The sun., 1908-12-13
E'SlHORNBD TOAD DFARMER
a TENDERFOOT MAKING GOOD
ON 4 DESERT RANCH.

AHNDEbFOUA ~HMNu uDUD
ON 4 DESERT RANCH. q
II Rains Only 0nce la Ten Years and ths
Therm0Bieter Gets Up 70 1sO Degrees
Tn the shade-Yet the Csantry Has ne.
sources One Nay Develep With Preft,
TIA JUAkA, Ne, leo; Dec. la reckon
the chap that sold me this land thought
he had ulA suiqided.' said Q tell lank indi.
vidual In q little desert settlement OF
Lower California nearer the Gulf than was
comfortable. Hbut no nissed his guess. On
/ sYou see, he sold me this ranch while T
was In the East. Showed me piotures d
4 illustrate the beautiful climate of Cali.
fornia. palms and roses. and said that's
what would couie OF the land when YOU,
got the water on Il. .,.
We've lived hero goin' on ten years
and It's rained once In that time enough
to wet things real damp. You, ought to
have seen II. The whole desert was
garden: but II, that osly happens once in
ten years you can't raise much. and I set
/ down and figgered out how could get
even. We've been holdin' our own on
game an things. but mostly sellin prod
ucts Of the country.
AThen there are products even whsrs
IL doesn't rainp' said the listener. E."
sYou bet your life. Step this way"
The stranger followed the man around
the house out into the sun dried yard,
whose pavement was as hard as adoba
could be made In q climate which knew
i3o degrees in. the shade -and no shade,
There was corral. which might have been
built for chickens. It was forty or fifty
feet long and q hundred feet. wide. tn,
fence not over three feet high; too low to
keep In chickens. 80. 1H
The man stepped over tho fence, and a.
he entered dozen horned toads started
Up S;;t Of the saii1; and wTisSied away
The man quickly picked one up: little
fat toadlike lizard OF reddish brown and
yellow tinte, covered with menscine
spines. Its head was seemingly triangu,
lar and protected by spiny collar. It's
body was fat. and.when the animal was
on the ground Il had way OF hattening
out nd sinking beneath the sand. It ,
had small eyes. with brows Of spikes, a !;
short tail and long clawed legs.
4I've turned horned toad farmer" !" said
the man. Il just nachuaily developed
the resources Of the country, end that's
&hat they are. at least In this eection-
horned toads and tarahtulas. 4Ff.Y
Il got the idea after I'd lived here q.
year and durn near starved, saw'a
notice in q paper that tourists wanted
curiosities and didn't stand on anything.
and especially hankered after horned
toads. - Z
We'll. stranger. IL I'd found a. gold
mine or an oil well It couldn't have Lit.
me harder. and 4 just knuckied to Il.
You couldn't walk ten steps without
raisin' horned toad. So set the chill
dren at work catchin' them, Figged up the
corral. which you see. and now we're In
the businees farmip,' hornsd toads, I
can supply them by the doaen, casioad.
ton. acre or square mile. and all sizes y
from ten cent piece up or down! and
almost any color you want. 9,'
PAINT Paint nuthinf! Suppose you
was buver and you kicked on the color
I 60 into the shed over yopder and bring
out two like this" and suitine the actio6
to the word. the man held out two toads
not black. bat very dark brown. Ft,s9
dead easy. found that when q horned
toad sits on black sand hs grows darker.
When he 10 on white sand he srows lighter
So keep the toads want black on DART
ground and when I want 'ena light keep
'em on white ground. xYY
How much7 Why, I get two bih
apiece for all I can seli in good eeasons.
Sometimes only half that. Ak them up
In, cages. little wickervork things, and
sell them at the stations TO tourists In
some Of the Arizona or New Mexico
towns. They bring 80 cents.. !,S~t
They take because they look 90 fierce,s
but are the gentlest things In the woTid.n
They went bite. won't spratcn ami are
the oleanest things Ia tho world. They.
dom eat. that IL. not enough TO require
any care. Yet they scare q woman whe'
has never seen one. They look AZ though
they'd stiok her full Of spikes. but they
won't. .sa .,T
There's only one quser thing that
hey do and it's mighty rare that they do
hat. but they have a way Of defendin'
themselves that knocks bitin' all hoIlef,s
? II see II can get one to do it, -ysJs
Going over the place the man picked out
several large lizards. Then he pinned
. paper up against the wall and began I'd,
'cratch the spiny hesd Of one Of the little
Inimals. II seemed to like it and bent
ts head around, rather enjoying it. y 80
He dropped this one and tried another,
hen called his dog an old hound. and
'ut the lizard down TO Its nose. The
lizard hissed. Then the man pointed its
'ead at the paper. about two feet distants
nd called the dog. As the animal
ouohed the lizard with It's nose the lizard,
lropped its head and four or 1--WE drops.
4 blood red substance struck the paper.S
aTalk about your air guns. p said the inSn.
Do you know where that came 'FRONT.'
The observer did not. NJ
Well said the man. you would
ACTUALLY think 1t came from the mouth.
nut it's from the eyes andth held up
he lizard and its eyes were suffuaed with
,lood, or something that looked like T.,
ihat's the only protection they have
little gland In the eye szseeiiis 70 81 piods (.
1hen they bend the head down, and they
an send two or three drops three feeti
r more. 49,. ~
,IN course. 1 don't depend upon tosds.l 4
sell spiders too. We have big taran-
ula here that lives In an open hole and
'audeTs about at night. It's easy to-
atch. and i collect them and qentipedes
or. the tourists. al,
Then there 3 spider that builds . /,
ywA AtAk 49, -s~4 ~.