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INDIAN ARROW POISONS.
RATTLESNAKE VENOM IS THETEt
UNIVERSAL BASE.
The Piute Tests Its Efficacy on Him¬
self, While the Ungallant Apache
Tries it on His Squaw.
“The rattlesnake venom that is the
base of both the Apache and the Piute
arrow poisoning,” says Oliver H. Patton,
who was for many years a ranchman on
the Southwestern plains, “is provided
by that most liideous and deadly of its
kind, the bloating rattlesnake of the
Staked Plains. It is so hideous, and its
death-dealing qualities so sure, that it is
a terror even to an Apache Indian, and if
there is one thing that is worse than a
rattlesnake in the opinion of plainsmen
and settlers it is an Apache Indian. The
riutes, although a more cowardly gang
than the Apaches, hold this rattlesnake
in less horror, but they give it plenty of
room. The Piutes draw on the snake for
their poison after the reptile is dead. The
Apaches, in pite of their fear of the
snake, make it contribute its venom to
them while it is alive.
“The rattlesnake of the Staked Plains
£ i’ows to a length of six feet, and attains
a girth of ten inches at the thickest part.
They have tremendous sets of rattles. I
saw one once that was over five feet long
and had twenty-three rattles in it, and I
heard of a snake being killed that had a
string of twenty-seven rattles. The head
of the Staked Plains rattler is an enor¬
mous triangular thing, often five inches
long from the thin neck to the blunt
;nose, and three inches wide, measuring
from base to base of the jawbone. This
snake has fangs an. inch long, and is fre¬
quently fitted with two sets. The poison
sacs at the base of these fangs are as big
as a hazel nut. The snake is a bright
yellow in color, and is distinguished by
much the same markings that character¬
ize the rattlesnake of this State and
Pennsylvania. The Staked Plains rattle¬
snake is a dreadful enough customer aDy
day in the year, but during August takes
Ion the fulness of its frightfulness, both
in appearance and in conduct. About
the middle of August, when the weather
[is insufferably hot, this snake becomes
i bloated from some cause until it is a third
larger than its normal size. Its appear¬
ance is as if the snake had been blown up
like a bladder, or charged with gas like
a balloon. This rattler is always sluggish
and slow in its movements, and, like all
of its kind, usually makes an effort to get
out of the way of intruders, but in
,August it simply lies still in bloated re¬
pulsiveness, and it will not move for
anything, being ready at all times to
strike at everything that comes near it.
As near as you can get at it, this rattle¬
snake at this time of the year is simply
a swollen reservoir of venom, and its bite
will then send even an Apache Indian to
the happy hunting grounds, and quickly
at that.
I “A Piute Indian who wants to lay in a
stock of poison for hig arrows kills, at
this time of year, enough of these rattle¬
snakes for his purpose. He cuts off their
heads and takes them to his lodge. He
places in one of the rude earthen vessels
that are among the Piute household ef¬
fects ten or a dozen of these snake heads.
To them he adds perhaps a pint of taran¬
tula killers, as the big Texan or Mexican
wasp is called, or, rather, he puts the ab¬
domen of the wasp in with the snake
heads. This wasp has a sting that injects
a poison subtle enough almost instantly
to kill a tarantula, which is itself about
us poisonous a member of the animal
kingdom as one would care to meet with.
The poison of the tarantula killer is in
the lower abdomen of the insect, and it
is this the Piute brave mixes with his
rattlesnake heads. Ho then pours in a
pint of water, seals the lid of the vessel
on with moist clay, and places the vessel
iu a pit where he has made a bed of red-
hot coals, and, besides that, builds a
blazing fire on top of it. This fire is kept
burning fiercely for several hours, when
it is swept away, and the Indian digs his
vessel out of the coals. With a long
pole he knocks the lid off, and does not
venture near the pot until the steam that
arises from it as soon as the lid is taken
off entirely ceases to appear. The
Piutes say that to inhale the smallest
quantity of that steam would be instant
death. Whether that is true or not I am
not able to say, as I never saw it put to
the test. After the fiery ordeal to which
the snake heads are put is over, a brown¬
ish residuum remains in the bottom of
the kettle. That is certainly the double
quintessence of poison, if its action on
human blood, or, at least, Indian blood,
is any indication. The Piute always tests
this poison before trusting his arrows to
it. He cuts a gash in the fleshy part of
his leg and draws the blood, which he
lets trickle down his leg. When the red
stream has run down six or seven inches
he dips a stick in the poison and touches
it to the lower end of the bloody streak.
