Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/384

 368 Popular Science Monthly

fully treated. *A few salient facts from this Shooting Snapping Turtles with

bulletin can be quoted appropriately here: an Ordinary Rifle

A defective rod is not, as commonly stated, necessarily a menace to a building. A poor

��rod is generally better than none.

Copper, aluminum and iron are all suit- able material for light- ning-rods. Iron must be galvanized.

Contact between different metals should, in general, be avoided, to prevent the danger of electro- lytic corrosion. Con- tact between lead' and copper is an exception.

Insulators in clamps fastening lightning- rods to buildings are no longer used, except in localities where prej- udice in their favor still demands that their use be continued.

No system of pro- tection for oil tanks has betn devised which

���A hollow copper lightning rod, crushed by a current estimated at twenty thousand amperes

��JUST before a snapping- preparatory to snooz- ing away a long win- ter, he makes a sort of itinerary of small lakes and ponds, apparently with the one purpose of stealing ducks and other water-fowl that live in game preserves. In this way, such ponds often become thickly tenanted with unwel- come inhabitants which are not easy to get rid of. The best plan is to keep the turtles out by means of a fence of coarse wire netting. If this precaution has not been observed and the pond becomes infested, the quickest way to exterminate the in- truders is to shoot them with a good rifle. Turtles are hard of hearing. You can
 * turtle makes up his berth

��is accepted by oil companies as giving a

degree of protection at all commensurate fire a rifle six times in their immediate

with the cost. vicinity without scaring them away. But

The loss of live stock in fields can be their keen sense of sight more than makes

��reduced by earthing wire fences by means of galvan- ized iron pipe or posts at intervals of one hundred yards or so, and breaking up the electrical continuity of the fence at intervals by in- serting sections of non-con- ducting wood.

Several ranchmen in the West and Northwest have adopted this method.

It might be well to add in this connection and just at this time when powder maga- zines and ammunition fac- tories are such an important factor in the world's affairs, that the system of pro- tection from damage by light- ning for such places is at present far from satisfactory.

���A half-inch groove gouged in a monument by a bolt of lightning

��* " Protection of Life and Property Against Lightning," by O. S. Peters, Washington, 1915. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. Price, 35 cents.

��up for any deficiency in hear- ing. They disappear in the water the moment they dis- cover anything unusual.

Snapping turtles appear to be very inquisitive. This weakness can be used to ad- vantage. Choose a conven- ient spot where you can re- main motionless for some time and watch your chance to fire the fatal shot. The foolish turtle will be sure to see something of interest and set out to investigate. He may swim a long distance, coming to the surface every few yards to inspect the object of his curiosity. When he is sufficiently near, take careful aim and fire. If your patience is as great as the curiosity of the turtles you will event- ually rid the pond of them.

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