Dissolve the starch in a little cold water and add 1J pints of boiling 

 water, making a rather thick solution. While hot, stir in the strych- 

 nine and mix until free from lumps ; then add the saccharine and beat 

 thoroughly. Pour in the poisoned starch over the barley and stir 

 rapidly until the poison is evenly distributed; then allow the grain to 

 dry. When dry it will keep indefinitely without^ deterioration. 



By this method a coating of poison is formed on the outside of the 

 grain, which acts much more quickly than if the grain is boiled or 

 soaked in the poison. Squirrels are also readily killed by carrying such 

 coated grain in their cheek pouches while storing food for future use. 



PUTTING OUT THE POISON. 



The poisoned grain should be scattered (not placed in heaps) on clean 

 hard places about the colonies, the trails between the holes, along fences 

 and roadsides and other places frequented by the squirrels. The time 

 to apply it is during the dry season. If distributed just at the end of 

 rainy season, late March or early April, it will destroy them during the 

 breeding period, when one killed is equivalent to eight or nine later in 

 the season. The poisoning may continue, however, throughout the sum- 

 mer and early fall. This poisoned grain as it is scattered about is not 

 dangerous to stock, but is fatal to poultry. 



COST. 



The cost of preparing the material according to the formula given 

 varies from about $4.00 to $4.75 per 100 pounds. One hundred pounds 

 of the poiscned barley is sufficient to treat 200 or 300 acres. It may be 

 distributed from horseback. 



CARBON BISULFID. 



A tablespoonful of crude carbon bisulfid is poured over a small ball 

 of cotton waste, corn cob or other absorptive material and placed as 

 far down the burrow as possible, and the hole is tamped in. 



It is used to best advantage when the soil is wet. In wet soil the 

 interspaces are filled with water and thus general diffusion of the gas 

 through the soil is prevented. 



Carbon bisulfid is a volatile liquid and rapidly loses its strength 

 on exposure to air. It should therefore be kept in tight containers. It 

 is also inflammable and explosive. It should be used only in burrows 

 known to be inhabited by squirrels. The cost of crude carbon bisulfid 

 is about 8 cents per pound in 50-pound carboys or drums. 



The two methods described, poisoning and the carbon bisulfid treat- 

 ment, may well supplement one another. Where the area is extensive 

 the poison may first be used, because of its cheapness, and this followed 

 in the proper seas'on with the. carbon bisuLfid to clean up those that 

 escape the poison. **%*JMJk 



Small areas may be freed from squirrels, but these are likely to be 

 quickly reinvested again from tlie neighboring territory. It is often 

 important, therefore, for the people of a district t6 v unite in a coopera- 

 tive campaign and free large areas from the squirrel pest. 



