Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21

selves much in the day. They do their
work at night. Dick owns about 1000 acres
running up and down the creek. He has
the land posted and Keeps everybody of,
keep the beavers in, but there is no danger
Of them going of, for this is Q natural home
for them, and every beaver here knows old
Dick. He feeds them every night andthey
come when he calls just like hogs.''
Kilgore has been a,tarmer down herofQr
years, and beavers have been in the creek
for all time, but it was not until recently
that he began TO protect and. care for them
with q view to making beaver raising a
regular business
Dyeing.4he.sealskfns.
Beaver skins sent to London and properly
dyed seal brown are splendid limitations
Of the seal. The seal fur is naturally a
gray. They are sent to London and there
dyed a.sesI brown. The reason I say send
beaver skins to London Is because that Is
the only place in the world, IL seems, that
fura can be, properly dyed However, the
brown, and is q beautiful fur Just as 1t ia
But to the farm. The beaver is q queer
little animal When full grown 1t weighs
from fifty to sixty pounds. Its hind legs
are fs principal propellers, both when 1t Is
In and bnt Of the water The hind feet are
webbed and the front ones have claws,
which are about as convenient to the beaver
as monkeys hands are to him. They can
carry stones and sticks about in them with
ease. In the water, especially, Q beaver
can carry quantity of freight, for he swims
with his hind feet and carries his load in
his mouth and claws.
Just after dark Mr. Kilgore wentdown
to the edge Of the stream TO feed the
beavers.
"I don't often feedsthen In summer" he
said, for they get al they want along the
banks Of the stream"
The Beavers Food Supply.
'They eat bark off the trees, and at this
season there is an abundance of fresh, tender
bark and grasses and roots. In the winter
they lay up a supply of food for them
selves along the banks and In their holes
in the dams, which they build of roots and
sticks and stones. find them nearly all
the time in winter, when they flock to-
gsther and unite in building dams, but in
summer they scatter-every fellow Is for
himself-and only call them up OCCASION
ally, just enough to keep them tame"
But there were dozen romping about in
the stream then, and ina few minutes quite
a number had gathered. Among them were
o score or more of little fellows born only
month ago. The females have from two to
six young each annually, and as conse-
quence the families increase very rapidly.
A mixture of green food and little grain
was thrown out on the ground to the herd
OF little animals, and they scampered around
and picked it up like so many hogs. Some of
them would gather up an ear Of corn or q
young corn stalk and dive off with it into the
stream. They would scamper off If you tried
TO catch one.
Almost Human Intelligence.
-. l,,.,. L. T.
telligence. They actually gnaw down young
trees, drag them into a stream and let them
float down, swimming with them to the
place they want to build dam. Then they
will drag stones and roots and sticks and
grasses, and indeed, everything used to dam
q stream until they have, practically, as SUBJ
stantial dam as man could construct.
They do this to make the water deep enough
to sport in and placid enough to build their
homes of sticks and mud, which are very
warm and comfortable In winter, and large
enough for family Of eight or ten.
The beavers principal tool in building
these homes is his tail. The tail Is a scaly
trowel-shaped appendage, about 10 inches
long and 4 to inches broad. The beavers
main strength is in the tail. He can take up
and stones used to build his home, and pat it
down with the tail as firmly and as well as a
man could do the work with a trowel.
Besides the fur, which is the main revenue |
from the beaver, it furnishes castoreum, a |
product used in medicines, and its flesh is O |
licious
While Mr.. Kilgore has never yet shipped |
any large number of skins, by next year he |
will have something like 200 or 800. As it |
costs practically nothing to raise beavers, |
the business should be paying one