Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-03-25

Very Smart Through Close Touch With
 Civilization.
 "Speakin of woodchuoks, '' said an old Long Island farmer the other day. ''reminds me of some curious incidents with 'em. 'Twarn't more'n 50 years ago when they was thick as flies on this island, an we ate them instead of rab- bits an made mufflers and mittens ont of their skins. They was mighty warm, too, those old woodehuek mittens an muf11ers When man wanted big fel- low, he only had to walk down into the nearest field an take his pick out of two or three. They was so plentiful that it was no trouble to kill lem. But they have been killed off now so that thero ain t many more roun. Onct in awhile big fellow brings up litter into the lower clover lot an we have to root lem out.
 Ever hunt woodohucks? Waal, it ain t much if they be young onea If you wait long enough, you'll catch them runnin across the lot in broad daylight. If you are good shot, you can bring one down. They're tough, an big fel- low will carry away Q big load of shot. But if you get hold of big fellow, an old veteran, so to speak, you'll find it no easy job to dislodge him. He's too knowin euss to live. He'll only eat your clover at night, an. Lord, how much he can get away with in one nightl In the daytime he keeps close into his hole an laughs at you. Dig him out? Waal, yes, you can try it, but he'll dig good deal faster on the other end than you will an take it easy at that. Mind you. I'm talkin of old ones-those know all the tricks of the business. Tho woodchucks that you find on Long Island arc wiser than those most anywhere else cause they have to be ounnin an shrewd not to get killed. They re so close to civilization that they learn new tricks all the time.
 A few years ago cunnin old fel- low took up his home in that clover field just off the lower medders, an we had the hardest time to kill him that you can imagine. guess afore we got through with him he cost us bout $100 that is, fur clover destroyed an labor at $1. 50 per day lost in trying to cap ture him. 'Twarn't any use Iayin i'll wait fur him with a shotgun. He was too wise to poke his nose out of the hole But every night he'd come out an cat clover fast enough He brought up seven filters of young chucks in that field, but we killed lem all except the old one. He'd bring a new mate with him to his home every season, but she'd be shot in tryin to save her young ones. But we could never get shot at the primo mover of the whole trouble. We waited fur him on moonlight nights an did get a shot at him onct. But 1 guess VIC only crippled him, all he never ven- tured out again except on dark nights. We had no chance then. We tried to dig him out but after three days of steady work we got tired. Then we started to burn an smoke him out, but sit ain no easy matter to make smoke go down hill an get into all of the holes that woodehuok can make Finally we decided to drown the old critter out. We got together all the old pork an oil barrels that we could find an filled  thing was ready Si all Jake, my two sons, stood ready with pitchfork an shotgun while 1 poured tho water into tho hole.
 ''Waal, sir, that hole held moro wa ter than any millpond. It took the hull ten barrelfuls to bring it up to the sur face, on then, jest as l put ill the last pailful that pesky old chuck showed his nose. Si jabbed at him with the pitchfork, all Jake shot the handle to pieces as he banged away at tho critter. But it warn't no use. Tho water soaked away rapidly, an the woodchuck went down again, grinnin at our failure.
 t'But wo warn SO easily discouraged. Next day we added five more barrels an all the tubs an pails round the house. Then we began to flood that hole again. This time we had plenty of wa ter, but there was no woodehuok to ap- pear The water came up to the surface an flowed out of the hole, but no wood chuck. We thought he had left his homo for good after his first duokin. Butno flo came out again that night, an ate more clover than usual jest as if to spite us. Waai, wefound out in time that the critter was so wise that he had dug his hole way up toward a hill so that he could sit up there an watch us pourin water in at the other end. This put stop to any attempt to drown him out
 Tt, was Si that rigged up the trap that finally caught the old fellow. He took q big stone weight bout 30 pounds an suspended it right over the hole. Then he fixed little stick down below iist as he would set arabbit trap. The old inuskrat oouldn' get out of the hole noway without hitting that stick, an --well, the thing happened two nights later The first night the critter didn't ventura out, but the second mornin the stone was down, an the old fellow was crushed beneath it. We ain't had mono in tho fields since then. New York Post.