260 



THE FARM. 



Weasel, Rnt, and Vermin Traps. — The common steel rat-trap is fre- 

 quently used with good success in destroying these vermin, but we give 

 herewith an engraving of a trap in this connection (Fig. 1), which we think 

 will be found more effectual, and it is so eimple in its construction that any 

 one can make it. The trap consists of an oblong box, the end of which draws 

 out, and is provided with a looking-glass in the internal side, which attracts 

 the vermin on looking in. The entrance of the trap is formed of two spring 

 doors made of wire, which allow the vermin to enter with least pressure. 



These doors have sharp 

 points where they meet, 

 which, although not felt by 

 the vermin when entering, 

 will prevent it from with- 

 drawing after having once 

 introduced its head. Near 

 to the looking glass a bait is 

 suspended, and a cage is also 

 fixed with a chicken to serve 

 as a decoy. These traps are 

 self-setting, simple, inexpensive, fit for all sizes of vermin, and safe for the 

 house, farm-yard, or game preserve. 



We also give an illustration of another trap (Fig. 2), which can be easily 

 made by any person conversant with the use of a saw, hammer and nails. 

 The top and bottom of the trap are made of oak board one inch thick and 

 twenty inches square. It is divided into two parts, making really two distinct 

 traps. The comers are of wire about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, 

 and the sides and partitions of No. 7 wire. Holes are bored both top and 

 bottom, and the wires inserted. The corner wires are riveted, holding the 

 trap firmly together; the doors are of oak, three quarters of an inch thick, 

 and are kept in place by a cross wire on the top board of the trap, and by 

 two small staples near the bottom 

 edge of the door, which slide on the 

 upright wires on each side. The 

 treadle X is also oak, working on 

 the upright pin O, as a fulcrum, 

 and being held in place by the wire 

 hook V working on a pivot at P, and 

 on the lower end of which the bait 

 is placed. One side of the trap is 

 represented as set, the other as 

 sprung. 



Trapping tlie Jtlink, Sknnk, TKAP— FIG. 2. 



E<c — Next to the weasel, the mink is most dreaded among poultry. In 

 localities near salt marshes, swamps, ponds, and sluggish streams they most 

 abound. The ravages of the mink are easily told from those of the weasel 

 or any other animal. He almost always carries off a portion of his prey and 

 tries to secrete it. If you find a half-grown chicken or old fowl dead and 

 dragged wholly or partly into a stone wall or under some building, you may 

 be certain it is the work of a .mink; and if you go to viovkrighl, you will be 

 just as certain to trap him. 



One peculiarity of the animal makes his capture easy — ho alicays returns 

 to a spot where he has hidden his quarry, or where he has made a raid; and 



