The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-31

per into some crevice He has
watched for hours, but has never been
able to detect one in the action of expell-
ing them, but there is no doubt in his
mind that such is the case, as if the
young were destroyed by being taken into
the parents stomach the supply would
soon be exhausted, and he would have to
go back to raising corn and wheat.
1t was only last summer that Mr.. Bart
lett tried the experiment, the outcome of
which was such as to strengthen this
opinion. 1t was early in May that he dis
covered large female in the act of COB
bling up her young as he approached He
captured her, and taking her home, con-
fined her in a box. He watched eagerly
for the eXpelling of the young adders and
at the end of two months, having an or
der for an unusually large pelt, killed her
To his utter establishment he discovered
fourteen small snakes in her stomach
which she had taken in nearly two months
before which were alive. and healthy.
He set them free on a ledge, when they
dragged themselves out of sight into the
nearest crevice. So far as he knows, they
are all alive and well to-day.
Up to the present time Mr.. Bartlett
has never done anything in the way of
feeding his flock of snakes, but has about
made up his mind to try it next summer
He has been told to get a dozen or so
guinea pigs, which breed with astonish-
ing rapidity, and turn the young pigs
loose on the ledge, where they can be
caught up by the hungry snakes At
present they live largely on frogs, which
they can get in the swamp in the grove,
and on birds and mice.
When he first commenced the business
of killing and selling his crop he used to
ship carcass and all to his customer, but
he discovered that in going long distances
especially in hot weather, they frequently
commenced to purify, causing a disagree
able odor as well as an injury to the
hides. He then commenced to skin the
snakes commencing with the mouth and
pulling the skin backward toward the end
of the tail, thus removing the pelt intact
and free from any cut or bruise. A little
salt is all that is required to keep the skin
in good condition till it reaches the tan
merry, where it is properly prepared and
stretched.
Mr. Bartlett never kills the larger speci-
mems in his flock, as he believes them to
be the best breeders, and he is wise
enough to realize that it would be disas-
trous to allow his supply to dwindle. In
reply to a query by the reporter as to how
many adders he had probably taken from
the ledge since he commenced to mar
ket them, he replied: "Oh, hundreds and
hundreds. / haven't the least idea how
many. You see at first killed them sim
ply because I wanted to get rid of them
and then when I began to have calls for
them, never kept any count, as l never
thought it would ever amount to any
thing. Somedays in the fall 1 kill from
fifteen to twenty, but generally not more
than three or four. You see, they are
not fools If they do crawl, and they are
not as tame as they used TO be. They are
getting quite scary of me now, and some
days it is almost impossible to moose
even a single one"
where do you find the best market"
asked the reporter. ''for these skins?''
'Well. most Of them ! have been ship
ping to Boston parties, but any number
have gone to New York. You see it's
quite a fad 10 have an adder's-slsin cane
now, am told Next year l shall prob
ably send nearly all Of my pelts up to a