FEB, 4 
Mi 
FTJR-BEARING ANIMALS—XII. 
THE MINK. 
Putorlus vlson.—LINN. 
The Mink is a constant resident of nearly 
every part of North America. Till its fur be¬ 
came so fashionable and valuable it was found 
in greater or less numbers near all streams of 
water. There was hardly a brook large 
enough to Uoat a minnow that was not haunt¬ 
ed by this animal; but so relentlessly has it 
been trapped, it is by no means plenty even 
in the depths of great forests. 
The Mink's body is about twelve inches 
long, its tail eight . Its head is depressed and 
small; nose, short, flat and thick; eyes, small 
and far forward; oars, broad, round, short; 
neck and body, long and slender; legs, short 
and stout; toes somi-palmated; tail, round 
and thick at, the mots, tapering toward the 
end, rather bushy. Two brown-colored glands ‘ 
on each side of the roots of the tail contain a 
strong- musky, disagreeable fluid. The coat 
is composed of two kinds of hair—a very 
dense down, mixed with longer, stronger 
hairs, which are smooth and glossy, and 
mostly conceal the down; they are shortest 
on the head and longest on the back; the sur¬ 
face of the fur varies from a chocolate brown 
around the face and on the ears, to a brown¬ 
ish-blank on the body and tail. Usually there 
is a white spot, under the throat and a white 
stripe on the breast 
Thompson says;—"Its favorite haunts are 
along the banks of streams, where it dwells 
in holes near the water, or In the ruins of old 
walls, or in heaps of flood wood, or in piers 
and abutments of bridges.” Sometimes it j 
lives in the burrows of muskrats, having 
killed and dispossessed the owners. It feeds 
on frogs, lishes, mussels, and also upon rats, 
mice and other small land animals. Young 
birds, domestic fowls and wounded ducks 
often become its prey. It is an expert fisher, 
and is quite apt to steal fish left incautiously ! 
lying on the bank by anglers, 
Audubon says '“This species has a good 
nose, and is able to pursue its prey like a 
hound following a deer.” The young are 
produced from three to six at a litter, about 
the last of April. The Mink is not very cun¬ 
ning and is not very difficult to be caught, 
though more so than, the muskrat. It is 
caught in box-traps and dead-falls ; but stool 
traps are much the best. If 11101-6 are any 
hollow logs near tile stream, there is no bel¬ 
ter place to set the trap than in one of these, 
as Minks have a particular liking for running 
through them. The bait should lie suspended 
on a stick over the trap, high enough so the 
animal must go under it, to reach it. The 
trap should be lightly covered with moss and 
leaves ; it may also be set at the mouth of 
a “ cubby-house,” with the bait beyond it; 
or when convenient, in water, with the bait 
hung over it. Different kinds of fish or the 
beads of birds may be used for bait, but the 
very best is the muskrat. I, once, had a trap 
set for a week, baited with a chicken’s head, 
(as I was unable to get anything better at the 
time) in a place 1 knew was frequented by a 
Mink. Having, at last, procured a muskrat, 
I rebaited it with this. Returning that way 
about an hour later, after having visited 
other traps, I found the Mink fast in my trap, 
so quickly had he been attracted by the new 
bait. It takes a heavy shot to kill tiffs ani¬ 
mal, as it is remarkably tenacious of life.” 
Audubon says he once " Found one still 
alive under a dead fall, with a pole lying 
across its body pressed down by a weight of 
150 pounds, beneath which it had been strug¬ 
gling for nearly twenty-four hours.” The 
Mink is skinned in the same manner as the 
fox, When attacked, this species, like the 
skunk, omits an offensive odor. 
The skins are now very valuable, and bring 
i i om $5 to $8 a piece, though twenty-five 
yoars ago they were worth loss than those of 
the muskrat; and Richardson says they 
were only taken by the traders of the fur 
company to accommodate the Indians, and 
were afterwards burned, as they would not 
pay for transportation. 
Minks, when taken young, become gentle 
and affectionate j*as. The author just quoted 
saw one “ In the possession of a Canadian 
woman, that passed the day In her pocket, 
looking out occasionally, when its attention 
was roused by uny unusual noise.” n, 
♦♦♦--- 
hair snakes, 
I HAVE noticed a ^ddeal said in the Ru¬ 
ral about Hair Snakes,” I would like w. 
doy " ith nrt.ndbi,™ 
O&h, stooping down for something, I no¬ 
ticed the water in spots seemed alive with or rind we had a tender, succulent stem, and 
what looked like minute snakes, and they prepared as asparagus it was hardly inferior 
were squirming around lively enough. I to that delicious vegetable. While a bed of 
called to my companion, who looked at them ; asparagus requires three years to come to 
as we had seen nothing like it before, we perfection, this “ho sung” could be grown 
went to the house for information and were in from three to five weeks. I used to be 
told we had seen “Hair Snakes,” made from very fond of a dish of it, and distributed 
hair falling off the cattle Sn drinking at the several hundred packets of the seed to appli- 
hrook. My friend insisted it couldn’t be, cants. Neglecting to grow it one year, the 
but if hairs ever did turn to snakes, she was next year the seed failed to grow, and thus 
bound to know just how it was done. She lost It. 