If the poison is all right it actually burns
the blood almost like hot iron touched
to water, and rapidly runs up the trick¬
ling stream. The Indian has his knife
ready and scrapes the poisoned blood off
dry. If it was permitted to reach the
wound it would be all up with the Piute.
The arrows are dipped into this poison,
and the Indian feels that whatever such
an arrow hits had much better not have
been born.
“The Apache Indian collects his poison
in a much simpler way. Dreading the
Staked Plain rattlesnakes as he does, he
nevertheless makes it his business to go
among them at the very time they are
the most deadly, lying in bloated hide¬
ousness all through that dreadful coun-
try, to gather this venom for his arrows.
He does this by placing the liver oi
heart of a deer, freshly torn from a vic¬
tim sometimes not yet dead, in front ol
a snake, within easy striking distance.
The snake protests against the presence
of the object, and quickly sinks its fangs
into it again and again. In a few seconds
the heart, or liver, will take on a pur
plish black hue, so quickly does this
poison affect it. When the Indian thinks
the receptacle has drawn all the venom
from the snake’s head, it is removed and
hung up in the sun. It is left there
until it is almost ready to drop to pieces
from putridity. If the Apache feels like
testing the deadly qualities of this fright¬
ful object, he runs a stick into the poi¬
soned heart, calls his squaw, and makes
her gash her arm as the Piute does his
arm. As the blood runs from the wound
the poisoned stick is touched to it. II
the venom is active, the blood wil]
coagulate and turn black, and change tc
a dry powder. The squaw has to look
out for her own safety in wiping away
the poison before it reaches the wound,
for the brave walks away to steep his
arrows in the poisoned heart as his soon squaw’s as
he sees the venom’s action on
blood. After he has jabbed his arrow¬
heads into the putrid and poison-charged
heart or liver, they are ready lor use.”—
New York Sun.
A Female Pilot.
A woman has been licensed as a pilot
on the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers.
She is the first one within the recollection
of Captain Neeld, of the Steamboat In¬
spector’s office, and his memory of River
events covers many years. It is not un¬
likely that she is the pioneer of her sex
in this branch of navigation in this di¬
vision of the river trade.
The woman is Mrs. Callie L. French,
and her husband runs a circus, which he
transports by water in a trim little
steamer known as French’s New Seusa-
tion. The circus is known by the same
name. The license was issued to Mrs.
French, and she went on duty under it
at once. About nine years ago,” said
Mrs. French, “my husband hit upon the
scheme of running a boat show; that is,
giving exhibitions in towns along the
river and using the boat for transporting
the outfit and furnishing living quarters
for our people. It is much cheaper,
cleaner and pleasanter than traveling by
tail, and we are not obliged to remove
our personal baggage. The first few years
we employed a regularly licensed pilot,
and my husband, who had a master a
license, had charge of the boat. I then
conceived the idea of learning to be a
pilot and thus save a big item of ex¬
pense. So I did, and for half a dozen
years past I have held a pilot's license. I
recently made application for a master’s
license also, at New Orleans, and I ex¬
pect to get it.”— Pittsburg Commercial
Gazette.
Otters Are Very Epicurean.
Otters are perhaps the most fastidious
of all animals about what they eat. They
confine themselves to a fish diet chiefly,
usually the finest salmon or trout obtain¬
able in the river. They reject the head,
tail, and other portions, and will often
catch and kill four or five good fish in one
day, and eat nothing but the fine “flaky”
meat which is found on the shoulders. Of
domestic animals it seems that, contrary
to the usual idea, the pig is the most par¬
ticular as to diet, Exhaustive experi-
nients were, some time ago, made on
this point at Upsala, in Sweden, the re¬
sult of w ^ich was to show that the goat,
sheep, cow, horse, and pig eat an re.
ject plants in the following proportions:
Of 575 plants, the gcat eats 449 and refuses 126.
