River Falls journal. [volume], October 06, 1910, Image 6

About River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019

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Bw Toad oltr Best Friend tA
———[NCLE SAM’S scientists have had
more than one good word to say
| I for the toad. Several govern
-1 5 ment publications have been is
-8 sued, I am told, telling about the
TFTgn toad and its good work. There
s ' AZIC* is no department in nature which
I is overlooked by the scientists of
-v’jhpwrttptj«l Secretary of Agriculture James
Wilson’s department. If it is be-
H“ved by the experts that any
benefit may come to the people of the United
States by the study of the habits of a particu
lar animal, that animal is studied forthwith
studied carefully.
In folk lore history and in the history of lo
calities which hardly can be classed as folk
lore, the frog and the toad frequently have
been confused; sometimes stories have been
told of frog visitations and it has turned out
that the invading army was composed of toads.
The reverse of the statement also has been
found to be true on several occasions.
Some years ago an army of track-hopping
tramp toads took possession of the gravel road
bed of the Sioux City and Pacific railway, and
in unbroken column miles in length, as the
local story had it, the toads marched past the
town of Blencoe, lowa. It is stated that there
were so many millions In this mighty army
that nothing like an accurate estimate of the
toads could be made. The ground was said
to be brown with the color of its visitants.
If there was such an army of the batra
chians as it is said there was it would be no
wonder if the residents of the infested district
might have feared that the toads would divert
their course from the railroad into the towns,
to repeat Pharaoh’s plague of the frogs, “When
the rivers brought forth frogs abundantly,
which went up into the houses, and into the
bed chambers, and even upon the beds, and
upon the people, and even into the ovens and
into the kneading troughs.”
Now the toad is not nearly so handsome a
being as is his frog cousin.
He never could “a-™ooing
go” like his grevn-uoated
brother, despite the fact
that Shakespeare proclaims
that his toadship has a jew
el in his head. Ugly and
Venomous, the bard of
Avon writes the toad down,
and ugly and venomous to
the people’s mind in many
places he is to this day, al
though in reality he ranks
With the birds as one of
humanity’s best friends. As
a matter of fact, it is likely
that the brown-skinned ar
my which moved without
Banners in military array
some years ago was on the
march to meet the great
army of Rocky Mountain lo
custs which was moving
steadily forward in an op
posite direction and in Gen
eral Sherman’s words, “For
aging liberally upon the
country.”
Even though the toads
are so harmless and help
ful, they perhaps will never
get anyone to love them. It
must be admitted that ap
pearances are against them.
The lowa people who some
years ago were visited by
the toads had no reason te
arrogate to themselves any
particular distinction on ac
count of the visitation, for
in scores of instances the
animals have appeared in
Immense bodies, and in
some cases, without any
Intention so to do, they have Inaugurated veri
table reigns of terror.
Years ago, in the little Puritan settlement
of Windham, Conn., out of which sprang as
many notable American families, perhaps, as
have come from any other colonial hamlet, a
migration of toads led the people to believe
that the tocsin of the last day had been sound
ed, and they were all summoned, sinners and
sinless,- to answer at the bar of judgment. Tra
dition says that the migration which brought
this fear upon the people was one of the frogs.
Scientists of today lean rather to the toad
theory, but It made little difference to the
frightened populace which species of batra
chian brother it was that brought horror into
their midst.
Now it happened that there lived in Wind
ham two colonial colonels, big men and digni
fied, by names Dyer and Elderkin. It may do
no harm at this late day to say that both these
military titled gentlemen were more fond of
good living, so the story goes, than was per
haps exactly consistent with the strictest Pur
itan thoughts. Some of the elders of the placo,
St Is eaid, looked a bit askance at some of the
views of Colonels Dyer and Elderkin. There
were slaves in that day In Connecticut and
Windham held its share.
One peaceful night In May the Windham
families retired at their usual hour, not long
after “candle light.” At midnight they were
wrapped in the profoundest slumber, but no
sleep however sound could withstand the roar
that broke upon that peaceful hamlet in the
watches of the night. There were blended the
noises of a million throats. It was guttural,
harsh and horrible, and it came out of the
jetty blackness of midnight. The people of
Windham jumped from their beds panic strick
en, threw on what clothes they could, and
Wished outdoors, many bearing pine torches,
which ate little light holes In the Inky black
ness.
The slaves were prostrated with fear and
clung to the knees of their masters. The noise
ceased not for an Instant, but on the contrary
Increased with every moment, and then, to
the added horror of all, the noise found shape
tn words which one quirk-eared, imaginative
woman Interpreted Into this, all but two of
lhe people accepting the interpretation read
ily: “Judgment day; Judgment day; Colonel
Dyer and Elderkin too, and catch a nigger too.”
