The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-18

They Are Patient and AfectiOnate.
How They Are Fed and Watered.
Condition Indicated by Their
Humps.
Letter from Russia in Country Gentleman.
If you take a map of Russia proper, and
draw nearly straight line from oren-
burg near the Ural mountains) 10 Odessa,
on the Black sea--you win have the north
ern boundary of the region in which cam
els are usually employed. In the two South
ern districts Of our province, where have
often seen camels at work in the fields
the climate is still pretty severe. for, al
though in midsummer the centigrade Gel
sius) thermometer often stands for weeks
az So degrees above zero, The snow lies
pretty deep Zone to three feeD. from the
end Of November til the end of February,
and In January frosts as severe as % or
30 degrees (eenugrade) below zero are by
no means rare Generally speaking, the
climate is continental in character, dry
hot in summer and cold inswinter; sharp
changes in spring and autumn very fire.
quent. Wheat fiourishes under these con-
ditions (unless destroyed by severe drought
or locusts), but maize Is not cultivated; to-
bacco is grown, but we have no Vine
yards.
From this think eamels viii thrive in
California, unless the climate is too moist.
Camels easily support any degree of heat
or cold, but they succumb to damp, devel-
oping a whole string of diseases peculiar
TO that animal. In general, 1 must say the
camel Is a very healthy animal, infinitely
more so than the horse or the OK. You can
work him in snow, in brolling heat, IN
burning sand or in a freezing slush and
mire-ony you must see that he has
dry place 10 lie down on. both for his mid
day rest and for the night When on
long journey goods are carried in carts
or sledges drawn by camels for hundreds
Of miles here, mon that care for their
beasts usually make bonfires of straw and
brushwood when they nave 10 camp. out,
and let the camels lie down on the warm
ashes. This Is not necessary in the hot and
dry season, but is excellent in spring and
autumn.
Feeding ana Watering.
Camels are generally fed at evening, aft
er the days work is over, and during the
midday rest. One can choose other hours,
but he must stick to them. The camel is
a beast that takes habits, and if you ac-
custom him to have rest and food, say
from Il to 2 p. M, he will never let you
forget it. Whether at field work or draw
ing a load, at u precisely he will strike
work, and, lying down, refuse to move
till 2, and nothing short of lighting fire
under him can make him start. At 2 p.
m. he win be ready for work again. Cam
els are watered early in the morning, and
after work in the evening, or even only
once in the twenty-fOur hours. On an
emergency they can go without water
for three or four days without any bad
results; like horses, they must never be
watered when hot from work. Unlike
| asses, they Will drink any water. In the
matter of food, they are immeasurably
more economical than any other animal
and although they will thrive all the bet
ter for a bundle of good hay and few
pounds OF oats (four 70 six), yet they can
| live and work on nothing but the coarsest
kinds of straw and hay or grasses that
no horse would touch like thistles, bur
docks, prickly weeds and thorny bushes
the drier the better. Marshy meadows
and rank, soft grasses are the worst for
camels.
A never-failing index to the camers con-
dition is his hump (or humps which Is
nothing but bag of skin filed out with
fat, and which plays the part of a store
house So long as the humps are firm
and stand up, you may be sure your camel
is in good condition; whenever the humps
incline TO one side or hang, like empty
bags, down his back, the camel is in need
of better nourishment l have often seen
camels Especially in spring. so emaciated
that their humps looked like fold of skin,
and were quite empty. Certainly, the
animal becomes quite weak then and can
not work You can easily make your cam
ell regain strength and flesh in a very
few days by the following curious process
universally employed in the steppes):
You melt four or five pounds of tallow or
grease over a slow fire, let IL cool down
till 1t is lukewarm and then pour ii down
the camers throat, or, better, through
its nostrils, Repeat the process in a day
or two, and that is all. His humps win
rapidly fill, and the beast be ready for any
work within a week or ten days. A
pound or two of tallow administered in
this way whenever you see the humps
falling, will keep your animals in excel
lent condition
Mild and ARcctionate.
The camels need no particular care; their
wool or fleece is shorn once year, in the
| spring, and has a marketable value They
can be penned like sheep, but they hate
| confinement and they must not be stall
ed but kept (and that only in the sever
est winter weeks In large shed or barn,
| where they are free to move. A dry yard,
| with roof at one end for shelter, is the
| best thing all the year round. Camels
never feed in packs, and will go roaming
| apart over all the fields they can get, but
| they will let you come up and catch them
| whenever you wish. Their character Is
mild and affectonate, more like sheep
than any other animal; they are afraid of
strangers, and resent bad usage, but they
will follow a friendly hand like dogs.
They very soon became attached TO their
masters and are so obedient that here you