Harper's Young People, May 11, 1880 Part 7

HOHEN SOLMS, LOUISIANA.

I am a little Southern girl. My father is a sugar-planter, and we have a nice home on the banks of the Mississippi River. We have a very fine pointer. In reply to the question of Joseph D. in No. 24 about taming wild rabbits, I will say that he must put them in a cage, not too small, and feed and pet them every day.

M. A. B.

GREENFIELD, ILLINOIS.

I have a coach-dog named Beauty. When I play a French harp, she will cry and act very sad. She comes and lays her head in my lap, and seems to wish me to keep on playing. I can not tell whether she likes music or not, but she always howls when I play. I have a dear little brother named Lynn, a year and a half old. He kisses me good-by every morning when I go to school. I am nearly ten years old.

JESSE L. B.

ORODELFAN, COLORADO.

I thought I would tell you how much I like to have them hand me my paper at the post-office. My brother subscribed for it for me. I live in the Rocky Mountains. We own one-half interest in a gold and silver mine. We came here for my mother's health. She was very sick, and now she is well. I can have all the specimens from the mine that I wish for.

E. PALMER G.

ELWOOD, ILLINOIS.

In the piece about Easy Botany in No. 24, YOUNG PEOPLE, I read that bloodroot grows in New England. It grows out here in Illinois too, and I found some a few days ago. We have a pet dog named Maria. She runs after the chickens and pigs.

LILLIE MACC.

BELOIT, WISCONSIN.

I thought I would write to you about gophers. The gopher is a little animal which lives in the ground. It digs a hole about two feet deep, and it eats corn and other grain. Gophers destroy so many crops that the farmers do not like them, and they pay boys for killing them. I earned forty-eight cents last year killing gophers. I would take a club and a pail of water, and go to their holes. When I poured in some water, they would run out, and I would kill them with the club.

ARTHUR N. T.

The gopher, or Canada pouched rat, is a very remarkable burrower, as it will dig under-ground pa.s.sages extending in lateral galleries in all directions. It is difficult to capture, as it keeps open a means of escape on every side. The mischief done by this creature is very extensive. It delights to burrow among the roots of fruit trees, which it gnaws, until often a large tree dies from the under-ground attacks of this troublesome animal.

E. A. C.--It is impossible for us to comply with your request.

W. B. B.--Flowers are beautiful pets, and repay well the attention bestowed upon them. The large plant, with its wide-spreading bluish-green leaves, which bears the castor-bean, is raised from the seed, like any other bean. It is an annual, but it grows so rapidly that by midsummer it is already several feet high. In some countries this plant is called palm-of-Christ, and is much valued as a garden ornament, as its pale green leaves form a beautiful contrast when growing among ma.s.ses of dark shrubbery.

ADDIE P.--Your beautiful wild flower was so faded and crushed when it reached us that it was impossible to identify it.

G. H. FISHER and "NUCTUM."--In an article soon to be published in YOUNG PEOPLE you will find all your questions fully answered.

"SUBSCRIBER," BROOKLYN.--For directions for preserving insects, see answer to Katie R. P., Post-office Box, No. 27.

MARIE S.--Ocean Grove, Squan, or Seagirt, New Jersey; Vineyard Grove, Dukes County, Ma.s.sachusetts; and many places along the New England coast.

SHELTON A. H.--Turtles should have a big tub of earth in which to bury themselves in the winter. Or if they are let loose in a yard, they will take care of themselves, and appear again in the spring. Read the answer to Lyman C. in Post-office Box, No. 5, where you will find full directions for the care of turtles.

CHARLIE W. M.--Your charade is gracefully made, but too personal to be printed in YOUNG PEOPLE. Thanks for your pretty compliments.

Favors are acknowledged from Frank Graves, Lepine Rice, "Carlo Vite,"

Katherine Hall, Arthur Morse, f.a.n.n.y Pierce, Lucy Emmons, Paul R. H., Edith E. G., Evelyn D., "Sister," Graham Herford, Willie D., P.

Roodhouse, Bessie MacLachlan, Mamie W. Perrin, Frank H., Lawrence Pugh, Minnie Hilton, J. H. Loewen, C. K. Shelby, Garland S., Jacob Sehen, Wallace Stephens, Harry MacGraw, Agnes S. MacInnes, Dioma Russell, Aubrey C. Smith, Fred Zoller.

Correct answers to puzzles received from Pierre Jay, Edmund Taylor, E.

Clark, Lillie MacCrea, J. T. S., Robert R. S., John Whelan, Annie and C. H. MacB., Mary Greene, George H. Radley, Ruth Montague, Clarence Howard, Minnie H. Ingham, Philip D. Rice, Willie G. Springer, Claude and Bessie Comstock, Eugene and Maud Watson, Charley H. Gibson, Paul J. H., Eddie A. Leet, Mamie E. F., Shelton A. H., "Fatinitza," William G.

Macdonald.

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

DIAMOND PUZZLE.

In silent. To tear. A flowering shrub. To stuff. In skeptic.

M. W.