RABBITS AND GROUND SQUIRRELS 241 



To remedy the injury done by mice, rabbits, and squirrels. 



1. Pare and clean the wound, and cover it thickly with fresh cow- 

 dung, or soft clay, and bind it up thoroughly with a cloth. Grafting- 

 wax bound on is also good. Complete girdling, when done late in 

 spring — when settled weather is approaching — can be remedied in 

 this way. 



2. Insert long scions over the wound, by paring them thin on both 

 ends, and placing one end under the bark on the upper edge of the 

 wound and the other under the bark on the lower edge. Wax thor- 

 oughly the points of union, and tie a cloth band tightly about the trees 

 over both extremities of the scions. 



Ground Squirrel or Spermophile Remedies 



1. Secure 5 quarts of clean wheat ; scald with water; drain. Take 

 I cup of white sugar, dissolve with sufficient water to make a syrup ; add 

 1 ounce powdered strychnine, stir thoroughly until a thin paste is formed. 

 Pour this on the damp wheat. Stir thoroughly for at least 15 

 minutes. Add 1 pint powdered sugar, stir ; add 5 to 10 drops of rho- 

 dium and 5 to 10 drops of oil of anise-seed. Place a few grains in each 

 squirrel-hole, putting it as far in as possible. 



2. Dissolve U ounces of strychnia sulfate in a quart of hot water. 

 Add a quart of molasses, — molasses, sorghum, or thick sugar and 

 water, — and a teaspoonful of oil of anise. Thoroughly heat and 

 mix the liquid. While hot pour it over a bushel of clean wheat 

 and mix completely. Then stir in two or more pounds of fine corn- 

 meal. The quantity of corn-meal will depend on the quantity of extra 

 moisture present. There should be enough to wet ev^ery grain of the 

 wheat, and no more. Let the poisoned grain stand over night, and dis- 

 tribute it in the early morning of a bright day. A tablespoonful is 

 placed near the mouth of the burrow, scattered in two or three little 

 piles. The best time to use this or other poisons is in early spring, 

 when the ground-squirrels are hungry from their winter fast, and when 

 the destruction of the old ones before the young are born will greatly 

 lessen the numbers of the pests. 



3. Bisulfid of carbon is also largely used. A small quantity is 

 poured into the burrow, and the hole is immediately closed securely 

 with dirt. 



