4 28 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
Pi.—I f you would be pungent, be brief; words are like 
sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they 
burn. 
Geographical -Anagrams.— 1. Montgomery. 2. Mil- 
ledgeville. 3. Mobile. 4. West Point. 5. Manchester. 
<5. Liverpool. 7. Albemarle. 8. Honduras. 
Concealed Square-Word. —S TAR 
TORE 
ARMS 
REST 
Numerical Enigma.— Salisbury Mills, Orange County. 
Thanks for letters, puzzles, etc., to J. & 0., Isaiah S. 
R., Robert P. Q., Robt. W. Moore, Ambrose M. S., and 
H. R. G. 
Send communications for the Puzzle Box to Aunt Sue, 
Box 111, P. 0 ., Brooklyn, JY. 3*., and not to 213 Broadway. 
- < ma ^eaa—--- 
Marmots—T'annic aos4 “Wild!. 
Bid you ever see a Marmot? Very likely you will all 
say no, although you have seen one, but under a different 
name. At all events, you have read about the European 
marmot, which is found on the Alps, and other high 
mountains. It is about as large as a hare, with yellowish 
MANNER OF CATCHING A WOODCHUCK. 
gray fur, and lives in holes among the rocks, frolicking 
about all through the short summer, and sleeping through 
the long Alpine winter. Just think of going to bed when 
the snows first come, and sleeping on and on, until they 
have melted away before the spring sun. The picture 
below tells a part of the marmot's his¬ 
tory. These people are interested in feed¬ 
ing a marmot, and they are dressed quite 
differently from our people. They are 
Swiss, and the picture tells us that the 
Swiss catch and tame the marmot. They 
are very fond of these animals as pets, as 
they are quite gentle and playful, and 
make pleasing companions. Sometimes 
the Swiss boys, who go to other parts of 
Europe to earn money as organ grinders, 
take a tame marmot with them, as the 
animal is a curiosity to those who do not 
live in the mountains. The American 
marmot can also be tamed.—“ You didn't 
know that there were any marmots in 
this country.”—There are, and plenty of 
them, only we call them by different 
names, which, though more familiar, are 
not so pleasing as marmot. We know 
our animal as the woodchuck or ground¬ 
hog. There is no reason why it should 
not be called a marmot, for it is own 
brother to the Alpine one; by own brother 
we mean that it has the same kind of 
feet, teeth, etc., and in all the important 
things by which naturalists classify ani¬ 
mals, the two are closely alike ; ours dif¬ 
fers from the European in color, among 
other things, and has considerable black 
about it. Those of you who live upon 
farms, no doubt know this marmot very 
well under the name of woodchuck. How 
the fellows like to frolic in a field of clover 
on a bright moonlight night, and what 
havoc they make in the clover 1 They do 
not dislike a bit of tender cabbage from 
the garden, and take it altogether, we do 
not think the farmer would look any more 
favorably upon the animal if it were called 
marmot, than he now does. Did you ever 
see a tame woodchuck? We have, and a funny little 
chunk of a fellow it was ; it had been petted so much, and 
fed so freely, that it waddled about in the most laughable 
manner. They do not forget their sleepy ways, even 
when tamed; when winter approaches, they roll them¬ 
selves up into a ball, putting tho head down against the 
belly, and away they go for a long sleep; they are of no 
trouble during the winter, as they have only to be stored 
away in a bos with plenty of hay and cotton, and they 
will tuck themselves up in bed for a long nap. We must 
tell you how a young friend of ours, who is a great hand 
for catching animals, captured his woodchuck. The ani¬ 
mal was in its hole, and as 
our friend had nothing on hand 
to dig with, he resorted to a 
clever trick. Having a piece 
of fish-line in his pocket, he 
made a slip-noose in one end 
of it, and tied the other end of 
the line to a stout stick; the 
noose was then opened, and 
passed into the hole; the wood¬ 
chuck did not like this, but 
snapped at the string, at which 
the boy gave a jerk, and caught 
the animal by its very long 
front-teeth, then he had only 
to pull, and the captive was 
hauled out of its hole, much 
against its will. Our friend 
sent us a drawing of the af¬ 
fair, which we give here; it 
is not as cruel as it looks, 
and if one is to capture a wood¬ 
chuck, no doubt this is as 
gentle a way as any, and the 
inconvenience at the time 
may be made up for by after¬ 
kindness to the captive. It has one advantage over 
other pets, as it can be kept asleep all winter. 
Popping - Corn. 