It Is perhaps needless to say that the only
two people among the white inhabitants of
Terrier’s Life a Long One
*Tlm Connors” Seemingly Without
Doubt Is the Oldest Dog Living
in America.
If there is any older dog in Amer
ica than Tim Connors it Las not yet
been discovered. The oldest dog on
record in the United States was a
black spaniel which sailed the seas
as a navy pet for twenty-four years,
and was still as lively as a puppy
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when her master retired from the
service. Topsy Walker, a pug dog of
Tarrytown, died recently at the ripe
old age of seventeen, while another
pug is still living in the same town,
aged nineteen, though it is stone blind
and has only three legs.
Tim Connors is an Irish terrier, be
longing to Mrs. Fitch, the widow of a
New’ York millionaire, with a country
seat near Irvington. On sunny days a
Windham who did not thoroughly accept the in
terpretation were Colonels Dyer and Elderkin. In
a few minutes the light of the torches showed an
Immense concourse of toads or frogs, whichever
they were, bearing down the main street of the
town, croaking and “glucking” like a myriad of
night demons. It suddenly struck the people that
if Judgment day was at hand, notwithstanding
the fact that Colonels Dyer and Elderkin seemed
to have been singled cut by the visitors, the day
of accounting according to the Bible was an all
embracing affair, and thereat all the Windham
people started trembling violently.
There are living today a good many persons
who are direct descendants of the Colonel Elder
kin whom the batrachians called to judgment that
night. In Chicago until recently there lived a
Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Norris, a direct descend
ant of Colonel Elderkin. Mrs. Norris had heard
the story of the invasion of the village a score of
times from the lips of her grandmother, who as
a child was taken time after time to see the place
from which the night disturbers came. To the
days of their deaths Colonels Dyer and Elderkin
were called Frog Dyer and Frog Elderkin, and
If local Connecticut authorities are to be believed,
there has not been seen from that day to this
either a toad or a frog In the meadow and pond
from which started that midnight migration.
To get away, for a moment, from frogs and
toads, and in order to lead back to them again,
let It be said that out In Utah the gull is a care
fully protected bird. Olive Thorne Miller speaks
of them as “great, beautiful, snowy creatures who
look strangely out of place so far from the sea
shore.” I have been told that these gulls are
sacredly protected by the law and the people of
the western state, and I have also been told that
the early settlers, the Mormons, believed that the
Lord has sent the birds to his chosen people.
It is no wonder that it was believed the gulls
were specially sent. Clouds of grasshoppers had
destroyed the crops in that early day in many
of the western territories. They attacked Utah
by the million millions. Then it was that the
gulls appeared—birds never before seen in that
locality within the memory of man. They came
in tremendous flocks and devoured without
stopping tae hosts of the enemy, and they
completely saved the crops from destruction.
Now the gulls follow the plains like chickens,
and in Utah at least, it said that no cne
has any desire to raise his hand against them.
What the gull was to Salt Lake region the
toad w’as to one section of a northwest Texas
county, some time ago. There was but a com
paratively small area of the county under cul
tivation, but the growing things were threat
ened with destruction by a horde of Rocky
Mountain locusts; then there appeared to the
astonished gaze of the resident Texans an
army of toads, before which in numbers the
great army of Xerxes was but as a score.
These dismal-looking, warty-backed Hop-o’-my
thumbs came along as on business bent. They
said nothing and they ate grasshoppers. They
cleaned up utterly one entire flight of the crea
tures. And they quietly sat under the cab
bage leaves and beet tops to wait for more.
They didn’t come. The toads had saved the
crops, and it may be judged that if one wants
to be certain to get in a quarrel he can get it
if he will go that section of Texas and ma
lign a toad.
Should anyone be inclined to doubt the in
sect-eating capabilities of a common every-day
American toad, let him listen to the evidence
of an experimenter, who Is at once a scientist
and a clergyman, the one fact establishing his
accuracy and the other his veracity. This
theologue-naturalist, as the record shows,
found a toad in his garden and proceeded to
make a pet of It He went to call on master
toad one morning about ten o’clock and with
out knowing how many Insects already had
fallen before the toad's darting tongue, pro
ceeded to feed him on plant pests. The toad
ate readily and greedily twenty-three large
squash bugs which were offered him, and then
locked up Inquiringly for more.
The squash bug larder was depleted, so the
clergyman turned his attention to caterpillars.
Of these hairy, repulsive creatures the toad
ate ninety-four, so the story record goes, and
then he shut down to hop heavily oft to a
shady corner to take that rest which it is
said aids animal digestion.
