secretary's budget. 375 



Thirty-five pounds whale oil soap and four gallons coal oil to one 

 hundred gallons of water is recommended by the California Horticul- 

 tural Commission as the most effective insecticide. 



EXTERMINATING RABBITS. 



A New Zealand farmer has recently reported to a government in- 

 vestigating committee his experience in clearing some 70,000 acres 

 which had been overrun by rabbits. For several years from 100 to 120 

 men were kept constantly employed With dogs in pursuing the rabbits, 

 but with little effect. Then the entire tract was inclosed with wire 

 netting and phosphorized oats were thickly sprinkled around the 

 "runs," with the result that four hundred to five hundred dead rabbits 

 were picked up every day for a long time. As a result of a year's 

 work some 300,000 rabbit skins were preserved and shipped to Eng- 

 land, where they brought four to six pence each. Before the introduc- 

 tion of poisoned oats about $25,000 yearly had been spent in fighting 

 the rabbits, but now this has been cut down to an almost nominal sum. 

 The method of preparing the poison is as follows : The oats were first 

 well boiled in a caldron holding about 120 pounds. A pound and a half 

 of phosphorus was then put in a bucket of water, and stirred carefully 

 until it commenced to ignite, when it was thoroughly dissolved. The 

 oats were then put into a barrel arranged for revolving rapidly, and 

 the phosphorized water was poured into it and the opening immedi- 

 ately closed. The barrel was then revolved, and the phosphorus 

 allowed to soak in the oats for about an hour, until the whole was 

 thoroughly amalgamated. There is no danger of the phosphorus 

 catching fire if properly handled. Little heaps of the phosphorized 

 oats are laid in lines all over the countrj'^, and at the end of three or 

 four days dead rabbits will be found in every direction. A farmer in 

 New South Wales has been experimenting in another way, but with 

 equally good results. Some seven hundred native cats were obtained 

 by him at a cost of about $500, and were turned loose in a rocky local- 

 ity which abounded with holes and had proved a welcome resort for 

 rabbits. At first no diminution in the number of the rodents was ap- 

 parent, but at the end of three months it was found that there was 

 hardly a rabbit left, and the cats were left masters of the situation. 



