The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-06-17
copyright, 1890, by Edgar VI Nye.l

One of the bright pictures of the future
cherished by the people of Seattle is that
of q fine navy yard at Lake Washington,
a beautiful sheet of water twenty-six
miles long and averaging four miles in
width. 1t also has a good and sufficient
depth for the anchorage of the Great
Eastern anywhere through its entire
length.
There is already a log canal connecting
it with the land through Union lake, and
it would not De a big job to make a ship
canal, as the lake is but a few feet higher
than Puget sound and the ground easily
workel without blasting. The chief ad-
vantage of a fresh water harbor E r ships,
Of course, is that the teredo or ship worm,
the pest of all warm salt waters and
esq ecially of Puget sound, would be elm
mated. Large bills for naval vermifuge
would thus be rendered unnecessary and
ironclads especially would become less
porous.
The teredo is one of a genus of ace
phalous, testaceous mollusks that bore
and penetrate the bottoms of ships and
other submersed wood. The ship worm
belongs to a family of conchiferous or
lameH branchiates. They are not, strictly
speaking worms at all, as hey have the
true mOlluscan organization and the
elongation of the body is simply due to
the excessive protraction backward Of the
siphonal tubes, which thus give us a long
wasted mollusk, vulgarly called a worm.
II I do not make myself perfectly clear,
or if | use words which bother or con-
fuse the scientist, l hope he will not be at
all backward about coming to me for an
explanation.
The abdominal or shell covered portion
Of the animal is comparatively small, and,
according to Theodore Gill, is almost sub
globular. The siphonal portion is, in pro-
portion, extremely long and worm-like.
The description of this bird increases in
interest as we proceed, and a word or two
further regarding this little acephalous,
~testaceous mollusk, which patiently goes
to work to sink a great ship, may not be
entirely put of place at this time, for I
am lot radically opposed to facts in the
abstract. It is only the abnormal, pro-
tracted and chronic use of facts that I
deprecate and deplore.
The family of Teredinide, to which the
ship worm belongs, have siphons that are
united for the greater part of their length,
but free towards their ends, and these are
armed with two peculiar elongated shelly
append ges called styles or siphonal
pallettes.
The teredo does not care for social rec
ogniti IN, but devoteS its life to this great
task. With no appetite for club life, yet
ignoring its marital relations and negli-
gent of domestic responsibilities, the tere-
do gives up it's whole existence to mis-
AoI-o- --l I'll ~J-:noJ oHo-G, - 1oro,-o
the commerce of the world.
In this family the mantle is well de-
veloped, its lobes united except at the
pedal opening, reflected behind over the
valves of the shell and developed above
into lobe like expansions which are re-
hected over the hinges Of the shell and
serve to keep the valves in place. The
gills are large and extend far into the
siphonal portion. The mouth is provided
with palpi, and it has a sweet breath like
that of a clover fed cow. The foot is
subcylindical and suckerlike, with a foil
aceous margin, moderately protractive
and well supplied with nerves. The shell
is composed of two equal valves of pc
culiar form.
The family includes the teredo, the
nansitora, the kuphess, the ~calobates, the
xylotrya, the uperotus and the lyrodus,
all of whom are highly connected. On
entering the navy the teredo family's
motto. is "Ever onward and upward"
and though at times he is a bore, the
teredo retains his hold on society like q
retired pugilist who has married well.
The teredo n~avalis, as we call him in
scientific circles, does his boring the de-
structive work by means Of the armature
of the valves already described, and yet
Professor E. Perc1Val Wright very truth
fully says that the ship worm is no arma-
ture at this business.
The sexes of the teredo family are I'M
equally divided, there being about twenty
males to one female. The latter lays it's
eggs in the months of June and July, in
large quantities. Sea sickness never in
t~erferes with her plans.
To remove ship worms battle the bot
tom of the ship every morning in hCt
borax water, rinse thoroughly in tepid,
distilled water, wipe dry with a coarse
crash towel, and then smear thoroughly
with creosote oil. This should be kept
up for at least a fortnight, after which it
will be found that the worms are so
stupefed that they may be readily re-
nONCO AOW AOA nOAC6 Wy WCdAS VI AuI
picks.
In preparing the above interesting de-
cription of the teredo, 1 am indebted for
valuable suggestions to the Natural His
tory of the Terede, by E. Percival Wright,
vol. XIV; Monograph of the Family Tere-
de, by G. W. Tryon, and a little brochure
by E. H.. Baumhauer, entitled Sur lie
Taret ct les Moyens de preseiver les Bots
de ses Degats, or words to that effect.
Seattle cut 100, OOO,O 900 feet of lumber
last year and had to import a lot more
for its own use, and yet it costs 500 ar
acre to clear off and destroy the beauti-
full timber that now stands on what are
the lots and additions to the city. l saw
a pine tree growing in the park that was
~forty-four feet in circumference six feet
from the ground. Many others near it
were about as large.
Most every stranger thinks the snow
must have been very deep in Washington