56 i OF I.N SECTS, &C. 



the holes, or avenues by the sides of the sewers at 

 which they come in ; this puts a stop to the live 

 ones coming any farther ; for when they perceive 

 the arsenic they will retire immediately ; whereas 

 if you were to put down the dead rats without the 

 arsenic the live ones would eat them. 



What has been said relates chiefly to rats ; we 

 shall now give some directions for destroying mice. 



Take a quart of the bait prescribed for rats be- 

 fore there is any bread mixed with it ; then take 

 four nuts of nux vomica, and rasp them very fine, 

 otherwise the mice will pick out the food from it, 

 on account of its bitter taste : rub them well to- 

 gether ; lay some of it on a piece of paper, or, if 

 without doors, on a piece of tile, removing all 

 other food from the place, and it will kill all that 

 eat of it. What is not eaten, take away in the 

 morning, and replace it at night. If this be in a 

 garden, shelter it with boards, or tiles, that it may 

 not get wet. 



I would recommend setting fourth-figure traps in 

 gardens ; these are so well known to gardeners, that 

 they need no description. They may be baited 

 with garden beans. 



Traps are also made by stringing garden beans 

 on a piece of fine pack-thread, as you would string 

 beads, then driving in two small stakes at the 

 breadth of a brick from each other, and setting 

 up a brick, or stone, or a board with a weight on it, 

 inclining to an angle of about forty-five degrees ; 

 then tie the string with the beans on it, round the 



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