Now this same experimenter tells tales of
toads which might appear a bit overdrawn,
were not the gentleman's cloth what it is. He
took In his experiments with one toad some
trim trained nurse In spotless white
may be seen leading a small boy by
the hand up and down the shady ave
nues near the Fitch mansion. The
boy in turn leads the deerepit terrier
by a chain, and the pretty nurse
watches over both child and dog with
tender solicitude. The child Is Mrs.
Fitch’s little grandson, and the terrier
is the aged pet of the Fitch house
hold. Tim Connors was born over
the sea twenty-two years ago. He
came to the Fitch family when he was
two years old, and has been a beloved
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large “tangle-legged” grasshoppers. Master
toad took kindly to this species of food, but
owing to to the nature of the insect’s legs and
their extreme length he found difficulty in
swallowing. In order to aid in the process, as
soon as he would get a firm grip on the grass
hopper he would look for a stick or a stone by
means of pushing against which he could force
his prey down his throat. Now in order to see
what the toad would do if no stone or stick
were at hand, all of those articles were re
moved from his vicinity, and then he was fed
another big grasshopper with great knotted
legs.
Now it must be remembered that the pres
ent writer is not vouching for this toad story;
he is simply setting it down as It has been
told by an observer, and if it is a “nature
fake” the blame must go elsewhere. The toad,
finding he could not swallow the big grasshop
per, looked about as usual for a stone and,
finding none, he attempted to use the ground
as a pusher. He was unable to get the right
angle to secure sufficient force, and so as a
last and perfectly effective means, he stood on
his head and without the least difficulty forced
his food down his throat.
This toad unquestionably was a wonder.
One day, we are told, he happened to find an
angleworm of great length. He took hold of
one end and succeeded in swallowing about
an inch and a half of the worm, which then
realizing its danger apparently, wound the rest
of its body boa-like around the neck of the
toad. This gave the worm leverage enough
to enable it to tug away at that part which the
toad already had swallowed. The result was
that although by a mighty effort the toad
could swallow about half an inch, the worm,
when the relaxation came, succeeded in with
drawing three-quarters of an inch. The toad
saw hla breakfast slipping away from him, but
his infinite wit came to his rescue It is said
that he sat up like a squirrel took one mighty
swallow, and then before the worm could get
in its withdrawing work, he pressed his fore
feet against his throat and held the swallowed
part of the breakfast in place; then, so the
story goes, by a series of quick successive
swallowing and throat squeezing, the toad soon
had the worm in the dark interior where he
was needed for breakfast
Toad migrations are not extraordinarily un
common events. They have taken place in
many parts of the country, and once the toads
In traveling succeeded in stalling a railroad
train on the Canadian Pacific line. The story
of this runs to the effect that the wheels
member of It ever since. He has ta
ken part in many bench shows, and
has had many a blue ribbon tied to
his collar by admiring judges.
Though gray, deaf and half blind, he
still displays all the good points of
his breed, and is just as full of fight
as ever. At the approach of a strange
cur his hair bristles, his feeble old
body stiffens, low growls issue from
his throat, and only the restraining
leash prevents a battle.
Tim never is forgotten when the
Christmas presents are bought, and
crushed the creatures and so greased the rails
that progress was impossible for some time.
The passengers said that they could have
stood the situation more philosophically if the
blockaders had been frogs, for then the ques
tion of the food supply would have been
settled for a lot of hungry people. Frogs’ legs
make good eating.
It is not generally known, perhaps, to the
layman that toads, like frogs, lay their eggs
in the water. Countless millions of eggs will
be deposited in some morass. They hatch out,
the young get big enough, and migrate in a
body to the dry land, semetimes going long
distances as an entity. These, it is said, are
the marching armies of toads which astonish
people and accounts of which are spread
broadcast over the earth.
Straw Hats and Autos
“You might scarcely think,” said Mr. Mao-
BLnk, “that there was anything in common be
tween straw hats and automobiles, but by that
way of thinking you’d be surely forgetting
their cost of upkeep, in which respect they are
strikingly alike.
“They say it costs more to keep an automo
bile than it does to buy one; precisely the
same is true of the straw hat. You take my
ov i experience for an frustration.
“Early in the season I bought a straw hat
for which I paid $2. I know a place where you
can get a very good straw hat for that money,
and if it hadn’t rained all summer I should
have been on the straw hat account under no
additional expense.
“But it always does rain more or less,
just as it has done this summer, and as Is very
well known if a drop of rain gets on a straw
hat it is all up. Raindrops on a straw hat
will accumulate dust, and then you have to
have the hat cleaned, and that costs money;- in
some places 25 cents; in some 15.
