The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work

The white stripe on the skunk's back, while a valuable warning to all of what is approaching, is a disadvantage from the trapper's viewpoint. This stripe varies in length and some varieties are without it entirely. There is a story of the days when the Indians in western New York used to bring in many skunk skins to the local fur-buyer. One red man, a notorious cheat, came in one day with a single skin to sell.

"Long stripe or short stripe," said the buyer, whose prices varied with the length of the white stripe on the skunk's back.

"Ver' short stripe. How much pay?" said the Indian.

"Let's see the skin," said the buyer.

The Indian showed the skin, which was that of a young animal, and very small, the stripe extending the entire length of the skin.

"You said short stripe," said the indignant buyer, pointing the finger of scorn at the runty little skin.

"Short skunk, short stripe," said the Indian with a shrug. "What you pay?"

I cut out an item from the daily paper last week which had this headline: "Skunks sent him to college." Can you draw your own inferences? The fur of skunks is very valuable now and in many fashionable Paris shops it is advertised with large placards printed distinctly for their English-speaking customers, "Veritable Skong."

TRAPPING WOODCHUCKS

Judging by the tales they tell, New England boys of the passing generation spent most of their time trying to outwit the woodchucks which infested their farms. If all their tales were true, the barn doors of their respective states must have needed stretching to hold all the skins of all those woodchucks, and no boy could possibly have been long without that valuable possession, a whiplash made of woodchuck hide. This little cousin of the squirrels is neither very fleet nor very cunning. He has, though, very quick ears and quicker eyes, and knows that his hole is the safest place for him when boys are around.

The only excuse for hunting woodchucks is that they sometimes get so numerous as to do real damage in the garden, either by their holes and the mounds of earth they throw out, or by eating more vegetables than can reasonably be spared. A better game than hunting them would be to discover how they build their underground galleries. Are these mere holes deep enough to crawl into for safety? Is there more than one tunnel? Has the owner an exit as well as an entrance to his home? Has he a nest, and where and what is it? Does he hoard for winter, or hibernate?

TRAPPING MOLES

It is hard to get a new point of view. Having been brought up in the belief that the mole is a nuisance, pure and simple, I find myself unable on short notice to believe that this little blind miner is actually useful. If only he would confine his sphere of usefulness to some other neighbourhood than our lawn! We all think that his underground passages disfigure the lawn. But does the grass die where the tunnels run? I think not. You see patches of dead grass on many lawns, but do you find moles at work in these same lawns? In fact, the brown, dead patches of grass are probably killed by the white grub, arch enemy of grass roots. The mole is arch enemy to the white grub and others of his ilk. According to people who know about moles, we ought to decorate them with medals instead of trapping them and decorating the barn door with their tiny skins.

The first mole I ever saw was one brought in by our old cat. She laid it down with a sort of shamefaced air as much as to say, "Things have come to a pretty pass when a self-respecting cat is obliged to bring in the likes of that. It fair turns my stomach!" It was not an attractive object, but we children turned it over and over with a stick. What an odd shape, so unlike the animals familiar to us. Its nose like a gimlet, its fore feet like little shovels; no wonder it could tunnel. No eyes, no ears; but what use has a mole for either? Do you know what Oliver Herford said of the mole?

No one can say that the mole has not a redeeming feature. Surely there is no creature clad in a coat of more surpassing softness and fineness than the mole. Are the exquisite "moleskin" garments sometimes seen in furriers' windows really made of tiny skins of this despised little quadruped?

It is not likely that any of us will ever catch many moles. If they are troublesome in your lawn, you and the neighbour boys can do some trapping with mole traps. They are of a kind specially fitted to outwit the mole in his tunnel, and directions accompany each trap.

Every boy knows what "knuckle down" means and how sore your knuckles get in marble time. There is usually one boy in the crowd who is lucky enough to have a knuckle dabster, made of moleskin. "There, use that. Soft as velvet, eh? Nope, don't want to sell it. Caught a mole last summer, tanned the skin myself and my mother made this for me, like the one in 'The Boy's Own Book.' Wouldn't take a dollar for it."

