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ers in the corner where he had kicked , them at dinner-time. By the feeble 1 light of a candle on the floor beside him he was sorting over the pieces of the wreck. “Why, Amos, what a start you gave me, here in the dark! What on earth are you up to now?” she demanded. He lifted to her a face which wore a sheepish grin. “I don’t know as I can get it fixed an’ goin’ before the weddin’,” said he, “but I’m goin’ to make a good try.”—Youth’s Compan ion. — Methods of Destroying Rats. We have seen various estimates of the loss caused to farmers, gardeners, fruitgrowers, and poultrymen by rats. The smallest estimate divided by two still shows a useless destruction of property which is too great to be realized by the mind of one who is not steeped in statistics. Farmers’ Bulletin 297, of the United States Department of Agriculture,, is devoted to “Methods of Destroying Rats.” The bulletin says: “The brown or Norway rat is the worst mammal pest in the United States. The yearly loss amounts to many million dollars, to more, indeed, than the losses from all other injurious mammals combined. In addition to its destructive habits, this rat is now known to be an active agent in disseminating infectious dis eases, a fact which renders measures for its destruction doubly important. A compilation of all the methods of destroying rats practiced in historic times would fill a volume. Unfortu nately, the greater number of them are worthless or impracticable. Few have more than temporary effect upon their numbers, and even the best of them fail unless persistently applied. Conditions vary so much that no one method of dealing with this pest is ap plicable in all cases. Among the more important measures to be recommend ed for actively combating the brown rat are: (1) Poisons; (2) traps; (3)* ferrets; (4) fumigation, and (5) rat proof construction of buildings. Barium Carbonate. —One of the cheapest and most effective poisons for rats and mice is barium carbonate, or barytes. This mineral has the ad vantage of being without taste or smell; and, in the small quantities used in poisoning rats and mice, is harmless to larger animals. Its action on rodents is slow, but reasonably sure, and has the further advantage that the animals before dying, if exit be possible, usually leave the premises in search of water: Its employment in houses, therefore, is rarely follow ed by the annoying odor which attends the use of the more virulent poisons. The poison may be fed in the form of a dough made of one-fifth barytes and four-fifths meal, but a. more con venient bait is ordinary oatmeal, with about one-eighth of its bulk of barytes, mixed with water into a stiff dough; or the barytes may be spread upon bread and butter or moistened toast. The prepared bait should be placed in rat runs, a small quantity at a place. If a single application of the poison fails to drive all rats from the premises, it should. be repeated with a change of bait. Strychnine.—Strychnine is a more virulent' poison, but its action is so rapid that the animals often die upon the premises, a circumstance which prohibits its use in occupied dwellings. Elsewhere strychnine may be employ ed with great success. Dry strych nine crystals may be inserted in small pieces of raw meat, Vienna sausage or toasted cheese, and these placed in the rat runs; or oatmeal may be wet with a strychnine syrup, and small quantities laid out in the same way. Strychnine syrup is prepared as follows: Dissolve a half ounce of strychnine sulphate in a pint of boiling water, add a pint of thick sugar syrup, and stir thoroughly. In preparing the bait it is necessary that all the oat meal should be moistened with syrup. Poison in the Poultry House. —For poisoning rats in buildings and yards occupied by poultry, the following method is recommended: Two wood en boxes should be used, one con siderably larger than the other, and each having two or more holes in the sides large enough to admit rats. The poisoned bait should be placed on the bottom and near the middle of the larger box, and the smaller box should then be inverted over it. Rats thus have free access to the bait but fowls are excluded., Trapping, if persistently followed, is one of the most effective methods of destroying rats. The improved mod ern traps, with a wire fall released by a baited trigger and driven by a coiled spring, have marked advantages over the old forms, and many of them may be used at the same time. The more simply constructed traps are preferable. These traps should be baited with small pieces of Vienna sausage or bacon. The trigger wire should be bent inward to bring the bait into proper position to permit the fall to strike the rat in the neck. Wire cage traps (French) also are useful for catching rats, but in the long run the kinds recommended above are much more effective. While trapping, all the food should be removed and the trap bait should be changed often. Rats are very suspicious, and baits and traps should be handled as little as possible. A ferret is useful for driving rats out of burrows and other hiding places so that dogs can capture them. An experienced person with dogs and fer rets trained to work together can kill many rats when they are numerous. But the amateur ferreter is likely to be greatly disappointed. The best way* of excluding rats from buildings, whether in the city or coun try, is by the use of cement in con struction. As the advantages of this material are coming to be generally understood, its use is rapidly extend ing