The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-03-04

SUPP Lhlngwo0d tells the Auburn Gazette
~ saw .ttso1ay pair OF robins flying around at
UaS Hill cemetery as bright as a new dollar,
the hrst he has heard or seen this year. Last
year they appeared five DAYS earlier. on the
18TH. These harbingers of spring are wei
come sight to see.
Prof. J. n. Comstock. in the New York
Ledger demonstrates how it was scientifical-
~ determined that an average annual loss of
S3O0OO,0O0 has been occasioned in the South
by the cotton worm alone; and that an aver
age loss per year, of nearly 81, 400, 900, has
been brought about in the apple crop of lii
nols by the rayages of the Goblin moth.
me Georgia melon-growers have encoun-
tered new trouble. Last season many
farmers left the small melons to rot in the
nelds after the saleable melons had been
gathered The million of seeds left mon
tne ground attracted thousands of rats. The
rats seemed to have camped down, and now
IL Is said that the fields are honeycombed
with their holes.
The fact" remarks the Brooklyn Engle.
that the founders are crawling out of the
mud in Jamaica Bay, is regarded as an aus
picious sign. IL signifies an early spring and
a pleasant one. Fishermen insist that there
Is no comparison between founders and
ground hogs In point of sagacity and general
knowledge OF the weather-the former being
much wiser and more reliable. This is open
to doubt"
In several villages in Northamptonshire
eng sparrows have increased in numbers so
rapidly as to become pests. At meeting held
at OLD Weston, near Thrapston, on Thurs
DAY, the Rev. A. Wood, vicar, presiding, ex
these birds were given, and fund was
started and committee appointed with the
object OF reducing their number Four
pence per dozen Is to he paid for the Old
birds and two pence per dozen for those of
young birds.
Another winter crop of this good State of
ours is the fur crop which is harvested as
siduously In the more sparseIy settled sec
lions. The following figures are believed to
i marL X, represent the present seasons
with their average cost is as follows: q, 600
muskrats, 16 cents $500 skunks, so cents :
$500 mink, $1.15; 900 coon. 60 cents; $3.50 fox,
$l.4O; 7so sables, 81; SO bears. $12; II fishers.
1--WE silver foxes, $50; 8 cross foxes, So; $50
house cats, 10 cents; rs wild cats, 70 cents.
A Canadian surveyor who was engaged in
an Official expedition to Hudsou's Bay in
1885 and 1886 says few people have any idea
Of the resources of this great sea. Its shores
are the haunts of the musk OK, the moose,
and his black brother, the otter, the beaver,
the mink, the black fox, also the silver, gray
and white varieties, and other valuable fur
bearing animals. Its waters are teeming
with the most valuable varieties of water
manuals and fish. He has seen the bay as
far as the eye could reach appear one undu-
lating mass. Of white porpoises. Both the
hides and oil of these are very valuable. In
some parts of the bay and in the straits the
shores of the islands are swarming with wal
rus rus; IL mas been reported BY PE9fssseS
the chief value OF the walrus lies in the hide,
which weighs on an average 300;pounds, and
is worth from 10 to 20 cents per pound.
The Portsmouth Chronicle has the follow
ing interesting article on the changes of the
domestic fisheries:
1t was not many years ago that bass and
blue fish were caught in numbers at different
points on The Piscataqua river, and in the
hear OF blue fish being caught, and 1t is only
enthusiastically that bass are seen. The
catching OF alewives, which was a source of
great proht In the spring time to many farm
ers whose land bordered on the Cocheco.
Newmarket and Exeter rivers, is thing of
the past. The extinction of fish in this vi
entity does not extend only to our rivers, but
along the entire ocean 'front.' Our harbor
which was once the scene of fleet of five
hundred or more mackerel vessels who would
seek its refuge In storms. is now dwindled
down to half dozen sails. The winter fishing
In Ipswich bay also shows a remarkable fall
ing off, and that within few years. Smelt
fishing on Great bay in the winter season,
though conducive Of much sport, was the
means of a livelihood to three or four hun
dred persons who had little or no work dur
ing the winter months, is now confined to a
few. who get but meagIe return for the
time and labor bestowed to it. Whether the
meas now used for catching fish are the
cause of their great scarcity, or whether
they have sought new feeding grounds, are
questions not easily solved even by the old
fishermen.