggs in it. The curiosity is that the 
timber was believed to be solid until it. was 
cut open by the saw, as no sign of a hole 
was visible, and the piece of timber was 
over twenty feet long and eighteen inches 
by sixteen inches in the square; so that the 
tree must have been a very old one. Another 
peculiarity is that the eggs were whole when 
the nest was found, although the timber was 
lmried in the foundation of an ironwork, 
where the shaking and vibration was almost 
continuous." 
The Editor of the Field, to whom this 
timber was sent, gives the accompanying cut 
illustrating, on a small scale, one block of 
the wood, with cavity, nest and eggs, and 
says:—■“They are the eggs of the great tit¬ 
mouse, (Pcmus major,) and it is evident, from 
the double lining of the nest, that the bird 
had made use of the same hole for two suc- 
|{roil<-(l IIuui. 
Cut the ham in very thin slices; pour 
bailing water over it, and leave where it will 
keep hot, twenty minutes; then wipe the 
slices dry, and lay on a hot gridiron over 
the coals, and broil as quick as possible, 
hut do not scorch it. 
To Remove Hmina from I.itien. 
To remove stains from linen, such as wine- 
fruit, or rust, a solution of hyposulphite of 
soda is applied to the spots, and, when 
thoroughly soaked, enough strong vinegar 
ia added to cover the stain; pulverized tar¬ 
taric acid will he better than vinegar, If 
spread on the spots. Leave the spots for a 
short time to he acted upon by the chemicals, 
and then wash out in plenty of soft water. 
TURN DOWN COLLAR FOR L.VDJKS. 
raise teeth, unconsciously, but from habit, 
loosen them in such a manner ns to send one 
reeling to the open air. So I aver that when 
one finds himself sealed at the table with 
such a beast, the pursuit of happiness would 
be to abscond at once or have ihe nuisance 
expeditiously removed to eat by itself. 
I once heard a young woman say the rea¬ 
son she refused to marry a Certain man was 
that he “ ate with his mouth open and drank 
coffee from his saucer,” and I dare say one 
bird’s nest in old timber. 
lying iii the water (hut not covered with it), 
one end lying on dry laud. At the end of 
the log in the water, place stones that, have 
moss upon them; place them just, far enough 
apart so that a wolf may step from the one 
to the other. They must slick up out of 
water. Place your bait at the end of the 
Let the Boys who read the Rural New- 
Yorker send us items for this Department 
