THE GENESEE FARMER. 



75 



with cornmeal, and a few drops of oil of anise is 

 added, it will attract the rats. 



Tarring and feathering rats, and then letting 

 them run, has been practised to give the tribe a 

 hint that it would he well for them to leave. One 

 rather smart individual, not having tar, used spirits 

 of turpentine. He was going to drive the rats out 

 of his house cellar. He was entirely successful; 

 for when he let the rat loose in his kitchen, with a 

 " shoo " to it to go down to the cellar stairs, it took 

 the kitchen fire in its course, and then a pile of 

 flax that lay in the cellar way. In two hours there 

 was not a rat in the house, unless it might be a 

 roasted one. 



Plaster of Paris has proved a successful poison 

 for rats; and it has the advantage of being quite 

 harmless to have about the house. A tablespoon- 

 ful of the flour of plaster, mixed in a cup of Indian 

 meal, and slightly sweetened, will be eaten by rats, 

 and kill them. A little grated cheese makes the 

 food more attractive. Oil of anise would be still 

 more so. In fact, by the use of it, rats may be 

 coaxed out of a house to eat poison and die where 

 their dead bodies would not be a nuisance. 



Phosphoms, powdered and mixed with meal, a 

 few grains to a teacupful, has been often used suc- 

 cessfully as a rat poison. 



Powdered potash, strewn in the paths frequented 

 by rats, has been known to drive them away from 

 a house. The theory is that, it pives them very 

 sore feet, and- disgusts them with the place. 



In England, rat-catching is a profession — sons 

 often follow it as the business of their fathers; 

 The rat-catcher visits a farmer, and contracts with 

 him at so much a head for all the rats he destroys. 

 His trap is a large bag, which is set with the mouth 

 open, baited with a piece of bread scented with 

 oil of anise and oil of rhodium, the scent of which 

 attracts the rats, and thus he bags enough to fill 

 the contract. He dees not desire to rid the prem- 

 ises, as that would "spoil business." A rat-de- 

 stroyer would not be tolerated by the honorable 

 company of rat-catchers. 



Among the many devices for trapping rats, we 

 will mention a few of the best. A large wire- 

 cage trap, where the second rat will go in because 

 he sees the first in there, often proves successful in 

 ridding a place of the pests. A large brass kettle, 

 half full of water, with a small stone island in the 

 center, just big enough for one rat to rest upon, 

 the top of the kettle being covered with parch- 

 ment similar to that of a drum-head, having a cross 

 out in the center, is a first-rate trap. Fasten a 



small bait upon the point of the cut, -and the rat 

 jumps down from a hoard arranged for the pur- 

 pose, and through he goes into the water. He 

 scrambles on the island and squeals for help. An- 

 other hears him, and comes looking around, sees 

 the bait, jumps for it, takes the plunge, and goes 

 down upon the other fellow's head. Then comes 

 a scramble for place, the stronger pushing the 

 weaker off to take his chance in the water. This 

 muss, as with men, attracts others, aud in they go. 

 He has heard of twenty in 'a night thus inveigled 

 to destruction. 



A barrel, one-third full of water, with an island, 

 the surface covered with chaff, and a bait suspend- 

 ed over it, he has been told, is an excellent trap. 



Ferrets and weasels have been highly recom- 

 mended to be kept about the barn to drive away 

 rats. The objection to them is that they drive 

 away the poultry also. Ferrets have been trained 

 so as to be obedient to the call of their master, and 

 used not only to hunt rats, but to drive rabbits out 

 of their burrows. 



Perhaps the best thing for a farmer to do who is 

 troubled with rats, is to multiply his stock of 

 cats. He knew one farmer who kept fourteen 

 cats, keeping up that number for more than a year, 

 by which means he got rid of all annoyance from 

 rats, and they also hunted the rabbits out of an 

 adjoining grove. 



^ i m 



Digging Potatoes — Again. — G. R. Hnderhili. 

 writes the Country Gentleman, in reference to the 

 article in the Genesee Farmer in regard to digging 

 potatoes early, that he has found from experiments 

 that no amount or hind of manure would cause the 

 potato to become diseased, and that the sure pre- 

 ventive is to plant as soon as possible in the spring, 

 with the early ripening kinds, and dig them as soon 

 as they are ripe. If every farmer would adopt 

 that plan, he is satisfied that we should soon hear 

 no more of the potato rot. 



Good Cows. — 0. A. Holmes, of Tompkins Co., 

 N". Y., informs us that he sold last year, from three 

 cows, between the 20th of March, and the 20th of 

 December, or nine months, 750 lbs. of butter, be- 

 sides supplying his family of three persons with 

 what they wanted for use. 



Jacob "Wat, of Peachara, Vt., is reported as hav- 

 ing raised HOf bushels of wheat, by measurement, 

 on 2£ acres of land. 



A chestnut gelding, called Garibaldi, in a lat« 

 hunt in Yorkshire, Eng., jumped 31 feet clear, over 

 high posts and rails. 