TRAPPING MUSKRATS

The first fur collar I ever had was sold to me as "electric seal." There was no deception practised on me, for I knew that the fur was neither electric nor seal. But I didn't know then that it was muskrat fur. They call it Hudson seal nowadays, I believe. These small relatives of the beaver have so few natural enemies, and are so prolific that they are in no danger of disappearing from our ponds and sluggish streams. The beaver, on the other hand, is supposed to be protected by law. Until it is against the law to sell and to wear beaver skins, trappers will evade the law and escape the fines.

Muskrat fur is not so fine nor thick as that of the beaver and not nearly so expensive. A fresh skin is worth twenty-five to forty cents. They are more in demand now than ever, owing to the fashionable demand for furs and the scarcity of other fur-bearing animals. There are many ways of trapping them. As they are aquatic and active in the winter they are often taken through the ice. Muskrat trappers are always good skaters. A hard blow on the ice will stun the rat, which is pulled out through a hole. They are sometimes speared through holes in the ice. A boy might develop enough patience and perseverance, as well as skill and alertness, in a job like this to make it pay better in some other field than the sale of the skins.

Muskrats are often caught in traps, too. To be successful at this it is necessary to learn a great deal about the little fellow's habits of life, his house, his food and his ways of escaping enemies. It is well to know his enemies, too. These are the fox, the mink, and the otter. You would be a lucky boy, indeed, if instead of common little musquash you bagged an otter whose pelt is worth fifteen or twenty dollars. My father has an otter skin cap about which he and my uncle tell a truly exciting story. They caught an otter, but that was sixty odd years ago.

Muskrats are the greatest nuisance in ornamental grounds where there are large water features. They have an unfortunate fondness for lily bulbs. The boy who can outwit them will win favour with the gardener and the garden's owner, with the muskrat skins thrown in.

TRAPPING GOPHERS

Our old dog Nimp was convinced that the way to get a gopher was to dig him out. Doctor Hornaday tells an amusing story about his having that same conviction when a boy. Many a night Nimp would come home from the pasture, panting, his coat all rough with the reddish soil that we knew had come out of a gopher hole. Weary, yes, but discouraged, never. The old dog would go back to his job morning after morning. Sometimes we would try to help by carrying buckets full of water and "drowning him out." Never did Nimp scent a gopher near the cattle well but once, and then the boys drowned him out with a vengeance. The hunted little creature leaped out of a hole so unexpectedly near where the boys sat that one turned a complete somersault and landed in the last pailful of water. Nimp was quicker than his masters and soon laid the bedraggled little miner at our feet. We felt pretty small.

Very little can be said in defence of the gopher. He is an undeniable nuisance and helps to bring the farmer's crop down to a lower figure than it ought to be. Traps and poisoned vegetables are swifter methods of dealing with the case than digging, for the gopher is himself past master in the art of digging.

TRAPPING THE WEASEL

One of the natural enemies of the pocket gopher is the weasel. If only we could set the weasel on the gopher and then had something like a mongoose to keep down the weasels! I never yet heard a good word for the weasel. He seems to be the embodiment of all that is mean and sly and hateful. It is undeniable that he does not obey the laws of the woods, that he kills for the mere joy of killing, and that is a high crime. Men with weasel-like ways get to have the same blood-thirsty look. The weasel is a savage, hunting every wild creature in the woods, rabbits, mice, chipmunks, moles, rats, grouse, chickens, and ducks, and even insects. He robs the nests of birds, eats eggs and young, and even the old birds are not safe from him.

I just read in a book that "weasels are so small that their fur has little value, but the time will come when it will be eagerly sought and used." Well, that time has come, but, who ever went to a shop and asked for a weasel tippet? But ask for ermine and they will show any quantity of it. The price! Well, wouldn't the weasel be surprised to find himself so popular. It all comes about because of that interesting habit of his, changing colour in the winter. The weasel is a sort of peculiar shade of brown as you can testify if you have caught one; the ermine is pure white all but the tippest tip of the tail which is dead black; yet they are one and the same. Weasel in summer and ermine in winter.

The weasel, the mink, and the marten are all enemies of the native wild game, and efforts to exterminate them are always applauded by sportsmen. Much is yet to be learned of their habits. Trappers have succeeded in keeping the mink and marten in check, but the weasel goes his murderous way, feared and hated by everybody.

