The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-08-21

tafy case on record of person having
heen killed or injured by eating apples,
pears, plums or peaches from sprayed
trees. or even by the use Of cabbage doc
tored with Paris green for the cabbage
worm. Every report making the rounds
o the secular press thus far of whole
families having been made sick by cat
Ing cabbage on which Paris green had
peen used. proved. ON my own investlga-
uon through the postmaster Of the place
mhefe this thing was alleged to have
| happened. merely an idle rumor based on
| helghoorhoad gossip. Neither is there a
single ease on record of an animal having
oeen poisoned by grazing in an orchard
Wnere the trees had been sprayed. and
where some Of the poisonous spraying
lqnld might have been scattered on the
grass. Arsenic in very minutes doses
| IS not liable TO kill or perceptibly iniura
large animal or man. The qualities
of poison which one can get into the
stomach by eating an apple from spray
ed tree. especially If peeled. or dish of
cabbage from a poison treated head are
less than homeopathic nothings Why
get scared by phantoms?
Cats and Dogs.-"Kill all the cats. for
they are the archflends among the enc
mics of bird life This statement Is cred
tied to Professor Hodge, biologist of
Clark university, and in Stiffness IL
matches DR.. Osler's famous recent saying
about ehloroforning persons when 10
years of age, or any other of the many
silly remarks emanating from college
professors or scientific experts. Some
cats do eat birds occasionally. Nature
has ordained that bird life should be
kept within bounds by the natural enc
mics of birds. Cats are not by any
means the wost enemies birds have.
l have two cats in and around the barn,
and | would not give them for all the
many birds / have on the place. | wish
they would keep the robins in check, but
they Will not touch a robin, dead or alive.
But they are hunting for mice and rats
all day, and believe all night, too, With
out these cats the place would be oyerrun
with rats and the fields with mice. In
short I find my cats eminently useful
animals. and they would be more useful
II they would also catch and kill robins.
Neither is there any need of having laws
for the protection of persons and prop
erty from cats, as we have laws for the
protection of persons and property from
dogs. The country Is overrun with dogs,
many of them most worthless ours, and
some dangerous. It would be less, silly
to say, XIII the dogs" than xiii the
cats | am sure that my cats are among
the most useful animals on the place.
Frauds on Farmers.-The honesty OF the
average farmer, and especially the aver
age farmers wife, Is best shown by the
fact that they take everybody else to be
honest. This honesty. which in many
cases amounts to gullibility. frequently
makes them the easy prey OF schemng
rascals. At the present time the crayon-
-pieture-frame fraud has been and Is
being practiced quite extensively In New
York state. In one of the interior cities
of the state a set of sharpers have es-
tablshed an art school"--of course on
paper only. the art probably consisting
mostly in artfully defrauding guileless
farmers wives. They occupy small
temporary office. but seem to be finan-
ciered and backed by another, so-called
respectable, firm. Their agents go all
over the farming districts of the state,
and possibly of other states, seeking to
colleet-from the farmers wives mostly
tintypes and photographs of living and
deceased relatives. as the case may be,
giving in return a signed contract In
which the firm, or TART school," agrees
to make and furnish. at the nominal sum
of one dollar, to be paid in advance an
enlarged crayon picture. The fat-type
heading art School," and a picture of
the large main building of the state uni
versity In the upper left-hand corner of
the contract serve to inspire the victim
with the confidence. and the agent de-
parts with the family photographs (some
times Of considerable value to the family
and their dollar or two. After months
of waiting, some other agent comes along,
bringing a cheap enlarged solar print of
the pictures, and Offering a cheap but
gaudy frame at an exorbitant price. II
the victim refuses to buy the frame the
agent retains Tor threatens to retain) the
picture as well as the originals until the
bargain is made