84 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



drachm of phosphorus, 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 mixtures a few 

 drops of oil of rhodium and spread on thin pieces of bread, like 

 butter. 



Recently a new plan of destruction has been devised by Mr. 

 Tegetmeier, the well-known writer on poultry. He describes, 

 in a late number of the London Field, his plan of operations, 

 as follows : — 



" At the commencement of this season I had a number of 

 very choice and valuable pigeons in a large loft situated over a 

 coach-house and stable. The flooring was very old, and numer- 

 ous rat-holes communicated with the space under the flooring 

 and above the ceiling of the stabling below. Attracted by the 

 corn, the rats came and took possession of this space. My 

 choicest birds were eaten alive by these most carnivorous of the 

 rodentia. I had tried poison, traps, &c., with only partial ben- 

 efit, and I had serious thoughts of selling off my stock of Colum- 

 bidse. At last, after deep cogitation, I determined to try a 

 chemical remedy, namely, chlorine, a gas so potent and destruc- 

 tive to animal life that I knew that, if I could apply it advan- 

 tageously, it must necessarily prove effectual. Fortunately it 

 is much heavier than atmospheric air, so that there was every 

 probability of its flowing down the holes if it once entered 

 into them. I therefore took a Florence oil flask, adapted a 

 piece of glass tubing to its mouth by means of a perforated cork, 

 and to the glass added a short length of India-rubber tubing. 

 In the flask I put an ounce of manganese and an equal weight 

 of common salt, poured on a wineglass of water, and then added 

 gradually an equal quantity of strong oil of vitriol, (sulphuric 

 acid.) The cork and tubes being adjusted, the apparatus was 

 ready for action. A spirit-lamp applied to the flask liberated a 

 stream of chlorine, a gas which, if breathed, except when di- 

 luted with many times its bulk of air, is absolutely irrespirable. 

 All the rat's holes having been covered over, one after another 

 was opened, the India-rubber tube introduced, and a stream of 

 chlorine directed down each. The space between the floor and 

 ceiling must have been filled with a mixture of chlorine and air 

 that no animal could have breathed and lived. Since that time 

 I have seen no rats. Old and young have alike disappeared. 