TRAPPING RATS

There is no pest around the farm yard or barn yard anywhere so hard to cope with when once they get a foothold, as rats. Finding them numerous in the barn once, we put chicken feed in the uncemented cellar of the house. Before the end of the first winter of that arrangement we were praying for a visit from the Pied Piper. The rats took possession. They broke dishes, seemingly for the fun of it; they gnawed the softened woodwork around the kitchen sink and held high carnival at midnight throughout the spaces between the walls; they all but bit the babies in their cradles and defied all our efforts to outwit them. Traps, cats, poison, we tried everything, but they outstayed us. If ever we get into a like case again I shall be tempted to try ferrets or cyanide.

Some people are successful trappers of rats, and these suggestions come from them. Set a trap in a pan of meal or bran, cover with same and put it in a runway. Make the runway easy to pass through by placing boards or boxes along near the walls. Cover a trap with thin brown paper or cloth and set it in the runway. Smoke the trap over the fire and heat it hot (not hot enough to draw the temper of the steel), after each setting. Change the place of the trap very often. Wear gloves to keep the odour of your hands from the trap. The rat is the very wisest of all his family, his behaviour seems to be the result of impish intelligence rather than mere instinct for self-preservation.

No true sportsman will allow his antipathy to rats or weasels to lead him to commit acts of cruelty. Fighting them with their own methods makes you into a human rat or weasel.

TRAPPING RABBITS

There are times when rabbits get too numerous, and times when they are needed to eat, and times when you want to try your hand at taming a wild one. Under these circumstances it is legitimate sport to hunt or trap them. If damage is being done to crops in the spring we shall be forced to wage war against them in self-defence during their breeding season. Otherwise no sportsman would do it. If there is so little legitimate rabbit food in winter that they are driven to destroy fruit trees to get a little bark, then the inference is that there are too many rabbits. Study the rabbit's ways of living, and learn his weak points. Find out if he has a "tendon of Achilles" or vulnerable spot. Look one over. What are his conspicuous characteristics? Is it not evident that his life is one long series of narrow escapes? He has few, if any, wits; how low his forehead. Timid eyes. But ears! Can he not hear you coming a mile off? And LEGS! Did you ever see a greater development in that direction? Yes, in a grasshopper, but nowhere else. The rabbit is a perfect mammalian grasshopper. When you stop to think of it you will see a certain pathetic side to its life.

The rabbit has its wild enemies, ever watchful, ever close on its trail. The hawk, the mink, the weasel, the fox, the lynx, and others are rabbit hunters. Besides his quick hearing, and his swiftness, Br'er Rabbit has a wonderful power of becoming invisible. His nondescript colour, combined with his ability to "freeze," serve him as well as a cloak of darkness. The cotton-tail rabbit is commonest in the Middle and Southern states, while his bigger cousin, the varying hare, overlaps the rabbit's territory in the colder parts, and takes his place in the most Northern states. The varying hare is called also the snow-shoe rabbit and the white hare, but in summer he is dull russet brown. You may have heard of the wonderful change of colour of this and other animals. Interesting stories are told of the sudden blanching of the fur, of its turning white, "in a single night," like the locks of the prisoner of Chillon. Not a word of truth in that story. Why do people, whose only fitness for telling stories lies in their having an imagination, make up such yarns about real things? They could invent an animal and then tell as many wonderful tales as they liked and nobody would be deceived. The truth about animals is wonderful enough. If writers would only take pains to find out the truth instead of repeating fancies!

Suppose the early ancestor of the white hare had a grayish-brownish coat, just the thing to protect him from his enemies in a world all full of grayish-brownish things. But one day there came a snow storm, and all the gray-brown things were covered with whiteness, except the poor hare. Suddenly he became the most noticeable object in the woods. Then all his neighbours saw him and wanted him, and mostly they got him.