“ 538 “ sheep “ 387 “ 141.
“ *5* „ £°^ se » 212
.
•> 043 “ pjg “ 72 171.
A French investigator, greater^ who experi-
mentet ] w j tll a variety of plants,
came t,o similar conclusions,
A Violin Sold for §10,000.
Ten thousand dollars is now the high¬
est recorded price for a violin. The Alard
Stradivanus has passed from France to
England for that sum, to go into the col¬
lection of a Scotchman. It is dated 1716.
It is described in the catalogue of the
South Kensington exhibition of 1872 as
the only one in a condition of perfect
preservation. It was bought in 1760 by
an Italian amateur, Count Cozio ui Sala-
bue, after whose death it was purchased
in 1S24 by a famous collector, Luigi
Tarisio. Tarisio hid it away, refusing to
let any one see it, till his death in 1864.
A year later it was purchased by Vuil-
laume. Its condition of preservation been led
to the belief that it had scarcely
played upon during the whole 150 years
of its existence. Vuillaume left it on his
death to his son-in-law, Alard, who has
just sold it.
_
Southern Men in the Union Ranks.
Taking all the States that gave men to
the Confederacy in organizations and
throwing out Delaware and the District
of Columbia, it is found, says the New
York Commercial Advertiser , that there
were 324,677 white Southerners whe
fought in the Union ranks, drawr
from these States:
Alabama.............
Arkansas.............
Florida...............
Kentucky............
Louisiana.............
Mississippi............ Maryland.............
Missouri..............
North Carolina.......
Tennessee.............
Texas.................
West Virginia........
THE FARM AND GARDEN.
PIGS IN CLOVER.
“No! I never eat pork; the meat is
not clean i Hogs ^re such filthy creatures,
vou know,” remarked an old lady in
New England, some years ago. “Yes!
But out West they keep their pigs in
clover! They have great pastures,
covered with grass, and there the hogs
grow until autumn, when they are fat¬
tened on the new corn, and this keeps
them.Wealthy.” * Ob! if they eat clover,
their meat must be good.” Now, this
old lady could readily believe that clover
must be a valuable element in producing
sweet, wholesome pork. But the “West
has no patent on c over for swine. Every¬
where its use is perfectly free, and,
wherever used, its good effect is quickly
noticed. The American Agriculturist
noticed, some year? ago, the case of a
gentleman in Southborough, Mass., who
sold a few pigs each fail to his neighbors,
who had become acquainted with the
excellence of his pork, and gradually in¬
creased his sales each year, until his
grass-fed pigs were in such demand that
he had to buy maay car-loads annually
from farmers who raised the “pigs in
clover” as he did on his own farm.
But it is not always practicable to en¬
close large pastures for swine; so the next
best thing is to adopt a system of soiling
which will .supply the stock with green
food in summer, and roots and clover-hay
or silage in winter. Hogs can subsist for
months under a hay-stack, with a very
little grain. A ration of hay or dried
grass, during the season when the past¬
ures are covered with snow, will be very
acceptable, and greatly reduce the cost of
wintering the herd. Clover-seed should
be sown very early in spring, as the seed
needs to be well covered up before it will
germinate. The spring rains wash the
seed into the soil, and a “good catch” is
reasonably certain; while, if the sowing
is delayed until late, the crop is not half
as sure.— American Agriculturist.
FODDER AND ENSILAGE.
The College of Agriculture of Cornell
University has published an interesting
article on growing corn for fodder and
ensilage, giving the results of its experi¬
mental work in this direction. The i'ol-
1 owing is a summary of the subject:
First, wc wish to emphatically repeat
our recommendation of last year, that, in
growing corn for ensilage, care should be
taken to select the largest variety that
will fully mature before frost in the local¬
ity where grown.
