Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-26

catch them in the ordinary trap, and moth
ing on earth will coax a skunk into box
trap as a rat may be caught. He is alto
gether too curious for that, and, instead of
going into the box set so invitingly before
him, he turns 1t over two or three times,
and generally succeeds in rolling it down
hill or getting it's open side down, SO he
couldn't get in If he wanted to-which he
doesn't generally want to. That leaves but
one other mode of capture, to wit, digging
him out of his hole, and here his curtos-
ity. which before saved him, Is fatal to
him.
You Must Know How.
The digger digs away until he is within
reaching distance of the skunk and then he
gets over behind and above the hole and
waits. In a very few minutes OIL mas
skunk or OIL mis- skunk comes shifting and
peering out to see what it is all about, and
just as its head gets past the edge down
comes a hand across it's neck, and that
settles the freedom of the skunk Carefully.
then, the captor draws the skunk out. Slip
ping his other hand along its body to the
end, when, with a quick jerk. he pulls 1t
out and doubles it's head under its tail and
keeps it that way until he drops it into
sack or box for delivery at the farm. This
doubling is to prevent the animal from
using its chief weapon of defense, because,
as Mr.. Ballard says, hes got to hump
himself before he can throw his stink
The same results may be obtained by
catching the animal by the tail. and hold
ing it up. but a tail hold Is not always
available, though Mr. Ballard and his son
both picked them up that way while they
were feeding. and l took snap shot of
the boy holding two up by their tails, but
l got away to a safe distance before he let
them go.
Perhaps no animal in the world-certainly
none in Americas in as bad odor in the
community where 1t resides as the skunk
10 10 for fNr
there is no smell known which is much
worse than that of the peculiar fluid or
liquid skunk discharges when provoked.
1t comes from a ring shaped sac at the
and Is discharged through three ballard
says three; the natural history says two)
needle-like apertures, and can be thrown
with great accuracy to a distance of ten
or twelve feet. 1t spreads out in a vapor-
like cloud and Is so penetrating that moth
Ing escapes 1t, and 1t may be detected at
distance Of a mile. 1t is of a reddish cast
when thrown upon a white board, but in
water 1t gives a greenish tinge. The sup
ply seems to be inexhaustible, and the cat
Is ready as long as life remains. 1t has
remarkable curative qualities, but its ter
rifle odor prevents its use. Mr.. Ballard
cites an instance when he was suffering
last winter with sore eyes. Of being struck
square In one eye by a discharge from
cat he was trying to discipline in the pen,
and the eye was well within the week.
for the other eye, but the odor was too
much for him and he gave 1t up. 1t is said
to be cure for asthma Also but the rem
edy Is worse than the disease.
Skunks and Polecats.
Mr.. Ballard divides his collection into two
classes-polecats. which Is the usual desig-
nation, and skunkS-the skunks being all
black, except white spot on the head, and
the polecats with the peculiar marking of
tyH-n yI-h ifn C$rivp
and describing an ellipse, meeting in the
tail: According to the books, however, Mr..
Billiards. collection are all skunks, as the
polecat Is more like black ferret with
the skunk has.
The first cat tthey are called "cats,"
though they are OF the badger family, rath-
er: that is, incline and not feline) of this
collection was female, caught in April,
and she added eight to her household in
May. They are very prolific. producing
two filters year. May and September,
and litter contains from five to thirteen.
Ten kits for years product Is considered
average.
At this rate it will be seen that Mr. Bal
lard, with $50 cats now on his farm, will
have pretty fair-sized collection in two
or three years.
1t costs about so cents per year to feed
them, and they will eat anything, having a
preference for cooked green beans, meat
slightly tainted, eggs, corn, bugs-in fact,
they are the easiest satisfied boarders that
can be found anywhere. AS their taste Is
"gamey." their sense of smell is acute, and
Mr.. Ballard has given them dozen bad
eggs with one good one in the lot and they
carefully rolled the good one aside with
their paws and ate all the others first
One of their peculiarties Is to discharge
their perfume when feeding. but at that
time it Is almost odorless. Still not alto
Gether, for they were fed while 1 was in
the pen, and I am here to state that l
would have known there was polecat in
the neighborhood, even if had had my
eyes shut.
They fight among themselves, but rarely
kill each other. but If dead one is thrown
to them they seem to be more eager to eat
1t than any other food that can be given to
them. They will also eat all the tobacco
worms in patch, but they tear the tobac-
co to pieces. while they are at it, so they
have not become popular in this role.
Money In the Business.
When the sac Is removed they make
dainty and beautiful house pets. and they
are the finest ratters in the world Mr..
Ballard will make some experiments soon
In this line. and, If successful, will try to
supply any demand that comes. In my
opinion, he will have to change their name,
though, for there Is rose-by- any other-
name prejudice that must be overcome.
One object Of the farm Is the raising Of cats
for their fur, the skins being worth from
seventy-f1ve cents to $3.50 each, and they
can De readily converted into SealSkin, Rus
sian sable or anything else that the skilled
skin manipulation may desire.
OF course, no lady would wear a skunk
skin cloak, but she does it just the same.
Another object, and greater one, is the
production of "polecat oiT' for the cure of
rheumatism and frostbite. For these COM
plants P..O. is declared to be the sovereign
remedy, and 1t sells at IS a quart AS cats
they weigh from seven to twenty pounds
when fat will average quart of oil each,
with, say, dollar and half for a skin. 1t
will be observed that there ought to be
some money in the business Mr. Ballard
will kill fifty in December, and there is only
one good way to kill them with safety to
the killer. to wit, with chloroform. The
cats are to be turned into a box and the
chloroform sponge put in with them. In
this way they will be dead before they have
chance to-to-well, to defend themselves.
Naturalists say the skunk is very fine
eating. having tender, white flesh. and Bal
lard says one of his neighbors ate one of
his once which he had been rendering for
Its oil, but the nejghbor, when interviewed
him on the subject. asserted positively that
George Ballard would tell anything that
was complimentary to his COMPOUNDED old
polecats. One thing is very certain, while
thieves break into chicken coops and steal
their contents. they most emphatcally do
not try to steal any of Mr.. Billiards. skunks.
{cs I.