pulled a number of short hairs from her head, I very much desire to again procure seed, 
put them in a saucer of water and placed the and as none of the seedsmen have it in thoir 
M 
THE 3YE X INT , 
saucer on a high shelf out of the way. A few I 
days afterward, as l was passing her house, 
I was called in to "look,” and what do you 
think i Every hair was rushing around and 
across that saucer, putting one in miml of a 
flock of young ducks, some hot day, in pur¬ 
suit of a swarm of flies. A great many exam¬ 
ined the "creatures;” they seemed as per¬ 
fectly formed as any snakes, the roots of the 
hair looking like heads, My friend could tell 
nothing of how it was done, she had come 
that morning os usual to take a peep into the 
saucer, when site found in it snakes instead of 
hairs, as she had expected to. Now this is a 
fact; no living person knew of the experi¬ 
ment but we two, for fear of ridicule, till it 
was tried, in case she failed. M. W. 
m (banto. 
THE SUPERIOR PEA. 
I wish to give a description of this new and 
invaluable variety. It was first brought, to 
this country by a friend of J. F. Solons, of 
Clark county, Ohio, in his hands it was 
placed, and acclimated. After a trial of five 
years Mr. Solon is fully convinced that it is 
eight days earlier than any other variety un¬ 
der cultivation. Last Spring I procured from 
Mr. Solon forty-five peas, planted them as 
soon as lira weather permitted, with several 
of the earliest varieties. The Superior was 
eight days earlier than any of the rest. It is 
a sugar pea, highly flavored, and very pro¬ 
ductive, and grows three feet in hight. This 
variety will not only be valuable for the j 
kitchen garden, but it will be a geat favorite 
for the market gardener. 
I think, after a trial of several seasons, this 
pea will be universally adopted for early 
market. I am a market gardener near Day- 
ton, I intend to make it a special business of 
raising the Superior for early market, 
A SUBSCRIBER, 
-- 
HO SUNG. 
Some fifteen or twenty years ago we had a 
vegetable under t’ao above name. It was a 
species of strong growing lettuce from China. 
Sowing q U ito thin, so the plants would 
stand three or four inches apart each way, 
the stems, on shooting up to flower, would 
be from half to tliree-fourtlis of an inch 
through, and about two feet high. On cook¬ 
ing the stems and taking off the outside coat 
catalogues, I would pe pleased to have the 
inquiry In the Rural, so that among the 
thousands of readers there may be some who 
yet have this vegetable, and may advertise 
the seed, or give some information where the 
seed can be procured through your widely 
circulating paper. J. B. Garber. 
Columbia, Lancaster Co., Pa., Jan. 22,1S73. 
.. . , - •»♦-»- 
THAT SQUASH. 
Since writing and describing in the Rural 
of a new squash raised by me, 1 have re¬ 
ceived quite a number of letters inquiring 
about the squash; some contained money; all 
wanting seed; some of the letters are with¬ 
out address. Now, what 1 want to say to the 
readers of the Rural New Yorker is that I 
did not intend it for an advertisement at all. 
But l am williug to divide my seed with the 
readers of the good Rural. If they will 
but send money enough to pay postage, and 
their address plain, I will send seed to any of 
the subscribers of Moore’s Rural Nkw- 
Yorkkr as far as the seed will go. I know of 
no name as yet of the squash; whenever 1 
know the name I will give it through the 
columns of the Rural.— J. F. Haas, Mead- 
tiiffc, Pa. 
We opine that this will be the last time 
Mr. Haas will make such an offer—if his ex¬ 
perience is at all like those who have done so. 
-+»- 
WHITE APPLE TOMATO. 
I saw in the Rural New-Yorker, Oct. 19, 
1872, an account of a tomato with the above 
name, claiming to have originated South. 
The description, and the writer’s opinion of 
it, coincides with mine to a nicety. In regard 
to its origin :—March 4, 1870, Sanford How¬ 
ard (now deceased), Secretary of t he Michi¬ 
gan Agricultural College, sent me four pack¬ 
ages of tomato seed of different varieties, 
claiming that they originated at the College. 
I carefully tested thorn all, and retained only 
the Wliite Apple. In curliness it is between 
Trophy and Hubbard’s Curl-leaf. It is not a 
great producer, but as a table tomato I have 
never seen its equal. 
The foregoing comes to us without sigua 
tore or post-office address; but inclosed we 
find two packages of seed Of this Tomato— 
one for the Editor and the other for “Daily 
Rural Life.” The latter will be forwarded. 
--- 
LARGE CABBAGE. 
