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About Schley County news. (Ellaville, Ga.) 1889-1939 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 1889)
THE SCORPION. A Hot-Tempered and Belligerent Mexican Reptile. He Will Commit Suicide on the Slightest Provocation. “If you should ever happen to go down into lower Mexico,” said L. T. Stanley, the electrician, “and should notice that your bed was set up on in verted tin pans, as you have seen the four corners of corn cribs fixed to keep out the rats, and that the bed had a sheet stretched above it, running to a peak at the top like the roof of a house, don’t say a word but go right in and go to sleep. If you shouldn’t go to sleep as soon as you get in, and should hear something drop on the sheet roof above you and roll down and tumble on the floor at the side of the bed, lie still. By and by you will hear the same drop and roll and tumble, and it won’t be long before it’ll be drop, drop, drop, and roll, roll, roll, and plink, plink, pliuk on the floor. Don’t get up. If you do you might think you were struck by lightning as soon as you put your foot on tho floor, ^ for the chances are that you would step on a scorpion the first thing, and the scorpion has a stinger that ho carries for instant and effective use. Scorpions are just about as plenty there as flies are up home. They hide by day and attend to business at night. The scorpion is a crab with a snake’s tail, with a spur on the end of it. It likes to get in bed with folks, and if it wasn’t for the tin pans on the bedposts it would climb up and get in with you that way, and if the bed wasn’t roofed with the sheet it would drop on you from the ceiling. When you get up in the morning you will be apt to find a few quarts of dead scorpions lying on the floor in front of the bed. They all committed suicide. After trying to get into the bed with you a few times, and being tumbled off the sheet every time, or stopped by the tin pans, they got mad, and stuck their stingers in their heads and killed them selves. A scorpion will commit suicide on the slightest provocation. It has a temper as hot and as quick as kerosene on a kitchen fire. If one scorpion is passing by another one and happens to touch it there’s a fight at once, and two dead scorpions are the result. Put a hundred scorpions in an enclosure, and throw a stick or piece of dirt among them, and the scorpion that is nearest to where the stick or dirt falls will turn A and dip his spur into his nearest neigh bor, and in le.s than two seconds the entire hundred will bo mixed up in the fight. The way their stingers and claws and legs will fly is a sight to see. As long as there is one scorpion alive the fight goes on, for if one happens to survive the other ninety-nine lie will pitch in.and have it out with himself, and the first thing he knows he is dead. 4? It is a fact that scorpions, or al carans, as the Mexicans call them, are at certain seasons of the year as numerous, almost, as flies. They are within the cracks of tho walls, between the bricks of the tiles on the floor, hid ing inside your garments, darting every where with inconceivable rapidity, their tails, which hold the sting, ready to fly up with dangerous effect upon the slightest provocation. Turn a corner of a rug or table spread and you disturb a flourishing colony of them. Shake you shoes in the morning and out they flop. Throw your bath sponge into the water and half a dozen of them dart out of its cool depths, into which they had lain themselves away during the night. It is not often that you see one of the mahogany-hued reptiles that is more than two inches long, but they sometimes show up with the formidable proportions of a five-inch length and all that it implies. There is a smaller variety than the mahogany scorpion. This one is yellow, and he is ten times more vicious and dangerous. It is at midday that the bite or sting of these venomous little pests is most feared as the natives say it is then tho most poisonous. Tne deserted old mines of Durango are simply scorpion hives, they having bred and increased there undis turbed for centuries. A few years ago the Government took official notice of their deadly presence and placed a boun ty on them which is paid on the presen tation of a scorpion’s tail and sting at the office of tho government agent. Many natives carry a brass tube, and in cue of a bite from a scorpion it is SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS. pressed over the wound, on which it acts like the bleeding cup of the surgeon and draws the poisoned blood out. A hollow key has been used successfully in the same way. Victims of the yellow scorpion’s bite have been known to lie for days in convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and with stom ach and limbs swollen as in dropsy. Others suffer no worse consequences than they might from an ordinary bee sting. Brandy taken until stupefaction follows is a favorite remedy for scorpion bites in Mexico, and ammonia is also given with good results. There is nothing the Mexican or Texan fears more than the yellow or black scorpion of Duran go except the bloating rattlesnake of the (Staked Plains, and that is probably the most deadly reptile of the American continent. Anniroals That Sleep