ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 353 



will be injured, and the moths will be 

 destroyed by the heat and steam. 



RATS, To Destroy. — 1. When a house 

 is infested with rats which refuse to be 

 caught by cheese and other baits, a few 

 drops of the highly-scented oil of rhodium 

 poured on the bottom of the cage will be 

 an attraction which they cannot refuse, 

 2. Place on the floor near where their 

 holes are supposed to be a thin layer of 

 moist caustic potash. When the rats 

 travel on this, it will cause their feet to 

 become sore, which they lick, and their 

 tongues become likewise sore. The con- 

 sequence is, that they shun this locality, 

 and seem to inform all the neighboring 

 rats about it, and the result is that they 

 soon abandon a house that has such mean 

 floors. 3. Cut some corks as thin as 

 wafers, and fry, roast, or stew them in 

 grease, and place the same in their track ; 

 or a dried sponge fried or dipped in 

 molasses or honey, with a small quantity 

 of bird lime or oil of rhodium, will fasten 

 to their fur and cause them to depart. 4. 

 If a live rat be caught and smeared over 

 with tar or 'train oil, and afterwards 

 allowed to escape in the holes of other 

 rats, he will cause all soon to take their 

 departure. 5. If a live rat be caught, 

 and a small bell be fastened around his 

 neck, and allowed to escape, all of his 

 brother rats as well as himself will very 

 soon go to some other neighbor's house. 

 6. Take a pan, about twelve inches deep, 

 and half fill it with water; then sprinkle 

 some bran on the water and set the pan 

 in a place where the rats most frequent. 

 In the morning you will find several rats 

 in the pan. 7. Flour, three parts; sugar, 

 one-half part; sulphur, two parts, and 

 phosphorus, two parts. Smear on meat, 

 and place near where the rats are most 

 troublesome. 8. Squills are an excellent 

 poison for rats. The powder should be 

 mixed with some fatty substance, and 

 spread upon slices of bread. The pulp 

 of onions is also very good. Rats are 

 very fond of either. 9. Take two ounces 

 of carbonate of barytes, and mix with one 

 pound of suet or tallow, place a portion 

 of this within their holes and about their 

 haunts. It is greedily eaten, produces 

 great thirst, and death ensues after drink- 

 ing. This is a very effectual poison, 

 because it is both tasteless and ordorless. 

 10. Take one ounce of finely powdered 



23 



arsenic, one ounce of lard ; mix these into 

 a paste with meal, put it about the haunts 

 of rats. They will eat of it greedily. 11. 

 Make a paste of one ounce of flour, one- 

 half gill of water, one drachm of phos- 

 phorus, and one ounce of flour. Or, one 

 ounce of flour, two ounces of powdered 

 cheese-crumbs, and one-half a drachm of 

 phosphorus; add to each of these mix- 

 tures a few drops of the oil of rhodium, 

 and spread this on thin pieces of bread 

 like butter; the rats will eat of this 

 greedily, and it is a sure poison. 12. 

 Mix some ground plaster of paris with 

 some sugar and Indian meal. Set it 

 about on plates, and leave beside each 

 plate a saucer of water. When the rats 

 have eaten the mixture they will drink 

 the water and die. To attract them 

 toward it, you may sprinkle on the edges- 

 of the plates a little of oil of rhodium. 

 Another method of getting rid of rats is,, 

 to strew pounded potash on their holes.. 

 The potash gets into their coats and 

 irritates the skin, and the rats desert the 

 place. 13. The Dutch method: this is 

 said to be used successfully in Holland ; 

 we have, however, never tried it. A 

 number of rats are left together to them- 

 selves in a very large trap or cage, with 

 no food whatever; their craving hunger 

 will, at last, cause them to fight and the 

 weakest will be eaten by the others; 

 after a short time the fight is renewed, 

 and the next weakest is the victim, and so 

 it goes on till one strong rat is left. 

 When this one has eaten the last remains 

 of any of the others, it is set loose ; the 

 animal has now acquired such a taste for 

 rat-flesh that he is the terror of ratdom, 

 going round seeking what rat he may 

 devour. In an incredibly short time the 

 premises are abandoned by all other rats, 

 which will not come back before the 

 cannibal rat has left or has died. 14. 

 Catch a rat and smear him over with a 

 mixture of phosphorus and lard, and then 

 let him loose. The house will soon be 

 emptied of these pests. 



VERMHr,in Water.— Go to the nearest 

 river or pond, and with a small net (a 

 piece of old mosquito bar will do) collect 

 a dozen or more of the small fishes known 

 as minnows, and put them in your cistern, 

 and in a short time you will have clear water, 

 the wiggle-tails and reddish-colored bugs 

 or lice being gobbled up by the fishes. 



