374 


form and strong foliage render many of them most desir- 
_ able additions to the wind screen. 
If on a farm, and it is desired to couple with the shelter 
plantation a growth of timber, as wide a belt as is needed 
may be laid out, and useful trees ade the main part, and 
evergreens then placed along the edge nearest the dwelling 
to render more complete the shelter ‘and to hide the irregu- 
larities that will result from future cutting. For posts, 
rails, and small timber no tree seems to promise more rapid 
results than the European larch, the Scotch cousin of the 
Tamarack or Hackmatack, and a more vigorous tree. It 
belongs to the intermediate order of trees, being coniferous 
but deciduous. In the early spring it is a beautiful object, 
the tender green of the new and light foliage giving it the 
delicacy of a plume, and a near observation shows the 
young cones as crimson as rubies. Planted thickly, the 
stems in their rivalry will shoot up with remarkable rapid- 
ity, making long straight trunks that are valuable for posts, 
ties, rustic work, &c. If set four feet apart they may be 
thinned out, when large enough, for many uses and the 
remainder left to grow large. The first crop should fully 
pay all expenses and interest to date of cutting. Chestnut 
is also used with valuable results, and locust, apart from a 
disposition to run into a tangle of suckers, isa good tim- 
ber tree. 
For the open fire, wild cherry may be relied upon as fur- 
nishing a large amount of fuel. It burns with a soft, quiet 
flame, aud does not snap. A plantation of it will renew 
itself without care, and any trees that may be permitted to 
grow large will afford one of the most enduring and hand- 
some woods for woodwork and furniture. With black 
walnut it makes a rich contrast for wood floors, where it 
wears well. 
Excellent for shelter, and enduring beyond almost all, is 
the white cedar, and no evergreen is more favorably ecn- 
sidered. It grows well down to the ground, and seems at 
home on almost any soil. It flourishes in low lands, and 
will not suffer readily from being moved; indeed, the trees 
from lo v grounds are the best for planting even in dry sit- 
uations, for the roots, having an abundance of moisture, 
grow in a compact mass, and main feeders are less likely to 
be cut in digging them than where roots go deep in search 
of water. They will bear close trimming, and in clipped 
hedges will form a surface that is almost solid verdure, 
and where the space to be allotted to the screen is narrow 
no tree can be chosen that will do as much for protection 
as the white cedar. 
Planted in large areas, hundreds of trees may be removed 
from an acre, and the remaining ones will close up ranks 
and preserve an unbroken front. The smallest trees will 
bring a price, and there is no end of the uses for them. 
From a flower stake toa foundation post, white. cedar is 
always chosen, unless the red cedar is obtainable. The 
latter ranks still higher as an enduring wood, but is not 
easily propagated nor as useful in groups as the former. 
The hemlock is more graceful than any evergreen, and 
in its swaying, elastic, and pliant form is incomparable. 
Tn a screen made to combine the beautiful with the useful 
it cannot be omitted, but it requires great care to move it 
from its woodland home, and it is impatient of restraint. 
Any transplanting is more successful when the air is 
moist, and the roots of the hemlock in particular should 
not be exposed to cold or dry air. The most reliable mode 
of moving them is to cut around them late in the fall, and 
leave them until the ground becomes frozen to the depth 
of six inches. The roots are surface roots, and will then 
come up with all their fibres undisturbed in the frozen 
mass. Trees of considerable size can be moved in this 
way and not miss one annual growth, but it is well, as an 
additional precaution, to cut some large evergreen branches 
and set them to shade and protect the newly planted tree. 
They usually suffer more from extreme sunlight than from 
any other cause. The hemlock, like the pinc, has two 
forms, the luxuriant spreading shape in the opens, and the 
towering character that in the woods carries it far above 
the other tree tops. The latter trees are the grand timber 
trunks, but they will,hardly be seen after the forests of 
which they were the pride are gone. 
The pines are very handsome, and if favorably situated 
_ will rapidly occupy space in a wind screen, and very little 
storm will get through two or three rows of them, and that 
little will be out of breath from the struggle. To this 
family many valuable members have been added by im- 
portation, none among them more desirable than the sturdy 
Austrian pine, which is perhaps unequalled in forming a 
dense wall of green with great rapidity. They need more 
lateral space than the cedars, but if room is not limited no 
safer choice can be made for a cold climate.- 
The Scotch pine has a finer spine and a peculiar grecn, 
and is a handsome tree, but less sturdy, and is liable to be 
injured by the woodpecker. This mischievous bird will 
encircle one with many rows of holes, which, after grow- 
ing above and below the wounded part fora few years, 
will break off. The part bored does not grow after the 
injury. There isa charitable idea that the woodpecker is 
after a grub, and that his work is one of elemosynary cust, 
intended to save the tree, and many a downy fellow owes 
his life to this impression, but they had better be shot. 
Examination will show that the wood at the base ef their 
holes is sound, and beyond doubt they make them in regu- 
lar series to gather from them sapand gum. They cut their 
holes in the mount:in ash trees, and come to them again 