all Summer. The winter sleepers are all pretty well known. But owing to the aestivators being, for the most part, inhabitants of tropical countries far removed from the path of trained observers, we are les? acquainted with the species practicing that means of shunning the heat and drought of summer. Indeed, at pres ent only one mammal is known which does so. This is the tenrec, a hedge hog-like beast of Madagascar, which re tires to its burrow and sleeps during the three hottest months of tho year—these months, it must be remembered, corre sponding to the northern winter. How ever, it is believed that a West African dormouse is a summer sleeper, though this species, when brought to England, hibernates, like its northern cousin. No doubt, also, some of the sub-Antar tic mammals sleep during the coldest portion of winter, though as yet the tuco-tuco of Patagonia and a gray rat native to the Kermedec Islands are about the only two species of which this can be affirmed with certainty. In not a few respects, tho suspended animation of these creatures during the intense heat of summer is even more re markable than that which obtains when frost dulls every function of life. Some m croscopical animals—the wheel ani malcuteB for example—can be dried up into a dust-like substance, and yet re vive as soon as they get access to water, the germ on wffiich their vitality de pends being evidently protected in some manner, not yet clearly understood. In South America and Africa various rep tiles aestivate, if not in the manner de scribed, at least so perfectly that their summer somnolence is quite compa-able with the winter sleep of the northern forms. In the llanos or plains of Ve nezuela, the alligator, the land and fresh water tortoise, tho huge boa con trictor, and sc veral of the sma'ler kind of serpents lie motionless in the indu rated mud during the hottest period of tho summer. But their dor- mancy is by no means so perfect as that of some hibernators. A marmot or a hedgehog when in the depth of its win ter torpidity, may be kicked about like a ball, and yet, except for a few feeble respirations, exhibit scarcely any sign tliat it is conscious of being despitofully used. In Brazil, Australia and the Cape Colony, lizards, frogs, tortoises and in sects pass months of the rainless season enclosed in hard earth, and in India, many species of fishes, during the dry season and long-coutinued droughts, live in a torpid condition, embedded in the indurated clay. Dr. Day has, indeed, put on record instances in which fishes have survived in this condition for more than one season, ponds known to have been dry for several months having swarmed with scaly inhabitants as soon as the accumulation of water released them from their hardened beds .—New York Sun. Housetops as Summer Resorts. In a paper entitled * Wasted Sun beams, ” some me asks why the all-year residents of our large cities do not take a hint from an Oriental custom and transform their housetops into summer resorts. Roofing suitable to our climate can be made as enduring as pavement. Flowers and shrub? would make a house top a summer garden, and awnings would afford shelter from the direct rays of the sun or from showers. Rapid Roads to Riches. In the United States the most rapid transit to wealth is by the route of soap and patent medicines; in Germany by improved firearms; in France by new varieties of popular confectionery. In Pari? alone half a dozen parvenus owo their fortune to the in vention of novel sorts of pastry and coffcc-rolis. FOR FARM AND GARDEN. CURE FOR POTATO ROT. The following formula is the best known preventative of potato rot, ac cording to Professor Peck, State Botan ist of New York: Dissolve four pounds of sulphate of copper in sixteen gallons of water; in another vessel slack four pounds of lime in six gallons of water. When the latter solution is cool pour it into the copper solution, stir thorough ly, apply to the potato plants when in bloom by means of a spraying apparatus, so as to moisten thoroughly, but not irench them. CUTTING AND CURING CLOVER. Clover hay should also be cut early, or when the last seta are in blossom and the first ones a little turned. As to the best mode fpr curing clover hay, an ex perienced farmer says there are two ex tremes to be avoided, viz. —drying rap idly and too longin the sun, and at. tempting to cure wholly in the shade. It should be cut while dry and free from the dew and exposed to tho sun long enough to dry it partly. Then place it in small cocks, where some ad ditional drying will take place, and it becomes fit for the barn or slack. Some experience and judgment are required to know just how dry it must be to keep without heating or molding. If made too dry it loses part of its value. The relative amount of drying in the sun and in shade will vary with weather, ripeness and other influences; but as an average about tw r o-thirds of the drying should be performed in the sun and one third in the shade, although practical men differ on thi3 point .