employed in taking vermin. I assure you that we could not run our 

 farm profitably without them. I have tried all the traps on the 

 market and have found them of very little use for our purposes. 



A trap built on the principles of the above, but which is so constructed 

 that live bait may be employed, is sold at $2.50 by the Trappers' Supply Co. 

 of Oak Park, Illinois. Specify skunk trap when ordering unless the smaller 

 size, designed for mink and weasel, is wanted. That size sells for $2.25. 



Mr. Rogers employs also the number 1 jump trap, manufactured by 

 the Oneida, N. Y. Novelty Company, which is obtainable at most hard- 

 ware stores. This is placed a few inches within one end of a box-like run- 

 way 30 inches long, 8 inches wide and 6 inches high. The runway is 

 placed next to the fence surrounding the pen and the trap's chain is fast- 

 ened to the runway to prevent the victim's escape after he is caught. 

 These traps are placed a few paces apart around smaller fields, but this is 

 not possible, of course, where greater areas are concerned. The runway 

 inevitably guides the skulking mink, weasel or whatever the vermin may 

 be to the jaws of the trap as he makes his way about the fence in an effort 

 to find an opening to his prey. 



Open steel traps in running water to do away with the scent of the 

 human body are frequently used for foxes and minks. The bait, a piece of 

 meat, is attached to a stick which is placed two or three feet from shore 

 and is long enough to hold it just above the water. Between the bait and 

 the shore place the trap, just beneath the surface of the water and located 

 so that its pan will serve as a stepping stone to the fox for the bait. Cover 

 the pan with leaves or moss so as to provide a dry footing for reynard. An 

 experienced trapper suggests the employment of two traps instead of one 

 in the manner indicated. Tegetmeier tells of a breeder who paints his 

 rearing coops white on the theory that foxes are repelled by the color. 



FEATHERED VERMIN.— Hawks, owls, crow blackbirds, crows and 

 blue jays come within this category. The shotgun is a handy exterminator 

 and the open steel trap, unbaited, and placed on poles near the pheasant 

 pens or fields, affording a convenient alighting place for hawks, is usually 

 quite effective. Mr. Rogers fixes sharp spikes, 6 inches long to the tops 

 of all the posts supporting the wire mesh about his fields with an occasional 

 exception and on this a steel trap is placed. The jaws of traps should be 

 wrapped with cloth, as innocent birds are sometimes caught in them. 

 This also minimizes the suffering of the creatures which must be destroyed. 



Messrs. Von Lengerke & Detmold of 200 Fifth Avenue, New York 

 City, sell a stuffed great-horned owl, ingeniously constructed so that its 

 head and wings may be caused to move quite naturally by means of 

 strings attached to them and conveyed to a nearby blind which conceals 