©’ wis mf » '  * ah 
r, Ui 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
and again without makir g new ones, and these pits will be 
found full of gum, exuded in a natural effort to heal the 
wound, which is defeated by the bird until the tree dies. 
The spruces are not to be ignored in naming the best 
evergreens, and be the grove for use or ornament their fine 
odor and marked pointed form are very agréeable. 
The Norway spruce ranks high, and will do well in for- 
mal lines, trimmed or untrimmed, and in cool highlands 
the black spruce will reward care. 
An enumeration of evergreens alone would form a vol- 
ume, and admirable books, fully describing all varieties, 
are at hand, which, coupled with the most excellent cata- 
logues of nurserymen, will enable any one to plant judi- 
ciously. 
The plantation must be fenced. Cattle will attack an ever- 
green fiercely in fly time and ruin itin a moment. The 
limits of the garden can be extended to embrace the friendly 
grove, or the yard may be made safe from cattle, and in- 
clude the ranks of trees that will be outposts against the 
northern blasts. 
On lawns, where means and taste can be trrned to‘aid, 
the arrangements of shelter planting may be made a study 
of infinite pleasure, and for a model the edge of some for- 
est will be the best that can be chosen. Then the margin 
will be sure to advance with low growth, that carries the 
verdure to the ground, and then the trees will retreat until 
a point of sod goes far into deep shadow, and so, with now 
and then a projecting bough, or bold single tree, the fine 
goes in beautifully varying curves and angles, all natural, 
and never repeating the same form of foliage and shadow. 
Beautiful studies of marginal growth abound about the 
shores of wild wood lakes, where space permits the low 
trees to find light and air, and more especially fine examples 
often occupy the rudimentary points that are formed by the 
entrance of a river into a pond or lake. As year after year 
the annual deposit forms a new margin a young growth 
stretches out, which, rising back to the forest, makes a per- 
feet gradation from the water to the tree tops, rich with 
varying color, and wonderfully beautiful. 
The art which’so much resembles nature as to lose the 
artificial is the highest, and he who studies faithfully the 
trees as they grow will find scope ‘for his best efforts in 
forming a picturesque shelter plantation. When done, an 
annual interest will remain in bringing fo it the vines, flow- 
ers, and mosses from the natural forest, and with them will 
come, unsolicited, birds, squirrels, and animal life to per- 
fect by their presence the new bit of wild wood. L.W.L. 
Jlatural History. 
THE HYBRID DUCKS AGAIN. 