—New York Observer. SUNLIGHT AND TREES. The latest report of the United States Forestry Department gives some inter esting particulars as to the influence o. light on trees. Light is necessary for the development of the chlorophyll, or green coloring matter, and for the life of all green plants, especially trees. Trees nearly always develop best in the full enjoyment of light, but their capacity for growing in shade varies considerably, Yew will thrive in the densest shade, whereas a few years of overtopping will kill larch. The beech will grow in partial shade where the oak would languish and the birch die. When planted in moist places all species are less sensitive to the withdrawal of light. In the open maples, elms and sycamores grow well and make a good shade, while in a dense forest they thin out and show a scanty foliage, Conifers, such as spruces and firs, have the greatest capacity for growing in the shade, and preserve their foliage in spite of the withdrawal of light. It has been found that those leaves which develop under the full influence of sun light are larger and tougher, besides having a larger number of stomata, or breathing pores, than those less exposed to light. Experiments are to be carried out on this subject in the United States. We may also mention here a novel way of studying timber, which has been in troduced by Mr. R. B. Hough of Low ville, N. Y. He employs frames of cardboard containing three thin slices of wood, each two inches wide by five inches long and from one-eightieth to one two-hundredth inch thick. These show the wgpd along the grain, across it to the heart and tangentially. The effect of light'j|oniing show^ibe through the thin Blip is to structure and quality of the timber, even better than if one were looking at a mass of it. — Cassell's Magazine. SO-CALLED BUTTER AROMA. There seems to be a great deal of mis understanding in regard to matters per taining to dairy work, even among experts, and these misunderstandings produce confusion and uncertainty among the practical dairymon who look to these experts as guides and counsel ors. One of the leading Western dairy writers, in an article recently published, gives as a reason why butter should be packed as soon as possible that other wise “the aroma will escape.” This shows an entire ignorance of the nature of the flavor and odor—tho so-called aroma—of butter. This is not a volatile essence of vapor which escapes from butter in its freshest state, as is the case with the volatile oils of spices and aromatic herbs or woods. The aroma of these fragrant substances is a part of them which is tho most powerful in their freshest state, and gradually de creases with time and exposure until it is lost altogether. On the contrary, the aroma of butter is developed by time, and gradually increases by an interna change and decomposition by which the volatile acids—chiefly butyric acid—are produced. And as this acid rapidly be comes too pungent to be pleasant, it is necessary to protect the butter from change by immediate packing and se clusion from the atmosphere. TOMATOES BY TUB ACRE. Tomatoes yield the best crops in heavy loam that will not pack or bake, The plants, except for early planting, can be raised better out-of-doors, in garden beds. The ground should have a dress ing broadcast of 800 bushels to the aero of good, well-rotted barn-yard or hog pen manure, well and thoroughly ploughed in and harrowed down. When the season is well settled, harrow the ground and furrow out five feet each way and put in plenty of fine, well-rot ted manure at the crossing of the fur rows, using about 800 bushels to the acre in the hills. Tread down well and cover with soil about three inches deep. Set the plants well down in the ground, pressing the soil well up to them. It is best to wet the roots when setting, a? the soil adheres better. Keep the ground clean and loose with the cultivator and the hoe drawing the soil or hilling them at each dressing. Tomatoes are marketed by packing in crates holding a strick or Winchester bushel, made of two ends and one mid dle piece, each three-quarters of an inch thick, eight inches wide and fourteen inches long; with slats nailed on three inches wide, twenty-two inches long, and three-quarters of an inch thick. Good heavy masons’ lath will answer for slats, leaving a space of one inch for vcntillation between them. For a long distance from market they should be picked just as they begin to show a red tinge at the blossom end; but for near by they must be riper or so they will be well ripened when they arrive in market. Care should be taken not to pack any cracked or wormy ones, as they spoil the rest and injure the sale of the whole. For Philadelphia market they are usu. ally shipped in five-eighths stave peach baskets, covered with cloth, which are returned to the shipper .