Special attention is called to the fact
that heretofore it has been a common
practice to sow or plant corn for fodder
and ensilage, entirely too thick. Starch
and sugar are not fully developed with¬
out an abundance of sunlight.
Immature plants are likely to contain
a very large per cent, of water. It will
readily be seen that twenty-five tons of
green corn,containing ninety per cent, of
water, gives but five thousand pounds of
dry matter; while twelve tons, contain¬
ing seventy-five per cent, of water, gives
six thousand pounds of dry matter. In
the latter case we get a thousand pounds
more dry matter, and have to handle and
store less than half the weight of gross
material; while the corn will still have
sufficient moisture to give the resulting
silage that succulence upon which its
value for feeding, as compared with dry
forage, largely depends.
While the percentage of nitrogen
grows less as the plant approaches ma¬
turity, a much larger proportion of the
nitrogen in the unripe material is in the
less valuable form of amides, than in the
mature plant. So that the less percentage
of nitrogen iu the riper product is com¬
pensated for in its increased nutritive
value.
So far ail the experiments go to show
that the effort should be made to raise
the largest yield of grain irrespective of
stalks, no matter what purpose it is in¬
tended for. If one variety gives an equal
yield of grain and a greater amount of
stalks and blades, then of course it
should be preferred, for fodder and ensi¬
lage purposes, to the variety that gives
the less stalk and blade; but it will be
found that as a rule the larger the yield
of grain, the larger will be the yield of
stover.
Finally, the fact should not be lost
sight of, that wood and water alone, are
not good food for animals, and that they
are expensive products to handle.— New
York Observer.
WHY SEEDS FAIL TO GROW.
There are many reasons why seeds fail
to grow. One great cause of failure is
immature seed. The great aim of the
seed grower is quantity; to get the most
from the plant, rather than the best. The
first fruits are often permitted to ripen
seeds for seed purposes, which should
never be, as the first settings and ripen¬
ings are usually impetfect. The same is
true of the last of the plant’s production;
they are weak in vitality, and the seeds
produced will have a tendency to perpet¬
uate that weakness. It is of the utmost
importance that seeds should have at¬
tained perfect maturity, and should have
been carefully and healthily preserved.
Immature seed may, it is true, possess the
power of germination, but it always re¬
tains a disposition to disease and weak¬
ness. Weakness perpetuates weakness,
and unshapely forms and poor qualities
are transmitted. Good cultivation, under
favorable circumstances, will in a great
measure restore vitality, but it is a ques¬
tion of time, accompanied by a degree of
uncertainty that the farmer and gardener
cannot afford, as there is a liability of
failure, or partial failure of crop from
this cause. The responsibility, eed in a great
measure, rests upon the 6 grower.
Seeds, saved with the utmost care from
carefully selected stocks, may lose their
vitality‘if they are not vegetables properly fiow- pre¬
served. All seeds of or
ers should be kept perfectly dry, cool,
and in an airy situation; they ought to
be carefully protected from dampness,
and should be kept in a room that is not
alternately moist or dry. An even
temperature and humidity is essential to
the seed's vitality.