It was about then that the hare began to be the "varying hare." A law of nature came to his rescue. Some hares there were which were not so dark coloured as others. They may have been longer winded and swifter footed, too, but anyhow they escaped and lived to bring families into the world. As like breeds like, these young hares took after their parents, and because they were lighter coloured in the winter they in turn escaped and carried this peculiarity into the next generation. It took endless years, and innumerable generations of hares, varying this way and that to fulfill this natural law, and fix the habit. But now that it is fixed we may well view it with wonder, and call it an example of the law of the "survival of the fittest." How is the change brought about? Just as the chickens and the birds moult, and the horse sheds, so do the rabbits. Their summer coats are thinner and brown. One by one the brown hairs fall out in the fall till finally the new coat is there, which is white. It is not like the human hair changing from brown to white. In the fall and then again in the spring there is a time when the varying hare is a variegated hare, his coat being mottled with white and brown.

Rabbits are hunted with dogs and their trails in the new snow are easily followed by the hunter alone. They are caught in traps and snares of various kinds. In one of his lessons in woodcraft, Mr. Seton describes a rabbit snare as follows: "String, a shoe-lace, a buckskin thong, or even a strip of clothing may be used as a snare. There are many ways of making a rabbit snare, but the simplest is the best. The essentials are, first, the snare—an ordinary running noose; second, a twitch-up—that is a branch bent down or a pole set in the crotch of a sapling. The snare is fast to the end of the pole, and spread open in a well worn runway. The loop is about four inches across and placed four inches from the ground. The pole twitch-up is held down by placing the cross-piece of the snare under some projecting snag. The rabbit bounding along, puts his head in the noose, the slight jerk frees the cross-piece from its holder, and in a moment the rabbit is dangling in air."

Rabbit fur is not very durable but is much used for the manufacture of less expensive fur garments. Under the name of "French seal" it finds a ready market and is really soft and pretty.

TRAPS THAT BOYS CAN MAKE

There are a number of traps and snares that boys can make. Descriptions of these are to be found in books on amateur carpentry, manual training, and books for boys of various kinds. The illustrations in this chapter are intended to give a few suggestions.

MONEY AND RECREATION IN TRAPPING

I shall not attempt to go at this subject from a professional side, as I think no boys care to trap for a living. Whatever may be said about the boy having a gun in a thickly settled suburb, nothing can be offered against his trapping if he goes at it in an amateur way and with no intent to exterminate the animals (which only a shrewd trapper could do).

I will presume the boy to be attending a neighbouring school either on the edge of a city or in a town. Under these circumstances he must attend to his traps early in the morning or after school. At first there may be no more than enough money in it to cover the cost of traps, but nevertheless the recreation which it offers will appeal to the average boy. As his knowledge of animals becomes greater with time, he will get more and more pocket money.

When he starts in, the other boys may laugh at him and say that there is nothing to trap. In most cases they would make a big mistake, because there often are, on the edge of a city, more fur-bearing animals than in the surrounding country. This for the reason that the professional trapper is not present and most of the city boys do not know how to trap. There are, say, muskrats and an occasional mink along the rivers and streams. The swamps usually abound in muskrats. In the woods and fields are squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, and (in the North) woodchucks.

It is legitimate to catch the water animals in ordinary steel traps because, if set right, the captive is instantly drowned. For dry land the steel jaw-trap is not suitable, because it will rarely kill the animal, but cause him much suffering as it usually breaks his leg. Often in such case the trapper will only find a foot in his trap, the animal having gnawed or twisted his body free. Nevertheless any trap is humane which kills the animal instantly. There are many new traps on the market which will do this, but on account of their being patented and high-priced they are not extensively used. The traps which are most commonly used for this purpose are the deadfalls and snares.

The muskrat lives wherever there is a body of water. He feeds chiefly on vegetable matter which he obtains in the swamps or digs on the banks, although he frequently visits a cornfield or vegetable garden. Only in cases of extreme hunger, as happens when they are frozen in, have they been known to eat their own kin. In swamps they have houses made of rushes and twigs, standing in a rounded shape about two feet above the water.

To trap in the swamps one must have high rubber boots and if the water is deep a small boat is necessary. A home-made flat-bottomed canoe, made of canvas, will be found to answer the purpose admirably. Where it is shallow enough to use the boots, a long, heavy staff should be carried, as the mud is very often treacherous and interwoven with muskrat runways. I might as well say in the beginning that the intending trapper should take a friend into his confidence and the two set out to trap together, for in this way they can help each other out of difficulties. (My friend had to do some pretty stiff pulling once to get me out of a mud hole into which I had recklessly plunged, having only in my mind to get to my traps quickly.)