Eprror FoREST AND STREAM:— 
In perusing No. 22 of the Forest AND SrrHAM, my at- 
tention was particularly attracted by the article on ‘‘Strange 
Ducks,” especially as I have seen several specimens similar 
to those mentioned, two of them in the flesh, probably 
the same that were described by ‘‘Homo,” killed at Black- 
bird, Delaware. They are no doubt hybrids between the 
mallard and muscovy, having no resemtlance to the goose 
family. 
In Audubon’s Birds of North America, octavo, vol. 6, 
p. 240, itis stated that ‘‘the squatters of the Mississippi 
catch mallards when young, which become tame; the hy- 
brids produced between the mallard and muscovy duck are 
of great size, and afford excellent eating; some of these 
half-breeds now and then wander off, become quite wild, 
and have been considered by some persons as forming a 
distinct species.” ; 
A similar hybrid is described in ‘‘Nuttal’s Ornithology,” 
1884; water birds, p. 383, 
Audubon also states that ‘“‘the mallard breeds when tame 
with the black duck (A. fusea) and the gadwall, the latter 
connection giving rise to a very handsome hybrid, retain- 
ing the yellow feet and barred plumage of the one, and the 
green head of the other parent.” 
In the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Natu- 
ral Sciences, (case No, 898,) there are five specimens of hy- 
brids of these ducks, two of them much resembling those 
from ‘“Blackbird;” and three smaller, having white prima- 
ries, and much white in the general plumage, one of these 
being remarkable for the small size of the webs on the 
feet, the toes being being quite long, 
If the specimens seen by Mr. Batty are crossed from 
the white-fronted goose, it will gratify those who study the 
occurrence of hybrids to have a full description of them. 
This feature is not confined to the duck family. I have 
seen two specimens of crosses between the domestic fowl 
and Guinea hen, one of which, raised by myself, was the 
progeny of a white Brahma cock and common Guinea hen; 
it wag an albino, and partook of. the rounded form of the 
Guinea, but feathered to the bill, and the head resembling 
the domestic fowl in shape. These specimens are also in 
the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, case 477. 
I trust that any other of your readers who are informed 
on the above subject will give us the benefits of their ob- 
servations. B. A. Hoopss. 
PHILADELPHIA, January 12, 1874. 
James A. Milner, Smlthsonian Institute, mentions a liv- 
ing specimen in Washington of a hybrid between the 
Guinea hen-and a chicken or turkey, while our corres- 
pondent ‘‘Homo,” who is asearcher after strange novelties, 
speaks of an accord between a domesticated mallard and a 
pullet—[Ep. F. ann 8. ] 
' 
7 ‘ a 
Sr. Lovrs, January 12th, 1874. © 
Epitor Forest any STREAM:— 
I have read, with much pleasure, in your admirable 
journal, the description by Homo and Mr. Batty of ‘Strange 
Ducks.” To all the hunters of New Madrid Swamps, Mo., 
and Reel Foot Lake, Tenn., the bird is well known, and is 
called the black mallard, and is beyond a doubt a hybrid, 
and stranger still, I never have heard of or killed a female 
black mallard. Our theory of the hydrid is, that in the fall 
hunting many mallards proper, are wing shot, and escape 
from the hunters, and not being able to migrate north in, 
the spring. mate with the females of other varieties, partic- 
ularly the gadwal or grey duck—another duck difficult to 
catch when wing shot. 
Many hundred wounded birds of these two varieties, 
mallard and grey duck, are annually left in the swamps 
mentioned, and the hybrid under consideration, well known 
in these localities, may be a produce of the two. 
But how account for the fact, that no female hybrid to 
this bird has ever been shot or seen? Last November, whilst 
at Reel Foot, Tenn., twenty-five miles below New Madrid, 
whilst at a duck crossing with a friend, a bunch of seven 
‘or eight of these black mallards flew past, and though at 
too great arange, we could not resist the temptation of 
sending the contents of our guns at them as a sign of recog- 
nifion. : 
They are quite plentiful in the New Madrid Swamps, 
rather rare in Reel Foot Lake. Truly, PERDRIX. 
<_< 
THE TRAP-DOOR SPIDER. 
p UU Re WueD 
HE habits of the trap-door spider in the construction 
of a secure home deserve more than a passing notice. 
This well known domestic spider, known under the local 
name of trap-door spider, from its peculiar habit in fields 
or about our old out-buildings, has a curious history. The 
following illustrates the fact of an architectural instinct 
possessed by this spider far superior to that of many others 
we have observed. Being out in the field one day in pur- 
suit of game, we seated ourself upon the old decaying 
trunk cf a fallen pine to await the approach of our game. 
While thus waiting for our partridge, we noticed the nest 
of one of those curious spiders, and were led to a closer ex- 
amination of it by seeing the door of her home frequently 
open and quickly close again. Sometimes Mistress Spider 
would come out entirely and run a few paces or a yard 
from her nest and then quickly return again. Yet there 
seemed on her part to bea secret to conceal, asort of unwil- 
lingness to leave her door open, in fact our little spider 
acted with an instinct truly wonderful to guard her home 
from observation. Her doors were always closed, and such 
doors they were as to deserve a slight description. These 
doors were fitted with solid hinges, and as our after ebser- 
vation proved, are so placed or constructed upon a sloping 
bank, or inclining side of an old log, or some natural con. 
formation of place,'that they will fall down or shut of their — 
own weight, fitting the opening like a cork. I have found 
also that some of these little architects make two doors to 
their homes, the first being not so strong as‘the other, and 
covered with short moss, or lichen, so as to almost escape 
detection; the second door was stronger and made for the 
security of the home. Now comes the most curious part 
of this curious eonstruction of spider habit. or instinct. 
T always found one of these doors opened from the outside, 
the other always from the inside, showing at least the great 
instinctive knowledge of the spider life. Now when we 
attempt to break in the outside door she makes some slight 
resistance only, and retreats within her citadel, or her 
second stronger door. Here she makes every dcmonstra- 
tion of anger, and may well be said to be an angry spider 
who has truly ‘‘got her back up,” for she literally stands 
close to the second door with her back to it, and her feet 
firmly braced so as to offer the greatest possible resistance 
to all efforts to force her doof from without. This kind of 
spider will be taken at her post, defending with her life her 
home citadel, and the observation of this curious fact has 
often afforded mein after times much study and amuse- 
ment. L. WYMAN. 
ote ; 
THE OCTOPUS AT PUGET’S SOUND. 


New York, January 20, 1878. 
EpiTtor Forrest AND STREAM:— 
When in Washington Territory some few years ago, I 
found. the octopus swarming in the waters of Puget 
Sound. Though not as large as those described by your ~ 
Newfoundland correspondent, I have frequently seen them 
with their arms ten feet long. Even of this size they are 
very dangerous to persons going into the water. At Steila- 
coom I remember to have seen an Indjan boy seven- 
teen years old, when in swimming, caught by an 
octopus and drowned. JI have frequently had smal] 
cuttle fish strike me, and have had great difficulty 
in extricating myself from their embraces. 
was amost uncomfortable one, and exceedingly painful. 
As fast as one tentacle was gotten rid of on my arm, leg or 
body, another one would twine around me. The sensation 
was, I repeat, most painful, feeling like an exaggerated, 
old fashioned cupping, leaving welts on the skin which 
would not subside under an hour. One point I have never 
yet heard noticed, and which comes under my personal 
experience, is that as one’arm having suckers on it was 
being disengaged it would be accompanied by a series of 
sharp reports, beginning with the smaller suckers with a 
crack like the detonation of a percussion cap, and termi- 
nating with an explosion (as the larger suckers were being | He 
The sensation — 

loosened from the flesh of the embraced victim,) like the ee + 
discharge of a pistol. I do not know whether they attack — 1 
| } We 
s ° os 
eh 