Carelessness in planting is one of the
principal causes of failure. The soil
should be carefully prepared before the
seeds are sown; it should be worked
deep, and made fine, and, when the seed
is sown, the soil should be firmly pressed
about them. This has been practiced by
the systematic horticulturists for centur¬
ies, and for this purpose the garden or
farm-roller was employed, as much to
break up the lumpy soil as for any other
object. The spade was used for packing
the soil firmly about the seed. The mod-
ern plan, “the use of the feet in seed¬
sowing,” is one of the most effective,
practical and convenient methods,
as the feet are always with the
gardener and ready for use when
required, a fact that admits of no excuse
if the w T ork is neglected. The influences
that act upon the seed to cause growth
n 1. AIM r, *-» /l «v\ twiu Tmlri AUT Q
Ulv Deal) sSrii , aii'-t USVlSkUIC, mviivuv-
proportionate amount of each there can be
no plant life. Now, it follows that when
a seed is put into the ground, and loosely
covered with light, dry soil, it does not
come in contact with sufficient
moisture to soften its coating, neither is
there sufficient heat, because of the too
great circulation of air around the seed,
to produce the chemical changes upon
w T hich vegetable growth depends. When
we place a seed into the earth it com¬
mences growth in two opposite directions,
upward into the atmosphere, and down¬
ward into the earth. The first root the
seed puts forth does not furnish the young
plant with food for its development; it
simply holds the plant in place until the
true roots, by which the plant is fed, are
formed, after which it becomes a part of
the plant itself. The cotyledons, or
seed-leaves, contain the food of the in¬
fant plant until its true leaves and roots
are formed. If the soil is not firmly
pressed around the main root, these feed¬
ers will have nothing to feed upon; they
must come in immediate contact with
moisture, or the warm, dry air will
destroy them, and the whole plant will
stand still until new roots are formed, or,
in the meantime, perish. Herein lies the
benefit of firmly pressing the soil around
the seed when planting.
Deep planting is another frequent cause
of failure. Take, for instance,sweet corn,
and cover in planting from one-half
inch to five inches in depth. The former
will germinate, if the seed is good, with¬
out a loss of live per cent., and the latter
will not grow five per cent., and the ex¬
act ratio between the two will be kept
up. The cause for the difference is that
the conditions ot growth are not com¬
plied with—the deficit being heat, which,
at the season for corn-planting, cannot
be furnished at so great a depth from
tjie surface. As a rule, not more than
one-quarter of an inch of soil should be
put over the seed. Very fine seed should
only be covered from sight. Proper care
in seed-sowing, and the too common
practice of burying seeds, is just the Gif-
ference between success and failure in
their germination and growth.
Mechanical assistance, or the manner
of placing the seeds in the earth, is of
greater importance than is generally sup¬
posed, particularly those of the gourd
family, or any large and flat seeds. It is
economy to plant all vine-seeds edgewise.
Lima beans should always be placed edge¬
wise, germ down. The same is true with
the seeds of the hybrid amaryllis. If sown
flatwise, they will rarely make a plant; if
sown edgewise, rarely one will fail, un¬
der the same conditions of soil and tem¬
perature. Any careful experimenter can
easily explain how one man could com¬
plain of the seed sown, while another
would kindly praise the seedsman for seed
from the same stock, and will become
convinced that, very often, seeds not
growing is more due to poor sowing than
to poor seeds.— American Agriculturist.
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
It pays to feed sheep, not ticks.
Old hens invariably make the best si t-
ters.
Prune trees early for growth and late
for fruit.
All foods for plants must be soluble to
be available.
Give your fruit trees a good soil. They
cannot feed and thrive on nothing.
The farmer who makes his own pork
and beef pays himself for so doing.
Do your shortening back among your
young trees before the buds begin to start.
Prune a little at a time and avoid the
necessity for heavy pruning in the future.
If you want your stock to do their best
give them better shade than that made by
of wire fence.
Set out well tried varieties that thrive
in your section, but do not try tqo many
varieties of fruit.
It has been demonstrated that spirits
of turpentine is one of the best remedies
for roup in fowls.
More attention ought to be paid to the
teeth of our domestic animals. They
often suffer from neglect.
Don’t breed for quantity but quality.
Better have five birds good all over than
tnan sections. twenty-five good only in one or two
*“*
^
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRY
Artificial ice can be manufactur?*}
it is said, at a retail cost 01 about
ton, or forty cents per 100 pounds.
The by experiment prolonged of immersion treating typ JB
fever of
patient in water has been tried -I
gratifying success. F
The importance of placing comrire* 1
air as a motive power within ea.sj ;
of the small manufacturer has 9
recognized at Birmingham, England!
The measurement of showed 2000 studesB
Cambridge,England, that B
in literary examinations is in no way
nected with stature, strength or brea ;9 f
capacity.
An Australian meteorologist claim,
have proven that the moon has an ia
ence on the magnetic needle, vary
with its phases, declination and distij
from the earth.
