The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-08-28 00:00:00

A PLAGUE OF SNAKES.

Perhaps the worst snake den in the Middle States
of America is on the Upper Sawkill, Ulster County,
among the foothills of the Catskills. It is said that
copperhead and adder snakes are so thick in that
region. that in some places they seriously inter-
fere with the harvesting of crops. The farmers say
they do not dare to cut the hay and grain from
certain fields until they have adopted all kinds
of measures to exterminate the reptiles. Not long
ago a farmer, named Eugene Britt, found a den of ser-
pents, among which were racers, horn-tail adders, gray
adders, and pilots, in an old, worked-out flag-stone
quarry, while he was picking blackberries. They
were all coiled in together, and when he disturbed
them they made a terrible hissing. He and an Irish
boy, named Andrew Ryan, who was with him, cut a
stout hickory switch, and began the work of destruc-
tion. One cut of the switch generally sufficed to
stretch the reptile out. They killed thirty-five of the
reptiles in less than a quarter of an hour. The snakes
were of all sizes, from the six-foot white-colour ringed
racer to the young adders of twelve inches. The
farmers in that neighbourhood say they can detect the
presence of snakes in a field by giving a quick shrill
whistle, when they raise their heads above the grass so
that they can be seen.
One day not long ago a tramp applied to a farmer
on the Sawkill for work. He was informed that the
only work to be done was to cradle a field of oats,
and they were afraid to do it on account of the field
being infested with copperheads (pilots). He laughed
at them, and said he would reap the oats, and wouldn't
ask any extra pay for it either. He then cigled !or
a piece of sheepskin with the wool on. This being
brought, he bound it about his legs as high up as
the thighs. Then he took the cradle and went to
work in the field as if there had never been a
snake in it. When he had finished the job, how-
ever, he had slaughtered every snake in the field.
18 in number—all pilots—and had five sticking fast
in the sheep-skin about his legs, where they had
caught fast in the wool with their fangs when they
struck at him. Several of these the tramp brought to
Kingston and exhibited in the streets. The idea of
binding something, generally a thick wad of straw,
about the legs has long been practised by the farmers
as a protection when they are to mow or reap in a
field infested with snakes. The reptiles strike their
fangs into the straw, which generally holds them,
thus giving the farmer a chance to cut them in two
with his scythe.
Copperheads are the worst snakes that farmers have
to deal with, as, unlike the rattlesnake, they give no
note of warning, and oftentimes the first a person
knows is when they strike, which is usually about the
lower extremities. Their, bite is very poisonous, and
almost certain to cause death. No remedy is known
for the venom but immediately to cut the wound out
with a keen-edged knife before the poison has a chance
to spread through the circulation. The farmers of
late years have adopted a plan of turning their hogs in
the fields as soon as the crops are gathered, and if the
hogs are allowed their own way they will soon exter-
minate everything in the shape of a snake.—Ncw York
Times.