Along the rivers the muskrats live in holes in the banks. In trapping in such places one may walk along the bank or use a boat, setting the traps in the entrances of houses or in the runs.

Before the trapping season begins it is very wise to go over the territory and locate the different houses, runways, and feeding places. This will save time when trapping begins, which should not be before December, because up to this time the pelts are not in their prime. The trapping season lasts for about three months or until the ice breaks up in the spring.

If the water is not yet iced over, the muskrats can be caught with the steel jaw-traps. They should be set in the runs or at the entrances of houses so that they are just under the surface of the water. The chain should be staked in the water as far out as possible. The muskrat will in every instance try to swim out into deep water and the weight of the trap on his foot will pull him down and drown him. Traps may be baited with apples, carrots, turnips, and nearly any vegetable or fruit. The bait should be stuck on a slanting stick so that it will hang about a foot above the pan of the trap.

When the water is frozen over, other methods must be followed. Many trappers cut the houses open and set the traps on the inside, but those who wish to keep the muskrats in the vicinity will not do this, because it destroys their homes and causes them to seek new shelter. For my own use I have "stop thief" traps which kill instantly and are not very expensive. A hole is cut in the ice and the trap set before the house entrance or in a swimway. In going through, the muskrat puts his foot on lever a, which releases b, and this in turn lets down lever c, which strikes him over the neck or back, breaking it instantly. As shown, the trap is fastened with staples to a wooden prong, one end of which is stuck in the mud at the bottom and the other fits just under the ice.

Mink are rarely caught, because they are very crafty and keen to the scent of a human being. Once in a while they are caught in a trap set in the water or in the entrance to a muskrat house. This is accounted for by the fact that the mink preys largely upon these weaker animals in the winter when food is scarce. Sometimes they can be lured with a muskrat carcass or a dead bird. If the trap is not set under water there is little probability of getting the mink. The trapping of mink should be encouraged, because they kill not only muskrats, but chickens and other domestic fowl as well. One must use his own judgment and set his trap in a place frequented by the mink. Prime mink skins usually bring three or four dollars from any local fur dealer. On the other hand muskrats are more plentiful and bring only about thirty cents. Thus it is that some boys prefer to keep the muskrat skins and tan them at home. From these skins they make comfortable caps and gloves.

To skin the muskrat and mink, commence on the hind legs. The skin is slit down one leg and up the other. With muskrats the tail is cut away from the rest of the skin. The mink's tail adds greatly to the value of the skin, so the bone is carefully extracted with a pair of pincers and the tail left on the skin. The skin is then gradually peeled down over the body and head. It is then stretched with the fur side inward on a board as shown in the figure on this page. After this it is hung in a dry, airy place to dry, away from the sun. For home tanning a fresh pelt needs only salt, but the following solution gives somewhat better results and makes the skin more pliable:

• Salt, two pounds.
• Sulphuric acid (com.) two ounces.
• Rain water, one gallon.

The pelt should remain immersed in the solution for about two days. When taken out it must be first nearly dried and then the flesh side scraped and rubbed until soft with some dull steel instrument, such as an old blunt chisel. Care should be taken not to break the skin as it is very fragile in some places, especially on the belly.

The land animals can be caught in snares or deadfalls. Very likely most boys know of these, but I have illustrated them here in the forms which I think have served me best. Usually only the smaller animals are caught in the snare, such as rabbits and squirrels. To bait for either of these corn or apple is commonly used, although onion makes a good scent bait to draw rabbits from afar. Besides these named nearly any green vegetable or fruit will answer very well. These animals being maybe the least wary of them all are therefore very easy to catch. For an opossum green corn and a little raw meat is all that is necessary, while for a raccoon a crawfish may be added. This latter is considered the best, and hardly ever fails to lure the raccoon. The skins of the raccoon and opossum bring about a dollar and a half, and half a dollar, respectively.

