The Portland daily press., 1882-02-01
About Alligators.
Eli Perkins Discusses Florida's saurian
Crop.
[Chicago Tribune.1


Almost all tourists arrive in Florida ON the
morniog train. They go to sleep at Macon.
Ga, and get up in Jacksonville Jacksonville
is the distributing point for all Florida. 1t is
the metropolis of the orange country. From
jacksonville we sail up the st. Johns River
(the st. Johns River runs north up through
the peninsula from the Everglades) for 120
miles. From Jacksonville we take the train
northeast thirty-fve miles to Fernandina; and
from Jacksonville we sail fifty miles south up
the st. Johns to Tocoi, and take the train east
fifteen miles to st. Augustine-perh the
Oldest city in America.
The ST. Johns River is not river at all.
1t is great bay, like the Chesapeake. 1t is
from two to five miles wide, salt, and subject
to tides for seventy-fve miles. 1t is very shall
low-boats not being able, in many instances,
to get within half mile of its banks. The
landings are long, narrow wooden piers run
ming out like ietties.
When asked Capt. Larkin, of Palotka,
whether the thing was pond, bay, or riv-
er, he said:
''Tain't neither, Mr.. Perkins It's cow
pasture. It's subterranean cow-pasture
Don't you see droves of cattle standing in the
water and grazing all the way from Jackson
ville?''
Capt. Larlxin was right The st. Johns is
really great State cow-pasture. All the cat
tie in Flerida stay in it all winter. There they
stand all day long, with their heads in the wat
er, eating the grass, which grows in the bottom
of the river. This grass does not grow up
through the water, but lays on the bottom; and
the cows put their heads clear under the water
to get it, I've seen cows with their heads,
ears, and horns all under water. 1.-The head
will go entirely under water for at least min
ute, and then it will come up dripping with
water and the mouth full Of grass. 1t is very
funny sight to sea COW with her head appar-
entity severed from the body, while the tail is
switching at the flies. So thousands of cattle
live in the St. Johns all winter long.
The st. Johns River is the alligator's para
disc. Its shallow banks keep the alligators
ont of harms way from the passing boats.
There they lay stretched out on the sand, with
no one to molest them. Now and then a pas
sing shot from some fool on steamboat wakes
one up, when he opens both eyes wide, takes
one look around, and sinks in the water till
the fool gets BY The chances oil Killing an al
ligator with rifle are about one in 800. Un-
less you hit him in the eye, you have no
chance at ALL His throat, and the little ten
der spot under his fore legs, are always well
covered. The bone of the alligator's head
that is his long skulls at least an inch thick.
Nothing but the ball from field battery
would disturb him at all. Buckshot would be
nothing but mosquito-bites to an old alligator.
Alligators lay their eggs in the sand, in sun
ny place where the temperature is sure to be
warm enough to sustain animal growth. If a
cold snap comes, it kills the life Of the egg,
Just the same as the chickens die ia a hens
eggs when the old hen stops off too long. In
the case of the alligator the warm sand is the
nest, and the sun is the old hen. The sun sits
on the nest all day, and gets 1t SO warm that 1t
continues to keep warm during the night. The
ostrich is a lazy bird, and like the alligator it
shirks the 'setting" business off on the sun.
In fact, there is no need of any bird setting"
on its eggs in the Tropical regions. Capt Lar
kin tells me that he has hatched goose-eggs
and hens eggs in the warm sand.
81 place them just as the alligator does"
said the Captain, where they are continually
warm, with the small end of the egg ups and
just sticking through the sand / spread a
blanket over them at night, and at the end of
three weeks the chickens jump out and COM
mence eating the mosquitoes.
Ibid you ever, vice versa, hatch alligator's
eggs under hen, Captain?' asked.
mo; but Mr.. Pratt, the editor of the Palotka
Herald, and Col Hart, who has the big
orange-groye over the river have done so, and
it was very curious experiment too.
A moment afterwards the Captain intro
dueed me to Mr.. Pratt. "He is very careful
the best authority we have on alligators."
"What was it about you and Col. Hart
Matching alligstor's eggs under hen, MIR.
Pratt?" 1 asked
"Why. yes, we tried it, We Matched out
two litters-one under goose, and the other
under an old hen. The goose staid around the
nest after the young gators came, for some
time. She was very much puzzled. She
couldn't give up the idea that they were her
goslings, but still she didn't want to claim
Co shafl 40 fIax aud l0olr
mournfully, as men look in at the remains at
a funeral, and then go away and think"
"Who fed the little alhgators?"
ooh, little gators don't eat anything. They
will live for weeks on absolutely nothing. I've
kept gators till they were foot long, and new
lie still and grow. They live on air"
"What did the old hen do?"
"Well, she was different. She didn,r "a
like the goose. She was e..sl up. We'd tied
hen: hssaa hose, ducked her in the water and
done everything to stop her setting; but she
would set So put ten gators eggs under
her in the sand, and let her go at it. thought
she'd get tired; but she sat five weeks on those
eggs and finally they hatched out six as lively
gators as you ever saw. Inc i1IIie iellows,
you know are quite frolicky. saw by the
looks of the old hen the morning that the ga
tors hatched out that something was up. Inc
old hen clucked in slow, motherly way, as II
she was very proud. / don't think shed seen
threw some corn around the old hen, and she
came off to eat. knew she wouldn't go back
again if she ever saw the gators; but wanted
to see just what she would do. So Col. Hart
and watched the nest'
"Did she come back"
Eyes, and what do you think she did? Why
she just clucked around the nest, as it 1t was
the loveliest brood of white chickens on earth
Why, the old fool actually went and sat down
on the nest and never noticed the difterence.
r hax,u
never took them for beastly idiots before.
That hen sat on those little gators for four
DAYS, till the little fellow began to crawl out
of the nest and drop into the muddy water.
And even then the old hen stayed around,
clucked 70 them and tried to feed them. Col.
Hart has three of those gators now in his duck
house two years old, and as gentle as kittens.
They do everything we tell them to. We are
going to break 'em to the bit when they get
about years old, and use them to draw the
ferry boat between the Larkin House and Col.
Harris orange grove.
"And the old hen?
"Well, she'sstill around. She walks around
the gators still and takes o motherly pride IN
them.'
When is the exact time for a tourist in search
of pleasure and surprise to come to Florida?
In answer should say come the lst day OF
February. To be sure the orange groves are
loaded with green leaves ana yellow oranges
all over the State now; a hundred varieties OF
roses are in blossom from Jacksonville to the
south end of the peninsula; bananas-ripe
bananas-are hanging on the stems at Palotka;
strawberries are coming down from Enter
prise; pineapples and cocoanuts are rIpenlng
on the Upper st. John's and the people go in
bathing at Fernandina. But the Florida
spring has not broken yet. The new crop OF
green leaves and blossoms will not come till
February Then you will see the old crop ripe
and the green crop in.
Twenty of the twenty-three farmers in one
school district in Hartford planted an average
of an acre and half of sweet corn for j.