POISONING AND TRAPPING = 295 
dough composed of four parts of meal or flour 
and one part of the mineral; or of oatmeal with 
about one-eighth of its bulk of the mineral; or 
the barium may be spread upon toasted bread, 
etc. A small quantity—say a teaspoonful— 
should be placed in the rat-runs, and repeated 
with change of bait until all the rats disappear. 
This is probably the best poison for use in 
dwelling houses. 
Strychnia sulphate is too rapid in action to 
make it advisable for use in our houses, since 
the animals die and decay in their holes in the 
walls and foundations, but for barns, ware- 
houses and outer premises generally it is the 
most effective agent. The dry crystals may be 
inserted in small pieces of raw meat, or toasted 
cheese, and these placed in the runs or burrows; 
or oatmeal may be moistened with a strychnine 
sirup, and small quantities laid in the same 
way. 
Strychnine sirup is prepared as follows: 
Dissolve a half ounce of strychnia sulphate in 
a pint of boiling water; add a pint of thick 
sugar sirup and stir thoroughly. A smaller 
quantity of the poison may be prepared with 