“I find by reference to my books that I
have paid out this summer In straw hat ac
count for upkeep only $2.30, which is a good
deal. While the automobile man has been
spending his money for gasoline and things
I have been blowing mine for hat cleaning, and
it has cost me more to keep that hat going
than it cost me originally.
“But in this I find- some slight satisfaction.
In this respect at least I find myself on the
same footing with the man who at the begin*
nlng of the season bought Instead of a straw
hat an automobile.”
there is always a dainty bowl for his
porridge, a new collar, a blanket, a
set of combs and brushes or some
other dog luxury for him on Christmas
morning. Every year he is taken to
the Adirondacks, where Mrs. Fitch
has a summer camp, and regains
some of the friskiness of his lost
youth chasing rabbits in the primer
woods.
May Cultivate Cotton.
Efforts are being made to cultiv-u
---cotton in Hawaii.
poumzlg
EXCELLENT HEN HOUSE PLAN
Building That Will Accommodate
Seventy-five Chickens —For Com
fort Hard to Beat.
Considering comfort, convenience,
cleanliness and cost I believe my
chicken house hard to beat, writes
K |_hJ
:
Interior of Hen House.
J. F. Jacobs in Missouri Valley Farm
er. The high side of the house fa?es
south. K, which is partitioned off
from main coop, can be used as a feed
and scratching pen. It also makes a
convenient place for driving in tho
fowls inclined to roost out of doors.
The nest box, L, is 12 inches square,
with back 17 inches high. Door. J.
is hinged with leather and lies on
top when not in use. When in use
it fastens with button at N. The
sloping top of nests prevents their
being used as roosts. The floor of
house should be made of concrete and
in cold weather covered with straw.
My building is 12 by 16 feet .and will
house 75 chickens.
The details of the plan are as fol
lows:
A, 6-foot post. B, post enough
higher than A to give pitch to roof.
I >
Hen House Plan.
M, partition 3 feet high. C, tight
floor. H, trough 10 by 12, to catch
droppings. D, door to admit person.
E, E, small doors for fowls. I, glass
windows protected on inside with net
ting and made to slide open for ven
tilation. F, 1 by 6 board with notches
18 inches apart for perch poles.
WAY OF FATTENING TURKEYS
Good Method Is to Allow Birds to
Roam at Will Over Small Grain,
Clover and Corn Fields.
I have had a good deal of experience
in rearing turkeys. By giving the
flock good attention I seldom lose any.
The birds have free range at pH times,
as they are of a roaming disposition
and won’t do well in close confine
ment. I feed twice dally; in the
morning, wheat, sunflower seed, buck
wheat and some kind ■of cooked
vegetable; In the evening whole corn,
writes Anna S. Lembke of Cass coun
ty, lowa, In Orange Judd Farmer. Dur
ing the day the birds wander at will
over the small grain, clover and corn
fields. In the former two they get a
large quantity of insects and in the
latter more or less vegetab’e food. In
the wheat fields they also get consid
erable grain left after the crop is har
vested. When they are in the barn
yard I give them all the skim milk and
buttermilk they will drink and supply
them plenty of coarse grit where they
have access to it at all times. A pail
of slaked lime is also within reach.
Plenty of fresh water is essential at
all times.
Some people pen their turkeys for
a few weeks before marketing, but
I find the birds do better if allowed to
run at large. There is no danger of
overfeeding by this method. It is
necessary, though, to see that they
get all they will eat up clean. At this
time I feed boiled potatoes and scald
ed corn meal, but never much oats, on
account cf the hulls. A few weeks be
fore marketing, when the birds begin
to take on fat rapidly and many times
don’t care to come home, then I give
them such appetizers as boiled rice,
clabber and cheese. I never house the
turkeys, but let them roost in the
trees. The birds are so tame they
will eat out of my hands. They do
much better when treated in this kind
of way.
I examine them occasionally to see
how they are plumping up. All that
have well filled breasts and are fat
are selected for the Thanksgiving
market The others are fed for the
Christmas batch. In order to have
good-sized birds for these two mar
kets, I hatch as early in the spring as
possible, so as to get the fowls ell
matured and capable of filling out
well. I have found the plan aoove to
be common sense in fattening, much
better than the feeding of highly con
centrated food, which too often de
ranges the digestive organs. It is
better to feed somewhat too little than
to overdo the thing.
Importance of Quality.
