THlOOK V ALUS GAZETTE, FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1894.
TiArtnrTir 4 n uricsfm ma
4-
OOEER HABITS OF THESE WILY AND
TROUBLESOME UTTLE RODENT3.
nialr pepredatlona In Cornfields and Veg
etable Patches They Are Easily Caught
In Spite of Much Canning Undermined
by Canal Building.
Of all the queer creatures, including
crawfish, turtles, bullfrogs, etc., wbiob
Infest the shores of the Potomac near
Washington, affording sport to small
,--w-f toys gifted with an appetite for the
tfaase, not least interesting is the musk
rat. Moskrats, though timid animals, seek
the neighborhood of human habitations.
l, Xhy have learned that the presence of
v dian assures them an abundance of food,
, " v while at the same time their natural
-enemies are fewer. Hereabout they
Boorish, being to a great extent undis
turbed. They are not destroyed by farm
ers, though in certain regions they are
dreaded enemies of agriculture. Of corn
tbey are extravagantly fond. They will
eat it at any stage of its growth the
Beed from the ground, tho young plant
from the furrow or the "roasting ear"
from the stalk.
They visi the cornfield at night, cut
ting down the 6talks and carrying away
the juicy ears. Afctiraos streams flow
ing through "bottom lands" where this
cereal is cultivated aro fairly covered
with floating stalks the result of the
nocturnal forays of those vermin. In or
der to make the flinty grains tender they
will sometimes deposit tho ears in wa
ter for two or three days. These ani
mals are fond of many kinds of vegeta
bles, robbing apple ore bards and patches
of turnips and parsnips. In winter and
early spring they subsist in great part
on the flesh of river massela. Probably
they are driven by hunger to this diet
of shellfish.
Records of thi3 habit are preserved ia
the banks of many canals, where alter
nate deposits of shells cleaned by musk
rats and of sediment may be seen in
places reaching to a depth of some feet.
The means by which the animal obtains
the mussel from its shell has been much
discussed. Probably it is often done by
inserting the paws or toeth between the
Valves and tearing thorn apart. If the
moilusk cannot be caught unawares,
the edges of the shell are broken by
means of the teeth. The heavier species
of mussels, it is believed, are carried
out upon the bank and left until they
became weak or die, when the valves
can be easily separated. . -
KoskraU, yoa see, are vety clever
oreaiurea. Farmers attribute to tUcut
'-' appetite for yoang ducks, but it is
probable that tbey are wrongly credited
witb a destrnctioa actually committed
by "tart lee.
These rodents are very unsuspicious
and are easily captured. Many of them
are killed by means of poisoned apples
or-.tnrnips placed near their burrows.
One of the most effective traps for them
la a barrel without ends placed upright
v near the bank of a stream, so as to be
about half filled with water. Inside of
It -upon the water are put grass and
weeds with seme pieces of parsnips.
Every night the barrel is likely to cap
ture from one to half a dozen musk
rats. When a rat gets inside, it is impossi
ble, owing to tho depth of tho water,
for it to stand upon its hind legs and
cut a hole in ,.the 6taves above water
line. At tho same time it cannot get
out at the top. When several are taken
the same night, a fight usually ensues,
resulting in the death of all of the cap
tives either by the sharp teeth of their
companions or by drowning. The musk
rat is very ferocious when cornered. Its
worst enemy, next to man, is the dog.
Hawks, owls, foxes and mink all prey
upon it. These rodents have sometimes
been found in the stomachs of large cat
fish, but the fishes were so tainted with
the flavor of the food as to be unfit to
eat '
' With the building of canals in vari
ous parts of tho country has oOtne a
change in the life of the muskrats in
many localities. They have actually
abandoned to a great extent the streams
to take up their habitations along the
banks of these artificial waterways. No
doubt they realize the greater security
afforded them from floods and other
dangers. These animals will rarely oc
cupy banks of gravel or sand, preferring
loam or light clay. Advantage has been
taken of this fact by railways, which so
long as they construct banks of giavel
and keep them free from vegetable
growth are rarely bothered by the ro
dents. Otherwise great damage is done,
the burrows caving in, undermining
the tracks and doing other injury.