The basin of an extinct crater has bl
turned into a storage reservoir on
Side Valley, Nev. It is one and a
miles long by one mile wide, and is|
by a canal that taps Susan River.
A horse can perform 33,000 unit,
work—that is, a horse can raise 33 ,|
pounds one foot in one minute. Anenj
that can do the same amount of worj
said to be a one-horse-power engine.
A new telephone has been brought
in England which is said not to infri
upon any existing patent. It is of
most simple construction, consistingof
electro-magnet and celluloid diaphm
River water was substituted for spij
water in one of the quarters of Pi
several times last summer. In everj
stance,according to the Semaine Medit 1
an increase of typhoid fever was 1
served.
An electric typewriter is being 0
structed which will write letters in X
York as they are transmitted from B
ton, and vice versa, the communicatil
being transmitted simultaneously I
four separate wires. *
Great progress is being made in ral
photography. Lord Rayleigh has pH I
tographed a minute jet of water in
100 0 U 0 thof a second; and a new can®
, views
takes ten successive a second*
the turning of a crank.
Dr. Weisiuan, a German biologist, I
trying to show that artificial modifi*
tions of living forms can be transmit*
from one generation to another. Hell
cut the tails off some 900 white mictl
the hope that they will breed a race I
mice without tails. 1 ;
Sir James Crichton Browne says I
Scotch brain averages 50 ounces,the 48.3 E’J
lisli 49 ounces, the German 01
and the French 47.9 ounces. Sir Ja*
is a Scotchman, which accounts fori
position of that race at the head of I
cerebelic procession. I
The construction of the pillars I
foundations of the great Forth bridge! ceml
Scotland consumed 21,000 tons of
and 707,000 cubic feet of granite. I
total amount of resulting masonry is 111
000 cubic yards. The weight of the si
in the bridge proper is 51,000 tons. !
It is said that in each ton of campl Jal
wood brought to this country from
there is twenty-five per cent, of campl Ml
and seventy-five per cent, of waste.
ever, one-half of the camphor twelvel cvaporl
during the sea voyage, leaving
one-half per cent, of the drug after*
Auction. This accounts for the high pi
of the article.
There are many very warm spots! theGfl
the torrid zone, but Bohrin, by tempi
of Persia, seems to be, as far as
ture goes, absolutely without a rival. I
forty consecutive days in July and ifl
gust last year, which was by no means!
exceptional season, the thermometer I
known not to fall lower than 100 degl
Fahrenheit, night or day, and often fl
up as high as 128 degrees in the aff
noon.
A strong alkali at once applied a
snake bite will decompose all the vem
which it touches. So if both fangs of*
snake have pierced the skin the b
wounds should be made one with a sal
knife, and then filled with dry carfrom
of ammonia. Frequent small dis^oh
doses of the same should be taken
wardly, or fifty drops of aromatic spii
of ammonia taken hypodermically, f° r
peculiar effect upon the blood.
Inhanian “Clipping” and **Dockiafj practicH
“It‘s about time that the
docking horses’ tails and clipping Keyj :s i
manes was stopped,” said Agent Soci^
the Washington (D. C.) Humane
to and a docking Star reporter. cruel. “Both Why the are clippj to
are
means used? For no other reason ttH
to make the animals look their best«
cording to the owners’ fancy. ClipP^ covefll
is often resorted to to give the
of the animal a uniform color. But to
that it is not necessary to inflict imnec
sary cruelty upon the animals, f
woman’s hair is not the color to sul
she does not always cut it, but
bleaches it, and why not use the sw
process on horses. If a woman's hair
be bleached there is no reason why
hair cannot be bleached. The cruel
is always the most expensive, an 1 th •
fore the horses of a poor man can
made prettier by bleaching and at a ®
lower cost than the rich man’s horse
is docked and clipped.”
erected The in Watkin London tower, and overtop which the w ijJ. *
tower by 335 feet, is to have six leg 5 '
stead of four. It will cost about
OiWw i- .*-a -YxZcAzSi.