The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-07-06

limb to throw at one Of the little fell
lows: Zee little thief: swipe him one
sack. and heem swipe me two sacks"
Always, however, the wise little creatures
would store a superabundance of all
seeds. more than they could use in two
winters.
Another good reason given for follow
ing the squirrel Is its instructive knowl-
edge Of where the best and most abund-
ant supply of seed In found For months
before the seed season opens, the sQuir-
rel reconnoiters his vast domains and
led by natural intuition picks out the
most profitable haunts. SO that a plen-
titude of squirrels nests IL an almost
infallible sign of the presence Of a guam
tity Of good seed. This. Of course. saved
the seed gatherers much time and labor.
Since the season Ia SO short they must
employ practically all the time possible
In the collection and not in the finding
Of seed.
May Unique Tricks.
The many methods OF gathering the
seed and the unique tricks resorted to
by each Of the many camps. was interest
Ing For a while the whole camp worked
upon the same general principle. but after
little. each camp varied its work as
1t found most convenient. In some camps
where timbering operations were going
on. the men followed the wood choppers
and picked the cones from the felled
trees IT. others they were forced to
climb trees and knock the cones down
with sticks and long poles, while in still
others. all they had to do was to follow
the squirre.s. and pick up the cones these
little harvesters bit OF and dropped to
the ground for their own gathering. But
these little creatures are extraordinarily
af ali lark ND h.
quicker to get the best of them. II takes
b short while for a pack OF the ami
mails to infest a whole section OF the
forest. climb the trees. gnaw OF the
cones. drop them to the ground and then
scamper OF to some hollow log or damp
corner where they know the moisture
will keep the seeds full and toothsome.
They tLen stow them away. edging them
in SO carefully. like stone masons, until
every nook and Granny is filled.
The main idea OF the experiment was
least expense. This meant that an army
had to be organized or big industrial
concern be put into effect in a short
time. and for a brief period-or during
the ripening Of the seed in the late fall,
and the coming Of the severe winter
weather. which usually puts a stop to
operations. Accordingly the foreman
used every resource to encourage in
dividual efforts. First OF all 1t was
learned how many bushels might be con-
sidered fair gather. Then for certain
stipulated amounts over and above the
average. bonus was paid the men on
each days work. In this manner COM
petition was established. and the men
WED with each other to be the high
man" OF the day. AS a result, many
anecdotes and arguments
arose, which served to cheer the camp
ers around the mess table at their
evening smoke. where they usually gath
cred to talk about anything from the
lame footed squirrel that had tried to
bite one of them, to the race for the
pennant In the several baseball circuits
Big Bags of Cones.
Several OF the two bushel bags Of cones
weighed close to a 100 pounds. and II
on the back. formed quite al
heavy load. And yet there were some
strong men, in the crowd that man.
aged to tote them handily. Among
these were a crew of five Swede lumber
Jacks, strenuous and untiring workers.
who. with unfailing regularity. managed
10 gather in from fifteen to twenty
bushels a day. Once. while a party OIL
pickers was cropping about in a thick