The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-08-14
ALEXANDRIA LA, WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST ii. 1896
MADE SECURE AGAINST SNAKES.
PreCauti DDS Rendered Necessary In Homes
Along the Rio Grantle.

MADE SECURE AGAINST SNAKES.
Precautions Rendered Necessary In Homes
Along the Rio Grande.
J, D. Mason, a we'll known travel
ing man who has just returned from
business trip through southwest
Texas, gives the following interest
ing account of peculiar phase of
life in that part of the world:
"There is a little strip of country, :"
said Mason, in Texas, down by the
Rio Grande, where snakes are liter
ally too numerous to mention. They
are really as thick as the proverbial
dead leaves of Va]lambrosa, and the
most abstenious man in existence
sees enough snakes in a minute to
knock him silly. ! have a friend,
Jim Hughes by name, living down
in that region who owns a cattle
ranch consisting of 1850 acres of
land, and really and truly the trail
of the serpent was over them all.
Jim has a wife, who is the prettiest
little woman west Of the Mississippi,
and two Of the dearest little girls in
the whole world, I reckon, and for q
long time Jim was put to it to know
,, how to protect his family from the
: snakes. He said that it used to he
SO that during the first warm days
of early spring, when tho snakes
were just awakening from their tor
por, he and his ranchmen, cowboys,
! etc., would just have to leave the
cattle to their fate and form cor
don about tho house to keep the rep
tiles out. Nowadays, though, such
constant precaution is not necessary,
as he has hit upon device to cir
cumvent the snakes to a certain ex-
tent. Ho managed to do this by
fencing in the house yard with close
ly woven wire netting.
ITO begin with, however, he had
to dig a ditch all around the place to
the depth of about four feet and
plant cedar posts, letting them stand
| about six feet above the level of tho
ground. Then Oh these posts he
stretched ten foot wire netting and
threw tho dirt back into the ditch.
i By this means, you see, he had four
feet of netting under ground, which
! prevented the snakes burrowing be-
Meath and coming into the yard, and
a six foot fenco above, which only
tho more adventurous reptiles try to
surmount. Now and then a little
snake will manage to wriggle
through the moshes Of the wire and
got into the yard, but the big fellows
are practically circumvented. Every
morning, though, man goes ali
over the yard Oh q tour of inspection,
killing all the small snakes that may
have crept in, before Mrs. Hughes OF
tho little girls venture out of the
house. 1t is not q very pleasant
prospect, either, although you are
seated in the house i'll comparative
security, to look over the fence and
see the reptiles writing and squirm
ing in tho sun, now and then buttine
against the fonce or clinging to the
wire in hideous coiling festoons
! About two miles away from tho place
is a little bog or marsh, whence {
/ little stream makes into the river
aud here the reptiles breed. Hughe:
inveigled me into going over OFT
night to the neighborhood of the bog
and shall never forget the horrible
noises that emanated therefrom
The snakes were evidently fighting
among themselves, and the bos
seemed to be alive with them. De
liver me from another experience
like the one that night and from
home in Texas down by the Ri
Grande. Hughes thinks it is tn
garden spot of the universe, how
ever, and says that when he succeed
in getting that marsh properl.
drained the snakes will disappear.
Philadelphia Times.