Isn't it fun to pop corn?—and when it is popped isn’t 
it good? Most hoys in the country grow a few hills of 
pop-corn to furnish them amusement in the winter even¬ 
ings. There is some skill to be used in so simple a thing 
as popping corn. In the first place, the corn should be 
well dried, for when too fresh and soft it does not pop 
well at all. Then a wire popper with a long handle is the 
best thing to pop it in. A very small handful of corn, 
only about enough to cover the bottom, is put in the pop¬ 
per and the cover fastened down. Then we must heat 
the corn gradually, holding it at a distance from the 
coals, and when it is well heated through bring it nearer 
to the fire, when the popping will begin. You must 
shake all the time, and tho more the corn pops the faster 
you must shake to prevent burning. If the corn is of a 
good kind a very little will fill the popper when finished. 
Pop 1 pop!—how the little grains bounce about as they 
jump up and put on their snowy night-caps. Look at a 
popped grain. It does not seem at all like a kernel of 
corn; it is fairly turned inside out. What makes the 
com pop and behave in this way? The chemist says 
that the corn contains an oil, and that the heat turns this 
oil into gas, and when the pressure of this gas gets 
strong enough to burst the grain, pop it goes. That 
corn contains oil, may be new to you, but there is oil in 
it, and in some kinds of corn a great deal. Sixteen gal¬ 
lons of oil have been obtained from one hundred bushels 
of grain, and very nice oil too. It has but one fault, and 
that is it costs too much to get it out of the corn ; while 
the mineral oil lasts—the petroleum from which they get 
kerosine—it is not likely that we shall feed our lamps 
with corn oil. When you hear the grains go off with a 
“pop,” and a “ sput,” just remember it is the oil that 
affords you all the fun, and turns the hard and flinty 
grains into beautiful masses of corn-starch, not only 
pleasing to look at, but wholesome to eat. 
About Secrets. 
BY M. n. G. 
Little Margy whispered in her Aunt Margy's ear* 
“ Promise not to tell anybody, and I’ll tell you a secret.” 
“ I’m afraid I can’t promise,” said Aunt Margy. “ It 
is not easy to keep a secret.” 
“Why ! I think it is,” said little Margy, “I have kept 
my secret two whole days.” 
Aunt Margy laughed. “ I am afraid your secret, like 
the secret of King Midas, will be whispered about sooner 
or later,” she said. 
“ What was his secret ? ” asked little Margy. 
“ Why, he had asses’ ears, which he was careful to hide 
under his long-eared cap,” said Aunt Margy, “but the 
barber who shaved him, saw his long ears-” 
“ And then he ran and told all the folks,” interrupted 
little Margy. 
“ No,” went on Aunt Margy,” he didn't dare to tell 
anybody, for fear fliat his own ears might be cut off, but 
yet he could not keep the secret all to himself. So he dug 
a hole in the ground, and whispered down to the earth: 
‘ King Midas has asses’ ears.’ Then he filled up the hole, 
but a reed sprung up on the spot, and whenever the 
wind blew, the reed whispered : ‘King Midas has asses’ 
ears.’ ” 
“What a funny story 1” cried little Margy. “But it 
isn’t true, is it? ” 
“No,” answered Aunt Margy, “but the old Grecian 
historian tells it. It teaches us how hard it is to keep 
secrets. But the best way is not to have any.” 
“I think so too,” said little Margy, “so I tell you 
mine. I am going to make papa a present on his birth¬ 
day. I have made him a butterfly pen-wiper, with red 
glass-eyes. Don’t tell I told you, until I give it to papa 
to-morrow—please don’t, I mean.” 
“ I won’t tell,” said Aunt Margy. “ I can keep a secret 
one day. I enjoy hearing such secrets as this.” 
“But poor King Midas 1 ” said little Margy, “to have 
to wear a cap, instead of a crown, to hide his asses’ ears.” 
“ And the barber should not have whispered the secret 
even to the earth,” said Aunt Margy, “for it is not 
honorable to tell the secrets of others, especially if tell¬ 
ing will make them unhappy.” 
A IPsizzle l*ic#vn*c. —The puzzle picture 
given above is, we think, one of the best we have ever 
published. In most of them, after the concealed portion 
is known, it is impossible to see anything else, hut in 
this, the landscape remains just as perfect after the trick 
is found out as before, and in looking at it one can hardly 
see a trace of the other, if he tries eve*- so hard. Some of 
the puzzle pictures that we have pub.ished, have been 
copied in other countries, and we should not be sur¬ 
prised to neet this one in some European journal. 
FEEDING THE TAME MARMOT. 
No. 440.— A PUZZLE PICTURE.—LOOK SHARP! 
