The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-09-08
HASKINS' SNAKE FARM
t UNCOMMON LIVE STOCK, BREED
ING METHODS AND PROFITS.
The snnke-skin Industry Suggested
by n Visit to n Summer Resort-Used
for Belts and Pocketbooks.


many strange Industries are carried on,
but there is none stranger than that of
Hiram Haskins and none that returns a
better profit. Mr.. Haskins is a snake farm
er, and so profitable has his business be-
come that he has undertaken to domesti-
cate the reptiles and breed them.
While travelling through Otsego with
wheel and camera a few weeks ago the
writer heard at Cooperstown OF this strange
man who had gone to raising ~rattlers and
pilots for the market. His place was found
up in the Hills near Schuyler lake. He lives
in a comfortable frame dwelling, where the
writer was invited to partake of a meal of
fresh milk and boiled cracked corn.
KEN up TO look for snakes, did yeou,
neow?' said the old man as his bright, gray
eyes twinkled, and he chuckled: WAL, I
guess I kin show yeou a powerful sight of
them
What induced you to go into the snake
trapping and breeding businessg'
WAL, about five years ago Mrs. Haskins
an me was down to Cooperstown, an We
seed so many ladies at the hotel with snake
skin belts an pocketbooks that we Won
dered If they was common rattler skins. One
day some weeks later 1 was cradlin' late
oats an / killed a spotted adder with the
DldQc OF the CTdQle. Il lOOk Hliu LOAiC dlQ
skinned him list like I would an eel, that
is, stripped his hide off whole with
out splittin' it. Then 1 cleaned it and cured
it with white oak liquor. and when 1t was
dry and cured it was soft and shiny like.
Mandy, that 1t, Mrs. Haskins, says, says
she, Hiram, I'd send that pelt down to
New York to some pocketbook maker and
see If it's worth anything Wa-al, / sent
If tn a falIar on Moroar Stroof that dao1S
in fancy leather an in a few days / got
a letter with a check fer $3.50. He said
If he'd any more spotted snake pelts to
Mandy says, says. she, Hiram, you kin
git some more. can't you% L dunno says
1, but / guess 1 kin when uckwheat now
in begins, as therN sure be some snakes in
the ten-acre buckwheat lot or I'm mistak-
en- Then / begin to think an to ruminate
snake pelts. A few days later / got a
regular windfall. 1 run into a den and
killed five full-grown spotted adders, a rat
tier. and a purity brown notified sarpint
that l didn't know the name Of. I cured
my returns was s25. The man that bought
Mandy says I. do YOU think / could
trap snakes in a trap? I'm going to try
anyhow Il don't. see why not. Hiram
to try an ketch snakes in traps. A few
days, later 1 went to Cherry valley an
bought one of them big wire French rat
ttaPC us = IN Ill Gel POts tnC cIdhCS
could slip easy like into the trap but
cydntp get out. as the wires stuck into
them. They cud git into the trap. but
couple of them English sparrers in a snare
an baited the trap an put 1t out in the
long grass in the east medder. where I
had heerd an adder hiss a few days be-
fore.
A BIG HAUL.
1.-THE next mornin' I went down to the
trap. and. bless me. if there wusn't an
adder full six foot long an big as my wrist
crowded up in the trap. I run a bodkin
through him behind the head and took
him outen the trap and set 1t ag'in and
went away. Before night 1 he'd ketched
a beautiful brown pilot. full of shiny green
scales; that is, they looked green when
the sun fell on 'em sideways. 1 killed him.
an went on that way ketchin' snakes all
over the farm until it was time fer 'em to
~pelts-adders. pilots, a couple of green
moccasins. ~rattlers, and several green an
brown notified pelts of snakes L cudn't call
by name. !.
II thought. now that I had a fine lot Of
pelts, I'd go to New York with 'em my
self. l fixed up and went down, and when
let. While 1 wuz down there the Teller who
bought my pelts says TO me: If you keep
on this way you won't hev no snakes left
in the counties of Otsego or Chenango.
You hev brought more pelts to me than any
Professional trapper. on my list, an I've
got got lots h,s,, Of men 2 k ss c ms snakes. Why don't
WAL. / laughed at that, but the idee
struck ne that I'd try anyhow. so / asked
had a snake house. an he told me to go
up to Central Park an see how they KEEP
snakes there. / went up there an seed
the glass place where they KEEP the snakes.
an the keeper says to me, says he: The
varmints 'ud breed here. If we wud let 'em,
but We don't want any young snakes
There wuz all kinds of snakes there, an
the idee struck me to build a glass breed
in house. j seed a powerful sight Of
but I s'pose you hev seed them. too. How
somever, we're on snakes now, / reckon
we'd better stick to snakes.
When / KEN home / went to work to
build a snake house. I made a purity good
one, as you'll see. There wuz no more
makes TO ketch that fail. so I rested until
he'd good luck an ketched a lot of young
ones an soon he'd my snake house stocked.
I he'd all kinds, but didn't know much about
mistake of putin the wrong kinds of
snakes together. / ketched one of them
big ring-neck Acknowledgements, you
know-an' he wuz a fighter. No sooner did
/ let him into the cage than he tackled a
RATHER i he'd there an in a switch of a
lambs tan ne had grabbed that rattler in
with him, an cooled around him, squeezin'
the life outen him. Tina give me a lesson,
an i didn't put ~rattlers and racers in the
wall" said the old man. as he looked up
at the sky, "I think mebbe we'll hev rain;
let's go and see the snakes"
THE SNAKE HOUSE.
He led the way TO a frame shanty with
double walls like an ice house. Inside was
a row OF ~wire-netting cages, covered with
glass. In the cages were as choice an as
sortment of snakes as one would care to
see. In one compartment was spotted ad-
ders by the score, little and big, all coiled
and twisted in a squirming. wriggling mass.
In another compartment were twelve or
more copperheads-tfe old man called them
pilots. In still another compartment were
all kinds of snakes OF the garter and whip
lash species. green scaled, brown and white
mottled, and of nearly all shades Of drab
and gray. Another compartment contained
fully twenty rattlers, all lying still, as If
dead.
There you see some of my family" said
the old man. I've got lots more, but
they be outen the yard"
He led the way In a long structure COW
cred with glass and having a cemented
floor. This was divided again into as many
w with glass partitions, as there
were compartments in the shanty. There
were hundreds OF snakes here, summing
| themselves and lying about under the vege-
tation from several half barrels and tubs
filled with earth.
This is my RATHER yard" said the old
man as he opened a glass door and pinned
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