440 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
How a Weasel was Killed. 
One of the most subtle and destructive pests of 
the poultry yard is the Weasel, Putorius ermine of 
the books. It changes to a snowy white in winter, 
when it is often called Ermine, but it is quite 
distinct from the European Ermine. For a 
time it was thought to be identical with the com¬ 
mon weasel of Europe (P. vulgaris), but the dis¬ 
tinguished investigator in natural science, C. L. 
Bonaparte, established the fact many years ago 
that our bloodthirsty weasel is a distinct species. 
It is generally considered a beautiful animal by the 
naturalists, but, associated as it is with the terror 
of the poultry yard, the wholesale slaughter of 
chickens and ducklings, the farmer sees no beauty 
in him that he should desire him. His presence 
is associated only with bloodshed, and, at his best 
estate, he is an ugly beast. Science brands him as 
an outlaw to be exterminated. “The long and 
slender body, bright and piercing eyes, keen teeth, 
and sharp claws, clearly show that, however dimin¬ 
utive the animal may appear, it is destined by na¬ 
ture to destroy other creatures more numerous and 
less powerful than those of its own race. This 
length and slenderness of body is accompanied by 
a peculiar flexibility, and by a strength of limb, 
which, in so small an animal, is surprising. There 
is scarcely an opening through which its prey can 
enter where the weasel cannot follow, and having 
once gained access, its instinctive destructiveness 
is only allayed when no other victim remains to be 
slaughtered.” This impeachment of the charac¬ 
ter of the weasel is verified by every farmer who 
has received his calls at the poultry yard. Though 
most at home in the Hudson Bay region and the 
northern portions of the continent, so prolific in 
animal life, he extends his habitat as far south as 
the Middle States of the Union. Civ ilization makes 
war upon him, and that, as well as the heat of our 
summers, seems to stay his progress. Though a 
poultry raiser for nearly thirty years, upon the sea 
coast and in villages, we received our first call from 
this bloodthirsty creature about half-past three 
o’clock Wednesday, July 25th, 1883. Our forty-five 
Light Brahma chickens were housed in a small out 
building, to prevent depredations in the garden. 
A terrible squalling among the birds called our at¬ 
tention to the attack immediately. The chickens 
turned out at once, and in one corner we found a 
weasel fastened to the thigh bone of one of the 
birds, and he was beaten with a club before he re¬ 
leased his hold. The thigh bone was broken, and 
the bird had to be killed. Just a week from that 
date, at the same hour in the afternoon, he came 
again, but was driven off without damage to the 
chickens. In the meantime he had visited the 
neighbors’ coops and slain a large number. On the 
Monday following, at the same hour of the day, we 
found him among the flock again. Having learned 
the tenacity of his grip upon his prey, we were pre¬ 
pared for his visit. He had a large chicken by the 
jugular vein, and was partially concealed under her 
wing as she lay upon the floor. With a spade we 
pinned him to the earth and closed his career of 
blood-sucking. In about two minutes he had 
drained the blood from a two-pound chicken The 
specimen, a male, was about an average of adult 
size ; whole length, from tip to tip, eighteen inches; 
body, twelve inches; tail, six inches. The jaws 
and neck are exceedingly strong, and the teeth 
very sharp, nice instruments for tearing open veins. 
It is very difficult to catch a weasel in a steel-trap, 
still more difficult to shoot one. But caught in 
the act of bloodshed, with a spade, you have him. 
The Cow Pea for Ensilage. 
The cow pea, which plays so important a part in 
Southern agriculture, whether to turn under to en¬ 
rich the soil, or to convert into hay for stock, has 
been found to make a most valuable ensilage, 
especially for cows in milk. This pea, so far as its 
herbage is concerned, may be, as our own experi¬ 
ments show, utilized beyond the Southern States. 
In the climate of New York City, while it will 
hardly ripen its seeds, it will give a heavy weight 
of green fodder, and is worthy of trial for ensilage. 
When cured as hay the leaves drop every time it is 
handled, a loss which can be altogether avoided 
when it is cut and stored in a silo. This pea, which 
is a great blessing to Southern agriculture, pre¬ 
sents a great number of varieties. A few years ago 
we, through the aid of some friends in Georgia, 
made a collection of all the different kinds 
we could procure. We received peas under 
nearly forty different names, but found that only 
about twenty of these were really distinct, so far 
as we could judge by the appearance of the seeds. 
A share of the varieties are cultivated in the South¬ 
ern States for food, but the majority are regarded 
as forage plants. We notice that some New York 
seedsmen offer the seeds of “ Whippoorwill ” and 
others which are esteemed in the Southern States 
as forage plants. We know no plant more 
worthy of a careful test by those who practice en¬ 
silage, than the “ Southern Cow Pea ” Like other 
beans (for it is much nearer a bean than a pea), 
it should not be sown until the soil is well 
warmed and all danger of late frosts is over. 
