1914. 
the: RURAL; NEW-YORKER 
lOll 
The Value of Ihe Skunk. 
ARMER’S Bulletin 5S7 deals with 
the “economic value of the skunk.” 
A man who has buried a suit of Sunday 
clothes—the result of a chicken house en¬ 
counter with one of these animals—on his 
return from evening church, is likely to 
feel doubtful' about the economic value of 
the skunk, but robbing henroosts is prac¬ 
tically his only vice. His virtues are 
the destruction of great quantities of in¬ 
sects, particularly white grubs, and the 
value of his hide as fur. 
There are nine distinct species of large 
skunks and eight sub-species, 15 forms oc¬ 
curring in the United States. Of the lit- 
COMMERCIAL GRADES OF SKUNK. 
Fig. 432. 
tie spotted skunks found in the West, 
there are 14 species and six races, the 
smallest being the pygmy skunk of Mex¬ 
ico, only 9 y ~2 inches in length. 
In northern climates skunks go through 
a partial hibernation in very cold weath¬ 
er. In Spring they pair and usually breed 
but once a year. The young, litters run¬ 
ning from six to 12, are born with eyes 
closed, like kittens, and require about six 
months to get full size. 
To get a fair idea of what the skunk 
eats, 62 were killed at different times of 
the year, and the contents of their stom¬ 
achs carefully analyzed. Grasshoppers, 
crickets, beetles and their larvae formed 
a large proportion of their food. Fifteen 
had eaten rats, mice, ground squirrels and 
pocket gophers; three carrion; three liz¬ 
ards and salamanders; three crawfish; 
two fungi; two earthworms; six berries 
or other fruit. One stomach had the 
feather of a bird; one, parts of a domestic 
fowl. Two contained centipedes; one, 
sawflies; one, cicadas; and another the 
stem of a succulent plant. The insects 
Skin Properly “Cased.” Fig. 433. 
eaten were mainly of injurious types. In 
New Mexico, during an invasion of range 
caterpillars, skunks were abundant, and 
investigation showed that 60 to 95 per 
cent, of their food was the pupa of this 
insect. In 1S87 the Nebraska agricul¬ 
tural authorities reported that skunks 
were eating the Colorado potato beetle. 
The small spotted skunks are great de¬ 
stroyers of rats and mice, and are some¬ 
times domesticated for this purpose. 
Skunks are now protected by law in 
13 States. Open seasons are as follows: 
Maine, November 1-March 1; New Hamp¬ 
shire, October 15-April 1; Vermont, No¬ 
vember 1-May 1; New York, November 1- 
April 15; Delaware, December 1-March 
10; Ohio, November 15-February 1; 
New Jersey, November 1-February 
1; Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, 
November 1-April 1; Missouri, No¬ 
vember 1-February 1; Kansas, Novem¬ 
ber 15-March 15. The first protection se¬ 
cured was in parts of New York State 20 
years ago, when the hop growers found 
that the skunk was active in destroying 
the grub or borer that worked at the 
base of the plant. 
Of late skunk has been one of the most 
popular furs, 13,400,000 skins having 
been sold during the eight years ending 
with 1913. The value ranges from 25 
cents to upwards of $2. The picture. 
Fig. 123, shows four commercial grades 
of skunk skins. No. 1, from left to right, 
is nearly all black, bringing the high¬ 
est price; No. 2 is short stripe; No. 3, 
narrow stripe; and No. 4, broad stripe, 
the poorest frore the furriers point of 
view. Northern skins are usually of finer 
quality and the black more intense than 
those from southern localities. 
Skunk skins should be “cased” for mar¬ 
ket as shown in Fig. 433, and the follow¬ 
ing directions for skinning observed : Be¬ 
gin with the middle of the hind foot and 
with a sharp knife slit up the rear edge 
of the leg to the under side of the tail, 
being careful not to cut into the scent 
glands. Then cut the opposite leg in the 
same manner. No other cuts in the body 
of the animal are necessary. Cut around 
the heel of the feet and turn the skin 
back over the body. Strip the skin from 
the tail bone with the help of a split stick 
grasped in the hand while the thumb 
presses firmly against the back of the an¬ 
imal just above the tail. Continue to 
turn the skin back over the body, using 
the knife only when necessary to cut liga¬ 
ments. Care should always be taken to 
cut around the nose, mouth, and eyes to 
avoid tearing the skin. 
THE MAIL BAG. 
Frost-proof Potato Cellar. 
E are putting a cement ceiling in 
a potato cellar. Is there any way 
to make it frost and damp proof? 
Six Lakes, Mich. j. s. 
I know of no way of making concrete 
frost-proof except through insulation by 
means of hollow walls, but there are 
waterproofing compositions which may 
be obtained through dealers in builders’ 
and masons’ supplies which would doubt¬ 
less answer your purpose. If your local 
dealer cannot supply you, application to 
any of the cement manufacturing com¬ 
panies would bring information as to 
where your needs could be met. M. b. d. 
Contaminated Water. 
HAT can be done to clear the water 
in a driven well, 36 feet in depth? 