—American Agriculturist. FARM A_ND GARDEN NOTES. Raise plenty of roots this season. “Haste makes waste” in securing crops. Guard fowls against hawks, owls, ra‘s, etc. Keep a sharp lookout for vermin on the young chicks at this season. It is much better to plant a seasonable crop than to plant what we have planned to plant out of season. A practical w*ay of destroying the cur rant borer, is to cut off the infected wood in the Spring and burn it. An experienced foreign horticulturist claims that canker in fruit trees always arises from defective nourishment. Every farmer ought to plant a small acreage of millet for the variety it affords in the winter feeding of stock. If the weather is dry keep the culti vator going in the corn. Weeds will draw moisture that ought to go to the corn. Don’t cultivate too deep; the time is past when “root pruning” is considered the best way to help corn make a good crop. But few farmers have their ground in proper order to plant corn. Many of them wonder why they have a “poor stand.” How was yours put in? Millet will be mature enough for hay in about ninety days after sowing, so that the soil it occupies can be seeded to winter wheat or rye in the fall. The cherry and pear slug can bo de stroyed by the exterminator or by pyre thrum powder, an ounce to throe gal lons of water, applied with a force pump. Brine salting is strongly advocated by Mr. Nuttall, a noted English maker of butter. He claims that grinding dry salt into butter and leaving it to dis solve is a direct injury. A California fruit-grower is quoted as authority for the statement that the to mato, in proximity to fruit trees or other plants affected with insects, will overcome the pest. Creameries are only valuable to tho dairymen whom they servo when they bring to the business the highest excel lence of dairy knowledge, order and cleanliness found in tho best dairies. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. Men are usually one-twelfth larger than women. Steam fire engines operated by elec tricity are suggested. A novel use of electricity is about to be tested in sharpening the shoes of car horses in icy weather. The piercings of the new Cabres tun. nel met with remarkable precision, the length being 12, 350 feet. Bronze cents are most numerous and arc made of an alloy of copper and tin, but those of earlier date contain a small proportion of nickel, which gives them a whiter, silvery color. It has been determined that the North sea contains two distinct kinds of sea water. The re'ation between chlo rine and density is not in either case due to river water flowing into the sea. From calculations made by the coal department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company it is found that the weight per cubic foot of coal varies according to the size to which it is broken. Dr. William A. Hammond says that some maniacs retain possession of their reasoning powers, and that it is a com mon thing to find a reasoning maniac setting himself up as a reformer. Nine times out of ten a reformer is a crank. M. Lombard supports the theory ad vanced by Signor Sporta that vegetable forms which now cover our continents have spread slowly and continuously from north to south, recent species forc ing back or obliterating those of more ancient origin. M. Beauregard, an eminent Egyptolo list, believes that Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs exhibited the mixed con dition of combining the use of flint implements with acquaintance with the means of extracting copper and blend ing it with other metals. The evil effects of an atmosphere sur charged with dust in factories have been attracting so much attention in England that the factory acts are about to be amended, and a bill is to be brought before the House of Commons compassing an effectual means of pre venting injury from the inhalation ol dust. Professor E. Wollny, of Munich, Germany, has experimented on the effect of electric currents of different in tensities and characters on the growth of plants. Specimens of grain, pota toes, carrots, –c., were planted and subjected to the action of electric cur rents until they reached maturity. Com pared with plants grown under ordinary circumstances, the result showed that the electric current exerted no influ ence. In M. Berthelot’s paper, read before tho Paris Academy of Sciences, he speaks of a statuette and a portion of the sceptre of the Egyptian King Pepi I., both dating 4000 B. C. Portions were analyzed and found to be pure copper. From this he argues that, as in the New World, the stone age was followed by the copper in the Eastern Hemisphere and that the bronze period cannot be more than fifty or sixty centu ries old. The Vienna News says: “The practi cal stamping out of small pox in Ger many, according to Dr. Hervieux of the Paris academy of medicine, has only been accomplished through re-vaccina tion. Vaccination lessens the frequency and severity of epidemics, and re-vacci nation tends to make them disappear completely. Re-vaccination should be practiced every ten years, and should be performed at ouce when an epidemic is threatened, even though but a short time has elapsed since the last opera tion. Human or heifer vaccine may be used.’’ An Accomplished Millionaire. Ecklcy Brinnto Coxe, of Philadel phia, is the most accomplished million aire in America. lie climbs to the top of his highest breakers and descends to the lowest depths of his numerous mines. He is a graduate of half a dozen col leges aud universities and converses fre quently in English, German French and Italian. His fad is bibliomania, aud he possesses the most valuable collection of Aldinos and Elzevirs in the country, next to that of Sam Barlow of New York. A monograph on Gerome’s painting, “Police Verse,” privately printed by him, attracted attention among the archaeological and art etu dents. One term in the Pennsylvania State Senate satisfied his political yearn ings.— New Of hums Fkagune. - ~ .
