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The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, August 07, 1907, Image 15

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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

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