A six-inch heavy wrought iron 
pipe was used as casing, in which is a 
1^4-inch galvanized suction pipe to with¬ 
in three feet of bottom. The well was 
driven in July, 1913, but thus far we 
have been unable to use the water on ac¬ 
count of the taste of oil and rust. The 
water is clear and cold when first pumped, 
but after standing a short time turns to 
a rusty color and shows oily at the top. 
We made the mistake of using plain 
black pipe for the casing instead of gal¬ 
vanized, but a porch is now built over 
the well and this pipe cannot be easily 
removed. I have tried rock salt, also 
charcoal, and have also pumped the well 
out on several occasions, but without 
much improvement. B. A. L. 
No. Tonawanda, N. Y. 
You have evidently been unfortunate 
in striking a vein of water charged with 
mineral matter of an objectionable na¬ 
ture and the product of decomposed vege¬ 
table matter which gives it the oily ap¬ 
pearance upon standing. I can offer no 
suggestions as to any method of improv¬ 
ing this vein of water but it may be 
practicable to drill deeper and reach an¬ 
other source of supply which will be free 
from the impurities of this one. The pipe 
used is not responsible for the trouble 
and if a year’s use of the well' has not 
freed the water from its objectionable 
features it will probably be useless to ex¬ 
pect good water from that source. 
M. B. D. 
Strawberries After Potatoes. 
HAVE a patch of strawberries about 
four years old. I wish to have a new 
patch next Summer. When is the 
best time to transplant the new patch, 
which is in potatoes this year? a. p. 
At any time up to the middle of Sep¬ 
tember, provided the ground is moist, 
you can set new plants. They will not 
give a full crop next year, but will begin 
bearing. We should dig the potatoes as 
soon as they are fit, put the ground in 
shape and set out plants while the soil 
is moist. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and a 
“square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
Trimming Big Privet Hedge. 
A T our Summer home here we have a 
splendid privet hedge which needs 
trimming, but unfortunately it was 
not kept cut back as it should have been, 
and now it will be necessary to saw off 
the top of it, as the trimming shears 
would not be strong enough for the work. 
Do you advise, under the circumstances 
just mentioned, cutting it back during 
the Summer, or waiting until the Fall? 
Brooklyn, N. Y. T. L. C. 
It Will not injure this hedge in the 
least to cut it back now. In fact this is 
a very favorable time for doing so, as the 
second flow of sap is just starting. Pri¬ 
vet is one plant that shearing or cutting 
at anytime of year, no matter how severe¬ 
ly it may be done, never seems to injure. 
It is one of the grossest feeders in ex¬ 
istence, and its recuperative powers are 
almost unlimited. K. 
Cistern Filter. 
H OW is a brick filter built for a cis¬ 
tern? What kind of brick and size, 
etc.? j. i. h. 
Ordinarily unglazed red brick is used 
to filter cistern water, a simple wall be¬ 
ing built across the cistern to divide it 
into two compartments, the larger of 
which receives the water from the roofs 
and the smaller the filtered water that 
has passed through the pores of the 
bricks. I am unable to say how perma¬ 
nent these brick filters are, though they 
have been in quite common use in this 
vicinity; it would seem as though the 
pores of the bricks would become filled 
in a comparatively short time and ren¬ 
der them useless for this purpose. Very 
likely the length of time that they would 
serve would depend largely upon the 
amount of fine dirt held in suspension in 
the water as it came from the roofs. 
M. B. D. 
Experience With Peat Muck. 
L AST Spring I had occasion to write 
you of a piece of peat muck I have 
on my farm. Apparently the heavy 
growth of briars has done it a world of 
good. I have a magnificent stand of corn, 
where 20 years ago positively nothing 
would ever grow. Advice given by you 
was to keep manure off. I did so on most 
of it. I placed some there, and also gave 
a good coating of air-slaked lime, and a 
liberal coat of muriate of potash as ad¬ 
vised. Surely all this ought to make 
corn and apparently it will; growth about 
twice as large as whore nothing was ap¬ 
plied. Yet some years ago an oat crop 
was thrashed and straw left to decay, 
also a barrel of lime had been placed on 
the straw to hasten decay. Right there 
was a heavy coat of Blue grass, a real 
stiff sod, and when I plowed same ap¬ 
peared like leather as it came loose from 
peat muck underneath. While I believe 
that the briar root growth has done more 
for me than all else, yet lime and potash 
show good results. B. M. 
Ligonier, Ind. 
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TOP FEED-NO RUSTING-NO CLOGGING 
Accurate indicator for 100 to 3,500 lbs. per acre, 
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Wheat and Clover 
Many farmers stick to wheat raising 
mainly because clover follows it in the rotation. 
But why not get the best possible out of both crops? 
No crop returns better profit for the right fertilizer 
than wheat. 
What is the right fertilizer? That depends on the soil and 
on what fertilizer you have used on it. The longer you have 
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> 
POTASH 
Insist on your wheat fertilizer containing 6 to 8 per cent of 
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If your dealer does not carry Potash, write us for prices, naming 
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OFFICE AND WORKS, PORTLAND, CONN. 
