Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-06-30
scEkfN The LOWER ANIMALS.
How 6pch Tnsy Rely Upon &c I'm the
Put ,uit OF food and for safety.
PHILADELPHIA Lsdger1

ueNel0tu OlIactOry nerves, budt OthNA
anima with no less accomplished smell
ers adfno less familiar to man, have re-
mainS comparatively unnoticed. The
horse1Flll leave musty hay or corn I'M
toucfkl in his bin. however hungry. He
will a drink water Objectionable to his
ques4ning shifts, or from a bucket
whic1 ONE odor makes offensive, how
ever bJrsty. His intelligent nostril will
widen. culver, and query over the dalntl-
est offered by the fairest of hands
with E0axings that would make NOR
tai ID hls eyes and swallow nauseous
mouabul at gulp. A mare is never
satishel by either sight or whinny that
her d! is. really her owp until she has a
certi6d nasal certificate to the fact A
blind lorse now living will not allow the
approch Of any stranger without show
ing dls Of anger not safely to be disre-
garde. The distinction is evidently
made by his sense Of smell, and at
considerable distance. Blind horses, as
a rub will gallop wildly about pasture
witltit striking the surrounding fence.
The snse OF smell informs them of its
prodnity. Others Will, when loosened
frod he stable, go directly to the gate or
bars cening totheir accustomed feeding
grotnls and when desiring to return,
aftef hours of careless wandering, will
disthSuish the one outlet and patiently
avail is opening. The odor of that par
ticue, part of the fence is their pilot to
it. Dhe horse in browsing, or while
gatlaing heritage with its lips, is guided
in Is choice of proper food entirely by
it's octrils. Blind horses do not make
mis- bees in their diet. The scent alone
Of alu1alo-robe will cause many horses
to eti1ce lively signs of terror, and the
fioadzg scent of railroad train will
frightn some long after the locomotive
is ont Of sight and hearing.
APPARENTLY developed in much
CREATE degree than that OF horses is the
seen trg power of cattle. Most animals
seem 70 identify their young by their
smel The barbarous custom still pre-
vails throughout the country Of placing
the bio OF butchered calf before its
mothG to stop her mournful loving. 1t
wouh he rating human acumen rather
high . suppose that a mother could re-
cogrie her baby by its skin, yet cow
will ientify the bloody relic Of her off
spring and instantly cease her noisy
grieL Yard-led cattle nose their hay
filed -acks and bins, and from the many
varieties of dried fodder select only such
as WI please their palates and nourish
their bodies.
Co.'S eat many kinds Of fungi-the
con1on pufT-ball when young mush-
room, fairy ring champgnon, and
some woodworking toadstools-by
whiel their milk is much affected 4; but
by %, the greater number they pass I'M
toudlsd with a contemptuous sniff. Not
witl9anding this dolicacy Of scent, the
COW ives the reyiIed garlic. Yet this is
scarcely 10 be maryelled at. for spring
poets rave about the weet-breathed
cow in the height Of the garlic season.
Along the mountains Of West Virginia
the csttlo rove at will 10 seek their liyeu-
hood In the evening the tinkling Of
far-aSav bells directs the hardy boz or
girl L the whereabouts of the milking
cows which are then driven home to be
milkel. 1t often happens IN severe
weather that the calves and heiiers are
stabtl for the night and turned out in
the nTniug to join their mothers, who
may Do miles away. The writer was
first brought 20 notice the surprising
seeming power OF other animals than
the a * by the actions of these calves
and Letters. As soon as they were
loosned in the morning they sought the
trail {, their mothers, and with rapid dis
cernusut, noses TO the ground, followed
the ipl.cacies OF the mountain paths I'M
errinfy until, without low or noise.
gWdei only by the cold scent, now many
hours I'd, they came up with their wan
dering mothers. Though the herds
might le often scattered, though cows
from tie same shelter went different
routes, heir young never failed to find
them wlh ease aud active certainly.
have ofsn followed them on horseback,
watchin, with interest this trailing. I'M
surpassed by the phenomenaof the hunt.
Old dro prs testify to similar facts in the
trailing 1f their droyes, often composed
of herd, strange TO one another, forlong
distances aud the singing ont Of their
compano ns by cattle that had been lett
behind nd escaped to follow.
Hum4n life has been saved by the ex-
ercise O. this wonderful nicely OF scent
in cattl,. John Heckeweder, a mis-
sionary OF the United Brethren among
the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, tells
how, in 1854, the ice on Lake st. Clair,
Canada was over three feet in thickness
mile rom the shore that snow lay
upon tie ground for weeks to the depth
OF five Get upon the level that in their
little cbins the missionaries, of whom
he was me, and the indians under their
charge we're showed in, with scant food,
little iuel, and still less proven
der for their live stock. lie writes
&" Buried as We almost were in tho
snow, With cattle standing close to
our doors, they would raise their heads
toward ;he river, which lay but a short |
distance from the village, rs If they |
wished to go there and the Indians,
supposi1g this was occasloned by their
want of drink, melted snow for them to
satisfy their thirst; seeing, however,
that they still kept casting looks in the
same direction with their noses raised,
as thouch they smelt some ling, We
we're at loss to know the cause While
this was the case, two Z er that came
down to the river on the ice opposite the
village were shot. They being opened
to See what they had fed upon,
it was found that their stomachs were
filled with scrub grass, (Eq0isetum
hyemaj0. The Indians, drawing atten-
ton to the discovery, all joined in work
ing way for the cattle to get to the
river or on the ice. As soon as this was
effected the cattle were seen ranging
along the banks where they found the
green scrub grass pasture in abundance
not only along the river banks. but
along tEe frozen ponds adjoining the
same. wnere creeks or fields of hun
dreds Of sores Of this grass were pre-
sentcd to them. The suffering Indians
being by this taught where the deer
were to be looked for could
now daily get as much meat as
.hev wanted. Strange AS it may
lspear, yet it is fact, that even our hogs
Ned chiefly upon these rushes OF the sap
" Juice thereof. for after chewing the
"a Ia unfil thev had drawn the sar,nv