A Believer in Hedges for Pences. 
The question of using hedges or fences of any 
kind, must be decided by the locality ; there can be 
no genera] rule. No one who has visited certain 
portions of Delaware and Maryland, or those of 
Ohio, and other Western States, where hedges are 
common, would willingly see them replaced by rail 
or barbed-wire fences. It is true, as a writer in 
the September American Agriculturist argues, that 
a hedge, of any kind, will occupy a broad strip 
of land upon both sides of it, so far as its roots ex¬ 
tend. But in this country of cheap lands, there 
are few localities, I maintain, in which this is an 
important consideration, especially if the hedges 
offers many advantages. As a boundary fence, 
especially upon the road-side, there is much to be 
said in favor of the hedge. Nothing gives a neigh¬ 
borhood such a finished rural aspect, as to have 
the roads bordered by hedges. For interior di¬ 
visions, as they can not be removed, they are not 
to be commended. Indeed, the tendency is, to do 
away with interior fences, save where they are 
needed to enclose animals. An orchard, the most 
permanent of all the plantations upon the farm, 
may be appropriately enclosed by a live fence. 
Hedges are of two kinds : they are protective bar¬ 
riers, really live fences, or merely ornamental. In 
properly regulated communities, where cattle are 
not allowed to run at large, the road-side hedge 
may be ornamental, while one around an orchard 
should be able to keep out animals and other in¬ 
truders. After many experiments and failures, the 
Osage Orange has been found to make the best 
hedge in all mild localities in the Western and 
Southern States. Being a native of Texas and 
Arkansas, it has been found to be hardy much 
farther North, and may be regarded as the most 
useful hedge-plant in all localities where the winter 
is not severe. Where the Osage Orange is not 
hardy. Buckthorn and Honey Locust are the 
best substitutes. Honey Locust (or Tliree-thorned 
Acacia,) is a most useful hedge-plant, as it is readily 
raised from seeds, grows rapidly, bears cutting 
well, and in a few years will make a barrier that 
will turn the most violent animal. For ornamental 
hedges, there is a wide selection. If an evergreen 
hedge is preferred, the Hemlock easily stands at 
the head of the list, for its great beauty. Norway 
Spruce and Arbor Vita?, both make excellent 
hedges. Among deciduous shrubs, there are many 
that may be used, none more desirable than the 
Japan Quince ( Pyrus , or Cydonia Japonica, of the 
catalogues.) Whoever makes a hedge for ornament 
or for use, should consider that it involves a yearly, 
if not more frequent, pruning. This, however, 
need not be a greater trouble than the yearly repair 
required by wooden or other fences. Q. 
Feeding Cows During the Grazing Season, 
Grazing dairy cows is the almost universal prac¬ 
tice of our farmers, without any regard to the 
condition of the grass, or the character of the sea¬ 
son. This practice is well enough where there is 
full feed, and the cows get all the food they can 
digest. It is not economy on the great majority of 
our farms, especially in the older States. As a rule 
the land devoted to pasture has been grazed for 
generations, has for many years received no ma¬ 
nure except the droppings of the cows, and its best 
constituents have been carried off in the shape of 
milk, veal, and beef. The cow is a machine for 
making milk and butter, and can no more yield 
these commodities without suitable and abundant 
forage than a grist mill can turn out meal without 
corn in the hopper. A certain portion of her food 
goes to keep her in good flesh. This has the first 
claim, and some pastures do little more than meet 
this want. The milk grows small by degrees and 
beautifully less, until the cows dry up early in the 
fall. In other and better pastures, there is mate¬ 
rial for a good supply of milk for six months in 
the year, and the average yield of butter on our 
farms probably does not reach two hundred pounds 
per cow annually. With suitable addition to the 
rations gathered from the pasture, there is little 
doubt that the yield could be brought up to an 
average of three hundred pounds of butter a year 
per cow, with more profit in the last hundred 
pounds than in the first two hundred pounds. The 
capital invested in the cow, the milking and care of 
the milk are about the same whether the yield of 
butter be two or three hundred pounds. There is 
additional expense for the food, and the labor of 
feeding. To offset this you have, besides butter, 
the better condition of the cow, a better calf, the 
additional quality of manure dropped upon the 
pasture and in the stable, and its better quality, to 
say nothing of the satisfaction of having a sleek, 
profitable and well-fed animal under daily observa¬ 
tion. Esthetics are worth something above pecu¬ 
niary value. We are trying this season, upon a 
thorough-bred Jersey cow, the experiment of daily 
rations of cotton seed meal one quart in the 
morning, wheat middlings one quart, corn meal 
one quart, at evening, in addition to pasture, and 
are surprised at the increase and excellence of 
the butter, and the growth of the manure heap- 