Rabbits and squirrels are caught as game, while raccoons together with opossum are considered eatable by most trappers. The up-to-date people who order "marsh rabbits" at the most fashionable restaurants are eating no other than muskrat. These they eat with a great relish under the new name. I will add that it makes a great difference in eating a muskrat whether you let your imagination get the best of you. Many times I have eaten muskrat with quite as much comfort as though I were eating rabbit. Naturally the meat has a very strong taste which must be removed before cooking, by soaking over night in salt water. Young fat woodchucks are also frequently eaten.

It is hard to set down on paper just how and where to set the traps and it can only be learned from another trapper or by experience. The most important thing is to observe closely and learn the habits of the animals.

Stanley Coville

CURING AND TANNING SKINS

The boy trapper must know how to take the skins from the animals he traps, and how to treat them to preserve their beauty and value. The skin should be taken off before it becomes tainted, and with greatest care not to injure it. Some skins are exceedingly tender. Be careful to remove bits of fat or flesh; left to dry on the skin, these detract from its value.

No artificial dressing is needed to cure or dry a skin. The fresh skin should be tacked to a smooth board or drawn over a stretcher, fur side in, so that the air can get at it freely. It should not be put in the sun, or rain, or artificial heat.

When thoroughly dry, the skin is ready for market or it may be tanned at home. A boy fortunate enough to obtain a valuable pelt like that of marten, mink, or otter, will certainly want to try his hand at tanning. You want first to be sure to use a mixture which will not injure the fur but will fix it more firmly in its place. Never put any dressing on the fur itself. You also want the skin to be soft and pliable so that it can be made up into some form of garment. The following directions are adapted from "The Tricks of Trapping" by W. Hamilton Gibson, a reliable source of all trapping lore for American boys: "After every particle of loose flesh and fat is removed from the skin, it should be soaked for a couple of hours in warm water. While waiting, prepare this mixture: Take equal parts of saltpetre, borax, and sulphate of soda. Mix with enough water to make a thin batter. Paint the wet skin over thickly on the flesh side. Fold the skin flesh side in and lay in an airy place, for twenty-four hours.

"On the following day prepare a second mixture consisting of two parts sal-soda, three parts borax, four parts castile soap. Melt these together over a slow fire. Apply this mixture in the same manner as the first, twenty-four hours later. Fold skin as before and leave another twenty-four hours. Make a third mixture of equal parts of common salt and alum, dissolved in warm water and thickened with coarse flour to the consistency of thin paste. Allow this to dry on, then stretch the skin lightly and scrape off the hardened paste with the bowl of a spoon. Sometimes a second or even a third treatment with the last mixture is required to make the skin absolutely pliable, after which it should be finished with sand-paper and pumice stone. A skin thus dressed should be soft as velvet. The alum and salt set the hair securely."

APPENDIX

FREE PRINTED MATTER. HOW TO GET IT

In a few days you will get a printed circular giving the numbers and titles of all the Farmers' Bulletins and other free literature they have. Choose the ones you want and address another postal card to the Secretary of Agriculture. Ask for the bulletins wanted by number and title both, to avoid mistakes.

Some of the bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture are not for free distribution. They are too valuable. A charge is made to cover cost of printing. To get any bulletin mentioned in this list with its price, address a letter to Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., and enclose the amount in money order or coin. Do not send stamps.

(2) To get the bulletins of your own State Experiment Station you have only to address another postal card; this time to the Director of State Experiment Station, with the name of the post-office and state. If not sure of the title and number of the bulletin you want, tell the director what phase of the subject you are interested in. For instance, one experiment station issues several poultry bulletins. Do you want the one on "House Construction" or the one on "Feeding Pullets?" The more definite you are in your requests the more likely you are to get exactly what you need most.

To get the bulletins of another station than your own is not quite so simple. They have no fund for distributing bulletins in other states. But I have never failed to get them by asking for just the thing I need. It is well to offer to pay for these; the price is always small. Some of them are republished by the United States Department of Agriculture and appear in their free list as Experiment Station Work, I, II, III, etc.

(3) The booklets and catalogues sent out free by seedsmen and other commercial houses are mines of information, condensed and well arranged. You may be sure that the advice they give is good, too, as it is to their interest to have their patrons succeed. You can tell the difference very quickly between the "hot air" of advertising matter and the practical advice to beginners given in catalogues.

