262 



TffH PAHM. 



crow vrill light on the " island," and find too late he is canght. When hawks 

 are troublesome the only remedy is to shoot them. Yoii will soon notice 

 that he visits your yard about a certain time every day, and by watching for 

 him you can soon rid yourself of the troublesome visitor — of course provided 

 you are a good shot. 



Trapping GronnA Moles — Wc give an illustration iipon this page of a 

 very good and simple trap that may be siiccessfully used in catching that 

 troublesome little pest, the ground mole. It is made of two ash boards, a 

 full inch in thickness, seven inches in width, and two feet six inches long, 

 attached to one end by a broad butt hinge. The form given to the bottom 

 board is shown in the cut, the central slit being made to admit the free play 

 of the trigger, which is represented by itself in the right-hand corner of the 

 sketch. It is of iron, ten inches long; the lower part shaped like a paddle, 

 five inches long, one and one-eighth inches wide, and the left-hand end, 

 notched as shown, and three-quarters of an inch vfide perpendicularly. The 

 post, sixteen inches high, is curved to the circular sweep of the top board on 

 its hinge. The teeth, six in number, on each side, are riveted seven-eighths 



of an inch apart, in a 

 plate five and one- 

 fourth inches long and 

 one inch wide, contain- 

 ing four screw holes, 

 placed zigzag, and thii 

 is found much firmer 

 and more secure than 

 if the teeth were in- 

 serted directly in the 

 upi^er plank. The trap 

 is set, as shown in the 

 cut, across a mole 

 track, first digging a 

 hole eight inches square 

 and six inches deep, 

 and returning the soil, taking care to exclude all stones and large pebbles. 

 Press the earth down pretty firmly, and set the trap so that the trigger 

 touches the surface of the ground exactly over the line of the track. When 

 the mole goes along his accustomed road, and finds it obstructed, his move- 

 ments in reopening the track inevitably heaves up the surface, so as to set 

 otf the trigger, and the teeth on one side or the other will catch him. Weight 

 the trap with a heavy flat stone. 



Ridding the Land of Stumps— We have freq\aently noticed persona 

 ■when clearing land make a brush pile over a gi-een stump, with the expecta- 

 tion, apparently, that they were pursuing the right course to effectually rid 

 the land of its presence immediately, while in fact no better means could be 

 resorted to in order to insure its indefinite preservation. It has been the 

 experience of the writer that a stump should never be fired until it has be- 

 come sufficiently "seasoned" to insure its entire consumption, else the 

 charred remnant becomes impervious to the action of the elements, and it 

 will remain a troublesome customer to deal with for long years after. 



These thoughts are suggested from a quite recent experience in dealing 

 ■with some very " old settlers," which the Lauds on the farm ■wished to fire 



A GOOD MOLE TKAP, 