. In early spring the greatest damage
. is done. With the alternate freezing
and thawing at that time of the year
the coverings of the underground pas
sages fall in, exposing cavities of sur
prising extent to one who does not know
the amount of subterranean work these
animals are capable of doing. Much
vigilance with eyes and ears is often re
quired to prevent such caving from
causing disastrous injury to propezty.
The burrows commonly extend into the
bank for a distance of from 10 to 30
feet.' ' There are usually two openings
from which passages lead backward and
npward from the stream very crooked
ly. Tbey end in a large gallery, which
is the home of the muskrat, Washing
ton Star.
('- Tidal Vsi
The question whether there be each a
thing aa a tidal wave I onoe asked the
captain cf an Atlantic liner. - "Oh,
yea, " be answered; "we keep a tidal
wave for the passengers and the newspa
pers. If yon want to know what it real
ly is, I will tell yon. It is when a pow
erful ship is driven through a head sea
at each speed that before she can clear
herself of one big wave she is into a sec
ond.' ' The second and first together are
too much for the ship, and she carries
away a deckhouse or bridge or a boat or
two. That is a 'tidal wave.' " Cor.
New York Tribune. -, '.
( , - How Ho Felt.
It is told of one of the most austere
bishops of tho American Episcopal
church that once when catechizing a
class of boys he called attention to the
disobedience of Jonah and the conse-j
quent punishment. To enforce the. lee-1
ion he said in a stern way, "And, nowf
boys, .how did Jonah feel when the
whale swallowed him?" One brightj
lad answered, "I think he felt down in
the mouti," Philadelphia Press.
THE MILLIONTH OF A SECOND.'
rhis Astonishingly Small Amoant of Time
Measured by Electricity.
Instantaneous photography has made
us familiar with the fact that very mi
nute subdivisions of time are possible.'
Successful negatives are now frequently
taken where exposure lasts only the one
thonaandth part of a 'second.
But at the first blush -the statement
that a single tick of the clock the three
thousand six-hundredth part of an hour
can be divided into millionth soema
almost incredible, so infinitesimal is the
fraction of time to bo determined.
This is a scientific age, and science is
nothing if it is not exact. Man has
measured and weighed the abysses of
the great oceans that cover three-fourths
of the surface of oar migratory planet
and can give approximately the number
of drops of water and grains of sodium
chloride of which it is made up.
He has also computed the size, meas
ured the distances and analyzed the
composition of stars so distant U3 to be
not even visible to the naked eye. Aft
er this it requires a very bold or a very
ignorant individual to set any limit to
human ingenuity.
That extremely minute fractions of
time could be accurately determined
was incidentally discovered by a cele
brated electrician while making some
famous experiments with regard to tho
velocity of electricity.
For the purpose of his experiment he
caused an electric discharge from a Ley
den jar to be sent through half a mile
of copper wire with a break in the cen
tei. This gave rise to three sparks,
which were reflected m a rapidly rotat
ing mirror revolving at tho enormous
rate cf 800 times a second.
The position of tho sparks in the mir
ror showed that tho central spark was
slightly out of line, or was slightly re
tarded as compared with tho other two,
which were strictly simultaneous. The
mirror, therefore, had moved forward
somewhat while tho electric charge w&s
traveling through the quarter of a mile
of wire to the central break.
The difference between the position of
the sparks was found to be one-fourth of
a-degree, and as the mirror revolved
through SCO degrees in the one eight-hundredth
of u second the actual retardation
of the central epr.rk amounted to the one
one million one hundred and fifty-second
thousandth part of a second only.
This is the smallest fraction of time-
ever determined. It is obvious that by
simply lengthening the wire through
which the electric discharge is sent less
minute fractions of time can be accu
rately determined In a similar manner.
If It takes an electric discharge the
ono-tnillaonth part of a second to travel
over one-qtiartez mile of wire. It takes
four times as long to journey a mile, or,
to be exact, the two hundred and eighty
eighth thousandth port of a second. In
other words, electricity travels 288,000
miles per second.
