288 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



tended to, will do much to rid the premises of 

 mice. 



KEEPING 

 CATS 



DESTROYING 

 RODENTS 

 WITH GAS 



Some good cats on a place are often most 

 profitable stock. A mother cat with young kit- 

 tens to feed, usually does much effectual hunt- 

 ing*. In order to get the most out of cats, they 

 must be treated and fed properly. Keep them 

 out of doors, feed them only milk or milk and 

 cereal foods, and make them get their own sup- 

 ply of meat. We have known of western farms 

 almost cleared of rats, mice and chipmunks in a 

 single year by a half dozen good cats. 



Any rodents which live in holes that remain 

 open at the top of the ground, like prairie-dogs 

 and prairie-squirrels (often called gophers), may 

 be effectually destroyed by smothering them with 

 poisonous gas. In Nebraska they have used the 

 compound from which Pintsch gas is manufac- 

 tured. The more common gas for rodents is bi- 

 sulphide of carbon, called "hokey pokey" or 

 "medicine" by cowboys who sometimes put it on 

 a horse to make him active, when a "tender-foot" 

 gets into the saddle. 



This is a vile-smelling liquid made from coal 

 and sulphur. The commercial product is called 

 "fuma." It sells at wholesale for about ten cents 

 per pound. It evaporates very rapidly' and is 

 dangerously explosive if set on fire. The method 

 of using fuma'is to saturate balls of cotton, or 



