I should not forget to mention the garter snake, which is the kind most common in these latitudes. This snake, which seldom exceeds three feet in length, is striped longitudinally with black and yellow, and is frequently to be seen lurking by the roadside or in the angles of the wooden fences. It is a harmless reptile, subsisting upon frogs, toads, and insects: at least, I can answer for the frogs, as I have often seen a garter snake gliding away from the wayside with one of these luckless batrachians protruding from out of its distended jaws.
These rough field-notes of mine may be useful pour servir: the herpetology of America has yet to be written. In what has hitherto been done, much confusion exists with regard to nomenclature, from the fact that the same species of snake is called by various names in different parts of the country. And there is yet another difficulty in running down ophidian facts here—that the lank hunter of the American forests is but little observant of the habits of creatures in which he is not directly interested as objects of pursuit. The English game-keeper is often a practical naturalist of no mean attainments, while the American deer hunter and trapper generally limits his observations to the wearers of antlers and “peltry.” It was bad encouragement for the enthusiastic investigator when, as he laid down much law on the subject of snakes, and especially of constrictors, the back woodsman to whom he addressed himself shouldered his rifle with a jerk, and cut off the lecture with the defiant words—“Let ’em constrict!”
AN INDUSTRIAL CHANCE FOR GENTLEWOMEN.
An inquiry which was addressed to me the other day has set me thinking on a subject naturally interesting to a large class of young women, and their parents and brothers. The inquiry related to Cheesemaking, as an occupation for young women who wish to maintain themselves by industry, and who at the same time prefer a country life to confinement at any town-employment, and have no turn for the studies requisite to training for governess-ship.
My sympathies are always won at once by a frank acknowledgment on the part of any girl that she is not fit for the great work of educating, and that she had rather have the ease of mind of an honest and lowly occupation that she is equal to, than pretend to greater gentility at the expense of her own self-respect, and fair play to her pupils. It was therefore very interesting to me to hear that any girl was inquiring about the Cheesemaking business as a means of maintenance. It is true, the more I considered the notion, the less feasible it appeared; but some considerations arose which it may be worth while to dwell on for a few minutes.
The first question in such a case is,—what office would such a young person propose to occupy? The scheme itself is no trifle, but a very serious matter: and we must therefore suppose that the young person is not indulging in dreams of a sunshiny life among green fields and fragrant kine, and gay gardens, and a cool dairy, and oceans of cream, and fruitful orchards, and rural innocence as described by the poets. The first question that her first adviser will ask must put to flight all the romance of the notion: viz.,—does she propose to be mistress or maid, when she goes into cheesemaking?
The first is evidently out of the question for any woman who does not possess a considerable capital; and this puts the case out of the question for girls who seek an alternative to governessing. Even if the land—some two or three hundred acres at least, if the business is to be a safe one,—was supposed certain to pay the rent and labour by the produce, there must be a costly stock and plant to begin with. The cows alone would cost a thousand pounds: and, as live stock must always be a precarious property, from the liability to disease and death; and as a seventh, or a sixth part of the cows must be set aside permanently as dry, or ailing, or wanted for the calves, or to supply the establishment, there must be money over, to keep up the unprofitable part of the stock, and to replace such as either deteriorate or die.
Again,—there is the training to be paid for. Cheesemaking is not a thing which comes of itself. It is a mystery which one must pay to be allowed to learn; or it is an art, based on science, which one must pay to be instructed in, as in the other arts of life. Till very lately, the process of cheesemaking went on, for the most part, by tradition and the rule of thumb; and it was dignified and venerable accordingly. Old-established houses had their particular secrets; and such houses asked high terms for admitting novices to their confidence, and required to be well paid for raising up rivals to their own custom. That aspect of the manufacture is pretty well over now. The chemists know more than any old-fashioned, traditional cheesemaker could tell; and experiments are being made, and implements are being invented, and consultations are being held, in all directions; so that there will soon be no mystery hanging about the operation at all. But if the fee is not required to pay for the secret, it is to pay for the new knowledge, and the higher order of modern skill. When all is paid for, and learned, the situation of the establishment may be so good, and its character so high, that it may in time yield a fortune to its proprietor. If so, the fortune will have been earned by severe toil and long protracted anxiety. If the enterprise only just answers, it will have been an anxious way of earning a moderate subsistence: and the interest of the capital invested would have yielded a maintenance, however humble, without the risks. Nobody admires and relishes the spectacle of such an establishment, conducted by a clever woman, more than I do: and I really do not see how a woman could put her ability and energy to better use. What I mean is, that the vocation is one which will always be naturally filled by the descendants of great cheesemaking families, or by women who happen to unite ability and liking for the business with the command of two or three thousand pounds.
But this is not what was meant by the inquirers, I shall be told. Women who have the command