It is by tho above method scientists
have been able to ascertain the velocity
cf electricity and duration of electric
flash, the speed and duration of light
ning, the velocity of light and much
other valuable information respecting
the pioperties of these forces of nature.
Boston Globe.
The Trade In Maino Ashes.
"Maine burns more firewood to keep
warm winters thau any other eastern
state," Gays a Maine man who has been
In the business. "The wood is of bettor
quality and makes better ashes than can
be collected in Massachusetts or New
Hampshire, and there's a sharp demand
for Maine ashes in the ' middle and
southern states for agricultural pur
poses. Great quantities are used in
Massachusetts also. There are a num
ber of dealers in Boston. who make a
business of collecting ashes through
Maine for shipment. Carloads and.car
Voada of them go out of the state by rail
yearly, and shiploads are sent to Florida
end Georgia, where they want the best
hard wood article. They send north phos
phate rock, and we send them ashes,
and the trade is a benefit to both sec
tions. "There are some parts of Maine de
nominated 'prime by the dealers, be
cause they are in hard wood, maple and
birch regions and do uot burn much soft
wood. - In some of these localities there
is a sharp competition in the business.
Leached ashes from the potash and soap
factories used to be shipped mostly, but
they've gone out, and dry ashes are
wanted. So much is this the case that
one potash man I knew, a dishonest fel
low, dried bis leached ashes and shipped
them as unleached. The potashes and
local soap factories of Maine are ran
under by the demand for dry ashes and
are going out of business. Probably the
day is not far distant when dealers in
Portland, Bangor and other Maine
towns will look after this trade and do
the shipping direct from Maine ports to
the southern states. There is a large
profit in it, if I am not mistaken."
Lewiston Journal.
John Raskin's Home.
Brantwood, the chosen lakeside home
of John Ruskin daring the last quarter
century of his life, occupies one of the
most favored spots in all England. Sit
uated on the border line of Lancashire
and Cumberland In the lake district, it
overlooks the smallest of the waters in
that ''lake country" with which the
names of Wordsworth, Southey, Cole
ridge, Lamb, Lloyd and Wilson are in-'
delibly connected. -
Set in the background of a half encir
cling wood of exquisite grace and mys
tic beauty, as seen in the green half
light of Its tranquil shade, Brantwood
is protected from the east winds by the
open, rising moorland that stretches far
to the rear and faces a long slope of
lawn that sweeps down to Coniston
water's edge. Behind the green and
purple moor the water, of its overflow
ing wells runs swiftly down the rocks
with all the fuss of a real cascade, and.
the exalted rock of "Naboth" rises just
beyond the borders of his estate a sort
of natural pulpit which is rented by
Buskin, so that from its greater height,
which be loves to climb, he may gaze
upon the wider view. In front the' nar
row lake, sparkling in the snn and blue
as the waters of the Rhone or of Thnn.
Then the rising banks beyond of broken
green, with white faced houses h link
ing behind the trees, and the gray vil
lage of Coniston nestling away to the
right, close down by the head of the
lake, and beyond the "Old Man" him
self towers above the smaller hills that
rise close about his knees. McClure's
Magazine, j
Nature should be
assisted to throw
off Impurities of the
blood. Nothing
does it so well, so
promptly, or so
safely" as Swift's
Specific.
CURES '.
mmm.':
P0!S0M
LXFISHAXt NO CSARMS. L
For three years I was troubled with mala-'
rial poison, which caused my appetite to fail,
and I was greatly reduced in flesh, and life
lost all its charms. I tried mercurial and
potash remedies, but to no effect. I could i
gt-tno relief. .1 then decided to try
A few bottles of this wonderfu
medicine made a complete and permanent
cure, ana a now enjoy Detterneaita wan evsr.
J. A. Kick, Ottawa, Kan. .
Onr book on Blood and Skin Diseases
mailed free.
Swift Bpboltio Co., Atlanta, Ga,
J- 'A C AUTHORS,
Heal Instate,
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