The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-20

our average population of terrapin Is about 4O,000, one-half bulls and the other half heifers.
 "A funny thing about terrapin is that the females, or heifers, are worth much more than the bulls, or males, and are larger. The bull terrapin are the cheapest we sell. They very rare ly grow over four or five inches long, while the female at times will measure eight inches on the bottom shell. Nei- ther is the flavor of the bull as good as that of the heifer. The eight-inch heifer, though, is considered very large, the average size being six inch es. When terrapin reaches this size, which is considered it's full growth, it is called a count Terrapin between five and half and six inches long are known as 'two-for-t -threes'- because you can get only as much for eighteen of them as you can for twelve counts Those from five to five and half inches are known as halves
 'The feeding of the terrapin is a puzzling thing. I have not yet found whether it is necessary for a terrapin to eat at all. Once l made an eXperi- ment and put number of terrapin in a separate crawl, kept them there for | year and gave them absolutely mo- thing to eat. At the end of that time took them out and found that many of them were in just as good condition as those I had been feeding all the l year. However, we feed them. We give them exclusively shrimp and crabs to eat. They will take most anything you give them, but these two things, I have found, improve the fla vor immensely. Our 40,000, I should say, on an average consume twenty bushels of shrimp and crabs a day. If you stop feeding them it does not seem to worry them at all. The young ones we feed hardly at all, as they appear to pick up more nourish- ment from the mud than anything else. We have an army of darkies employed to catch the crabs and shrimp for us, and all along the river there are lines out daily.
 ''The terrapin is a hardy beast and | there Is but one way of killing him, and if you do not know how you will have trouble in finishing him then. | There is no means of persuasion that can make a terrapin poke his head out | of his shell if he thinks it best not to-. In the first place, you have to arm yourself with a knife and fork. Then put your terrapin down on the floor. In a minute or so he will start walk l ing and poke his head out. Then, coming from behind, you want to jab the prongs of your fork down over his neck between the head and the shell, | fastening him to the floor. Next, all you have to do is to use your knife 1 and saw his head off. You can't kill ] a terrapin by cold. I have seen ter rapin placed in the center of block l of ice and frozen fast to it. They have been left there four or five days, | then chopped out, thawed while by the fire and in a short time were as lively as ever.
 ''It takes terrapin seven years to attain his full growth, and while the length of his days is matter of dis pute, I believe they live twenty-five or thirty years. The heifer lays from eight to twelve eggs three times a year, in April, May, and June. It takes these eggs six weeks to hatch. The baby terrapin is just about as big as the end of your thumb. At one end of our large crawl we have a board like a chicken roost, upon which the terrapin can crawl into a sand pit where they lay their eggs. It is ne cessary to be very careful and get the baby terrapin away from their par 1 ents as soon as they hatch, else they will be eaten on the spur of the mo- ment. It does not do to expose the young terrapin to the cold like the old chaps, as they are not hardy enough to stand it without suffering.
 "Terrapin have a certain amount of intelligence and very large amount ot curiosity Through this prominent trait they are captured. The best way of catching terrapin is for two men tt go out in rowboat with a net. They row carefully along until they come tc a likely spot for terrapin. Then one man gets a stick and raps sharply or the side of the boat several times. Ii there are any terrapin around they will come to the surface just as fast as they can get there to see what is going on. Then the other man scoops them up with his little net. Another way, used in the salt marshes, is fol the darkies to go tramping through the mud and water, sometimes up tc their waists. If they pass any terra. pin these will rise out of the mud tc see what the disturbance is I have agents all along the coast who collect from the darkies and fishermen il
 their territory all the terrapin that are caught. Then I make periodical trip! in boat and bring them all in to tht crawl. There they are fattened art kept until sold.
 We ship terrapin to nearly every city in the country, but Philadelphia consumes more than any other place
 Terrapin are not susceptible to dis
 ease to a great extent, although we ha{
 one epidemic several years ago tha
 lost $1500. Small white flecks ap
 pcared on their legs, on their necks
 and even on the shells. They lost al energy, would not eat, and finally died We tried a great many things, and fin ally hit on something that stopped it
 We separated the sick ones from thu
 well, put them into a dry pen, and pu I chloraI naphtha in water for them t. drink Terrapin certainly have a.
 much sense as chickens although n