Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-30

An Enterprising Museum Mama ger
Makes Money 0ut Of the Scheme.
New Orleans CprresIo6dn L Philadelphia Times.
For the insignificant. sum of 10 cents the
curiously inclined might have the privilege
of seeing during anjodsg of last month in a
little museum way down in the French
quarter no less curio q ian hog sporting
a complete and hcna fitie crop of grass all
over his body lin de place whar de ha'r
ought to grow" y = -
The animal, appealed 70 be .Vell-grown
nine or tea months sboat of the Essex
breed. with the usual broad back. chubby
neck and short legs, but from the tip of his
nose to the end of HIS tail he was bristling
with as perfect a crSpof fresh green grass
as the finest lawn mixture is warranted to
The exhibitor frot TIME % time clipped
stray bit OF. grass from the hogs abtp1dant
crop and passed it arounada for Inspection.
am willing TO testify on oath that 1t was
the genuine article and no mistake and the
more l gazed the more the wonder grew
that one short hog should wear SO strange
a hue. till finally my curiosity got the bet
ter of my purse strings and l Clipped in
with some other fellows and, ges tthe man
to let US to the fake.
Easy enough explained" said the ex-
hibitor. as he began to spray the animated
grass plat with a small rubber bulb which
he neld constantly in his hand Just step
behind here and take a close look at the
hog. Mind how you handle him, though, CIR
you may break him all up. Seems to be a
pretty good thickness of earth 'twixt him
and the grass, don't there? Yes. Well
that's just it. Grass grows in dirt and no.
where else SO all you've got to do is to get
enough of it to stick to hog and he will
make you about as good a lawn as you'd
find anywhere almost.
That's straight so far as it goes. but. of
course, there is a good deal more to it be-
article
this here. In the first place, you've got to
get the right kind of a hog. I generally
use Berkshire or an Essex because they
are good and broad and you can feed 'em
up to be pretty lazy. This Is necessary
qualification, of course, as frisky hog Is
not liable to hold mud. or water either.
long. The next step is to get the right kind
of soil.
ant hills, but this Is an old dodge borrowed
from the east Indian jugglers. Scientists
say that 1t is the formic acid in earth
which causes seed to burst. This acid is
freely generated by the ant. Pour cup
full of hot water over a handful of the in
sects and l. will become as sour as vim
egar
business and know I obtain the best re-
suits from ant Hill dirt.
"Of course. 1t is easy enough to get a
layer of soil about an inch thick caked on
a hog and little training will teach him
to keep it there all right. put ring in
this fellows nose and tie him up short so
that he can't skirmish around. and that's
about all. I plant my seed, which sprout
and come up in about a weeks time. So
there's your hog as big as life and as green
as grass.
II have several hogs, which I use at diff
ferent times as 1t would not do to keep
one with his pores stopped up too long.
Sometimes, too, l vary the monotony by
planting small, low-growing flowers instead
of grass, and once I rugged up vagary
with sprig Of smilax for the tail, little
coleus plants making the stars and stripes
on either side. and a razor-back of pansies
running between But that did not go very
well. The fake was too obvious, and lost
trade by it. Since then have confined
myself almost entirely to grass. which
seems to go somehow; perhaps owing to
the general greenness OF the public"