Consumers are looking for the best
and they are generally willing to pay
good prices for superior food prod
ucts. They want smooth, solid, well
flavored tomatoes, tender, delicious
sweet corn, not too ripe, but ripe
enough. Everything good soon gives
the grower a reputation and makes
easy sales.
Duck Farms.
A good many duck farms have been
started at a distance from good mar
kets, and they may be successful— but
the owners are not saying so.
GOOD QUALITIES OF BANTAfo
Though Kept for Pets They Do Lay
Eggs and They Are Most Delicious
for the Table.
A bantam biddy has apparently
large ideas about her relative impor
tance, but the bantam male that
doesn’t strut around as though he felt
as big as an elephant is sick. In good
health he never fails to appear as
important looking as a village police
man, says a writer in Fancier’s Month
ly. And are not his little, dainty, de
mure wives just the most cunning bits
of feathered life in all the poultry
world? Of course, they are. One can
not look at a high-stepping bantam
cock escorting a trim, tiny hen with
out smiling in admiration. They are
so very small, seem so very wise and
old and at the same time so pert and
sancy, that nothing will so quickly and
entirely captivate a boy or a lady
that has any inclination for pets as
will the bright little bantam.
Many a poultry fancier now grown
gray-haired and aged, can look back
to the day long ago when he first
owned a flock of bantams and wished
for nothing more on earth to fill the
measure of his youthful delight. There
owSI
Black Tail Jap.
is a pretention that bantams are profit
able and it pays to keep them for
their eggs, etc., etc. But this is but a
miserable truckling to the almighty
dollar. It may be, and doubtless is. a
fact that bantams are valuable fowls
to keep solely for profit, considering
the small amount of food they con
sume, but it is as pets that they are
generally bred, and miserly indeed
must be he who would grudge the lit
tle beauties their daily bird-like re
past.
Nevertheless, bantams, though kept
for pets, do la; eggs—just as good if
not as big as those of the larger breed,
and their flesh, though it seems wick
ed to kill them for the table, la de
licious. So they can justly claim a
practical value aside from mere ap
pearances which are so much in their
favor that one does not stop to inquire
“do they pay?”
The very prettiest sight, without ex
ception, that we have ever seen in the
line of thoroughbred poultry was a
large collection of bantams, number
ing one hundred and fifty, all in one
flock, of a half dozen varieties, and
puzzling us to tell which was the most
cute and beautiful birdllng in the lot
Pure-Bred Fowls.
Separating males from females has
the advantage of preserving vitality
and strength to grow a new coat of
plumage, which is the one essential
object in a pure-bred specimen, par
ticularly if he is to be shown, says a
writer in an exchange. If mating is
continued, without separating male
from female, each is likely to injure
the new plumage while tender with
very bad results. I usually take my
male birds in the evening and place
them on the roost at the end of the
breeding season and watch them the
following morning and Insist on peace
between them. As one is sure to be
boss of the others, I usually take the
one I Intend to be boss and put him
in the male yard a day or two ahead
of the others, and this usually has the
desired effect of peace.
Wmhw
fWWOBSw
A load of coarse sand is good sot
the chickens.
Be sure the coops are all free frond
lice and filth.
Corn Is not good for an exclusive
diet in hot weather.
Give the chickens plenty of air In
their roosting places.
The greatest loss in the poultry
yard comes from disease and vermin.
Hens are a nuisance on th a farm
only when they are not well cared
for.
If you expect youi- hens to lay
during winter you must look after
their wants.
Chemically pure crushed charcoal
can be obtained in different sizes suit
able for different poultry.
A pasture that has some low,
swampy land is an excellent place ’o
pasture ducks and geese.
In selecting a site for the poultry
buildings it pays to study carefully
the matter from all sides.
When a hen does not respond prop
to good care and feeding it is
a fat/ sign that she is not “cut out"
for profit in the poultry yard.
Get rid of some of the roosters that
are now worrying the hens to no
good purpose. They are deadlocks
and eat up the profits of the flocks.
In getting ready for the winter sea
son we must E?e tha' all nests are
cleaned out, ar 1 all buildings repaired,
and the pigeon loft generally cleaned
and overhauled.
Hunt up private customers and
agree to sell them strictly fresh eggs
—then do it. A good price should be
secured and payment will be made in
cash Instead of groceries.
As the molting period is a great
strain upon fowls, they should receive
food that is rich in nitrogenous prop
erties, eo that they may be assisted
in growing their new coat
It is advantageous to have extra
males kept alone and thus change the
males in Cfie pens. This gives a
chance for rest and results in a large
percentage of fertile eggs.
White fowls intended for show pur
poses can be much Improved in color
of plumage by keeping them in the
shade as much fls possible while they
are lust finishing their molt