I this year exhibited at the Fair of this 
county, two heads of the Marblehead Mam- 
I moth Cabbage—one weighing 05 lbs. and the 
other 37 lbs. Can any one beat this ?—J. F. 
1 H., Meadville, Pa. 
EAST VS. WEST. 
To say that I was surprised by the state- 
mentof the Illinois milk man, published in the 
“Prairie Fanner” and republished in the 
Rural New-Yorker, Nov. 16th, in the ar¬ 
ticle on the “ cost of producing milk at the 
West,” is putting it soft. I have always had 
•in idea that young men without much capi¬ 
tal were facing in the wrong direction, when 
they looked Westward for the most profitable 
farming regions, and every article like the 
above strengthens me in my belief. It is 
probable that milk-producing is the best use 
that that locality can be put to, for, if it is 
not, a man with sufficient discernment to 
discover that wo “farmers are the beasts of 
burden of t his great nation,” would have cer¬ 
tainly found it out in less than “ soventccn 
years” and gone, into something else. 
Now, if “up West ” is really so inferior 
that an improved farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, valued at $10,400.00, owned and 
managed by “ a man capable of earning 
$1,000 per annum In your city, or anywhoro 
else ” (and who, also, does part of the work,) 
with $500.00 of improved implements, and 
$690.00 paid for help on it, falls $150.00 short 
of furnisliing food for thirty cows and three 
horses, it would be better for ua to at least 
stay where wo are, if we do nob move into 
the N. E. corner of Maine. 
In concluding his article the Rural Editor 
compares the dairy resources of the East and 
West, and says that “ the main advantage of 
the West is in her cheap lands and cows ; and 
then makes a very fair statement of what we 
have to offset it. 
Thero are, witliin thirty six hours of the 
seaboard, and far enough North so that good 
butter and cheese can be made, extensive sec¬ 
tions of country in which land enough to keep 
thirty cows and three horses in fine condition, 
without the aid of any outside feed, can be 
bought for less than half of $10,400.00. For 
instance ; the mountainous part of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, portions of the Valley of Virginia, and 
t he Greenbrier Valley of that State ; also the 
Valley of the Kanawha ; and of this I will 
speak in particular. It has water communi¬ 
cations with the South and West, railroad 
communications with the EoSl, and will be- 
ore long have it, also, with the North, via 
Pittsburg. The soil is not unfertile, but it is 
eminently a manufacturing and mining dis- 
1 rice t. ; but a small portion of the capital or 
brains, off the river being devoted to agricul- 
ure. 
The country does not begin to produce what 
it consumes, and this wiU be more ami more 
the case as its mineral and manufacturing re¬ 
sources are further developed, and it becomes 
filled with miners and artisans. The lack of 
good butter anil cheese, is particularly felt, ns 
the native population does nob know how to 
make it, and it is difficult to get it from the 
West. Good butter sells at from thirty to 
larly-five cents a pound, and quite inferior 
cheese brings twenty-live, 
A considerable quantity of good da/try pro¬ 
duct could find reaily sale at remunerative 
prices, at the door of the consumer, and eon 
tracts for the season could lie readily made 
it more than the retail price, giving the daix-y 
man Ins cash every week ; and all know the 
advantage of this over either submitting to 
the impositions of the middle men on market 
day, or only getting your money two or three 
times a year. 
I know of one woman who is making this 
her sole business. She knows how to inula* 
good butter, and delivers what she agrees to 
when she agrees to. Unfortunately her ac¬ 
counts are not in as presentable a shape as are 
he estimate of the Illinois man ; but if ap¬ 
parent contentment and happiness, and an 
evident and rapid improvement mid increase 
of property, and a general appearance of 
prosperity can indicate that a business is not 
running behind, the condition of this woman’s 
affairs docs it , and proves that dairying as 
far East as this, is, at. least, moderately profit¬ 
able. 
As In t he cheap cows :—The DUnols man 
rules his cows at $40.00. It is a pretty poor 
$ 10,00 cow* East or West that will not at the 
ordinary rat es of pasturing produce milk dur¬ 
ing the six Summer months, at less than 
twelve and one-half cents a gallon. 
Kanawha C. H., West. Va. 
a. n. k. 
FROM STORY CITY, STORY CO., IOWA. 
In answer to A. G. C. in Rural New- 
Yorker of Jan 4th, I would say that m this 
section laud can be had (wild) for from five to 
ten dollars per acre. Stock raising Is very 
profitable here and can be commenced with 
small capital; and any one who is willing to 
work and to team, can succeed in it without 
the previous farm appreuticeship suggested 
by the Editor of Rural New-Yorker, though 
of course some experience would be better. 
Even if they wished to loan their money, it 
would yield'them a better Interest here than 
Government bonds. 
Our Winters are not more severe than in 
Central New York. I speak from fifteen 
years’ experience here. Farm wages are from 
twelve to eighteen Jollttrs pet* month, L sunlly 
less snow falls during the Winter than with 
you, W. A, W, 