I most earnestly advise every one of you who is engaged in a money making enterprise to subscribe for some good periodical. There are good magazines devoted to many of the occupations, and some of the general magazines have special departments which are full of up-to-date suggestions which have not yet been put into books. The latest and best word on your subject is none too good and may make a difference of dollars in or out of pocket. If you devise any new apparatus or discover any time or money saving methods, don't keep these things to yourself. Help the world along by writing to some magazine about it. They are on the lookout for valuable novelties. The stories told by boys and girls in this volume have almost all appeared in a magazine first.

THE OUTDOOR WORKER'S LIBRARY

• Chapter III.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 22. The Feeding of Farm Animals.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 205. Pig Management.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 49. Sheep Feeding.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 137. The Angora Goat.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 64. Ducks and Geese.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 234. Guinea Fowl.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 357. Methods of Poultry Management at the Maine Experiment Station.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 177. Squab Raising. Price 5c.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 390. Pheasant Rearing in the United States.
  
• Bureau of Animal Industry Bulletin No. 68. Milch Goats. Price 13c.
• Cornell University Rural School Leaflet. Vol. 4. No. 1. Horses. Ithaca, N. Y.
• Poultry Bulletins Nos. 240, 282, 274, 249. Cornell University.
• The Poultry Book. Doubleday, Page & Co.

• Chapter IV.
• The Poultry Book. Doubleday, Page & Co.
• Our Home Pets. O. T. Miller. Harper & Bros.
• The Self-Supporting Home. St. Maur. The Macmillan Co.
• Goldfish Culture. Mulertt. H. Mulertt, publisher, 289 Fennimore St., Brooklyn, N. Y.

• Chapter V.
• Illinois Agricultural College Extension Course. Dairy Lessons for Use in Public Schools.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 413. Care of Milk in the Home.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 196. Usefulness of the American Toad.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 328. Silver Fox Farming.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 330. Deer Farming in the United States.
  

• Chapter VI.
• American Boys' Handy Book. Beard. Harper & Bros.
• Bound Volumes of Country Life in America. Articles on Swimming Pools, Springs, etc.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 138. Irrigation in Field and Garden.

• Chapter VII.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 397. Bees.
• A B C of Bee Culture. Root. A. I. Root Co., Medina, O.
• How to Keep Bees. Comstock. Doubleday, Page & Co.

• Chapter VIII.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 165. Silk-worm Culture.
• Chapter IX.
• Botany. Bailey. The Macmillan Co.
• The Sea Beach at Ebb-tide. Arnold. The Century Co.
• Cornell Nature Study Leaflets. How to Make a Collection of Insects. Comstock. J. B. Lyon, Albany, N. Y.
• United States National Museum Bulletin 39. Collecting Fossils, Plants, Insects, Shells, Arrowheads, etc.

• Chapter X.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 415. Seed Corn.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 175. Unfermented Grape Juice.
  
• New York Experiment Station at Geneva. Bulletin No. 258. (Popular edition.) Making Cider Vinegar at Home.

• Chapter XI.
• Farmers' Bulletin No. 185. Beautifying the Home Grounds.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 134. Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 155. How Insects Affect Health in Rural Districts.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 385. Boys' and Girls' Agricultural Clubs.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 368. The Eradication of Bind Weed or Wild Morning Glory.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 369. How to Destroy Rats.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 383. How to Destroy English Sparrows.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 396. The Muskrat.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 99. Insect Enemies of Shade Trees.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 28. Weeds: How to Kill Them.
  Farmers' Bulletin No. 54. Common Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture. Price 6c.
  
• Biological Bulletin No. 24. Grouse and Wild Turkeys in the United States. Price 10c.
• Bureau of Entomology Bulletin No. 25. Mosquitoes. Price 10c.
• Bureau of Entomology Circular No. 11. House Flies.
• 1909 Year Book of Department of Agriculture. Plants Useful to Attract Birds and Protect Fruit Trees.
• New Jersey Experiment Station Bulletin No. 216. The House Mosquito.
• Circulars issued by The Audubon Society. New York.
• How to Attract the Birds. Blanchan. Doubleday, Page & Co.
• Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping. Gibson. Harper & Bros.
• Trappers' Guide. Newhouse. (Try to get this book from a library.)