CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Another preparation is half a teaspoonful of powdered strych- 

 nine, two teaspoonfuls of fine salt, and four of granulated sugar. 

 Put all in a tin box and shake well. Pour in small heaps on a board. 

 It hardens into a solid mass. They lick it for the salt, and the sugar 

 disguises the poison, which kills great numbers. 



GROUND-SQUIRRELS 



Ground-squirrels are poisoned by the use of the poisoned wheats 

 which are sold in the markets, or by use of bisulphide of carbon, 

 or "smokers," which are arranged to force smoke into the holes. A 

 small quantity'of bisulphide of carbon poured into the hole, and the 

 hole closed with dirt, is probably the most effective squirrel killer, 

 when the ground is wet, so that the vapor is held in the burrow. 

 Smokers are also most effective when the soil is moist. When the 

 ground is dry, poison is the best means of reducing squirrels. The 

 following is an exceedingly effective preparation, of which a few 

 grains should be placed in or near each hole : 



Take strychnine, one ounce ; cyanide of potassium, one and one-half ounces ; 

 eggs, one dozen ; honey, one pint ; vinegar, one and one-half pints ; wheat or 

 barley, thirty pounds. Dissolve strychnine in the vinegar ; and you will have to 

 pulverize it in the vinegar, or it will gather into a lump. See that it is all dis- 

 solved. Dissolve the cyanide of potassium in a little water. Beat the eggs. Mix 

 all the ingredients together thoroughly before adding to the barley. Let it stand 

 twenty-four hours, mixing often. Spread to dry before using, as it will mold if 

 put away wet. 



To keep squirrels from gnawing fruit trees, or climbing and 

 getting the fruit, tying a newspaper around the trunk of the tree, 

 letting the paper extend out four inches at the upper edges, is said 

 to be effective. The rattle of the paper when the squirrels attempt 

 to get over it will frighten them. 



GOPHERS 



Gophers can often be destroyed by the use of poisoned wheat, 

 especially prepared with a little oil of rhodium, which seems to be 

 very attractive to all rodents. Pieces of fruits or vegetable, or the 

 succulent stems of alfalfa, into which a few grains of strychnine 

 have been inserted by making a cut with a knife-blade and then 

 squeezing it together again, are also handy conveyors of death to 

 gophers. There are two ways to put poisoned materials into a 

 gopher runway. One is to look for fresh open holes and put in the 

 poison as far as possible with a long-handled spoon; another is to 

 take a round, pointed stick and shove it into the ground near the 

 gopher mounds until it strikes their runway, then drop in the 

 poisoned bait. Close up the hole with some grass ; level down 

 mounds, so that if the poison does not kill all the gophers, you will 