to all kinds of building. Dwell ings, dairies, barns, stables, chicken houses, feedhouses, silos, tanks, cis terns, root-cellars, hotbeds, sidewalks and curbs are now often made wholly of concrete. In constructing dwelling houses, the additional cost of making the foundations rat-proof is slight as compared with the advantages. The cellar walls should have concrete foot ings and the walls themselves be laid in cement mortar. The cellar floor should be “medium” rather than “lean” concrete, and all water and drain pipes should be surrounded with concrete. Even an old cellar may be made rat-proof at comparatively small expense. Rat holes may be perma nently closed by a mixture of cement, sand and broken glass or sharp bits of stone. Rat-proof granaries, corncribs and poultry-houses may be constructed by a liberal use of concrete in the foun dation and floors. Rats, mice and sparrows may be excluded from corncribs by the use of either an inner or an outer covering of fine-mesh wire netting, sufficiently heavy to resist the teeth of rats. The common custom of setting corn cribs upon posts with inverted pans at the top often fails because the posts are not long enough to insure that the lower cracks of the structure are be yond iumping reach of rats. The posts should project at least three feet above the surface of the ground. The value of carnivorous mammals and the larger birds of prey in de stroying rats should be more fully recognized, especially by the farmer and the game preserver. Chief among the animals that are useful in destroy ing these rodents are the fox, skunk and weasel, and the larger species of owls and hawks. Rats destroy more poultry and game, both eggs and young chicks, than all the birds and wild mammals named combined, yet some of our most useful birds of prey and carnivorous mammals are persecuted almost to the point of ex tinction. An enlightened public senti ment should cause the repeal of all bounties on these animals and afford protection to the maiority of -them. Conclusions.—By the persistent use of traps, occasional resort to poison, and the exercise of forethought in the construction of farm buildings so as to minimize the opportunities for har borage, farmers and others may pre vent the greater part of the loss and annoyance they now experience from rat depredations. The same statement annlies in a great measure to citv and village conditions. Hence co-opera tion in the warfare on rats is par ticularly important and cannot be too strongly urged. THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST. HegM Harrg * B Pocket-Knives Axes or Hatchets—Bits or Chisels— Saws or Planes—Hammers or Screw-drivers tools—any tool —so long as you want the very bes t of its kind may be found among the famous f mu mm ] There is no argument—no question—they are *S it ■MhHhMNI t h e best you can buy at any price. So it is I ■ with any other tools you can mention together B Trowels, Manure-hooks, Grass-shears. Any B. tool for shop, home or field. I || m // 'We Recollection of Quality Remains I* 11 ■ // Long After the Trice is forgotten.” I II ■I // \X. -re Trade Mark Registered. II // *°° f \;V If not at your dealer’s write us. 5 , | ■LF / Book I2 I Ur / x2v SIMMONS HARDWARE COMPANY, 5 ee St. Louis and New York, U. S. A. $50.00, CASH, FREE Can You Countthe Squares?._ Here, for once, is an original puzzle—one that you have never tried before. Can you count the squares in the figure opposite? It looks easy at first, but It takes mmmmm quite a little insight and skill. There are a lot more squares in this figure than you would at first ever suppose. For instance there are sixteen little squares to begin with; then there is the big square itself, on the outside of'the figure—and a lot of other squares, too, if you are shrewd enough to find them. This ■■■■■ puzzle looks simple, hut if you can make out as may as seventeen squares, send in your list at once—im mediately—for the winners may not secure more. Read the list of prizes mentioned below. SSO 00 IN PRI7FS I1 " 1 111 I—O ing in the correct or nearest • correct as well as the clev erest solution of the largest number of squares, we will give $25.00 in cash; to the second largest number SIO.OO in cash; to the third, $5.00; to the next five, $1.00; the next ten, 50 cents each, and there are no conditions whatsoever con nected with this contest. Where “ties” occur for prizes, such prizes will be di vided between the contestants who may be “ties.” If you count the squares best, you are absolutely sure of winning something. Therefore, send in your count at once —to-day. We give away this money expressly to introduce our great new monthly 32 page periodical. Therefore, no money is required from you whatso ever, as we make this offer in order to secure your address and to send you— absolutely free —a beautiful copy of what the publisher intends shall be the great est high-class magazine of Its kind ever published. This contest, consequently, is absolutely without restrictions of any nature. Therefore send in your solution at once —to-day—it costs you nothing, and, in addition, we will show you how you can also take part In our other contes A , in which there will be distributed monthly, $1,075.00. Address PUZZLE EDITOR, 375 West 58th street, New York City. For Information As to soil, climate and productions in the nation’s garden spot along the line of the Atlantic Coast Line Rail road in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Flor ida, write to WILBUR McCOY, Agricultural and Immigration Agent, JACKSONVILLE, , FLORIDA. 15