794 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



the animals usually leave the premises in search of water. For this reason the 

 poison may, frequently, though not always, be used in houses without disagreeable 

 consequences. 



Barium carhonate may be fed in the form of dough composed of four parts of meal 

 or flour and one part of the mineral. A more convenient bait is ordinary oatmeal 

 with about one-eighth of its bulk of the mineral mixed with water into a stiff dough. 

 A third plan is to spread the barium carbonate upon fish, toasted bread (moistened) 

 or ordinary bread and butter. The prepared bait should be placed in rat or mice 

 runs, about a teaspoonful at a place. If a single application of the poison fails to 

 kill or drive away all rats or mice from the premises, it should be repeated with a 

 change of bait. 



Strychnin sulphate is too rapid in action to make its use for rats or mice desirable 

 in houses, but elsewhere it may be employed effectively. Strychnin sulphate is 

 the best form to use. The dry crystals may be inserted in small pieces of raw meat, 

 sausage, or toasted cheese and these placed in rat or mice runs or burrows ; or 

 oatmeal may be moistened with strychnin sirup and small quantities laid in the 

 same way. 



Strychnin sirup is prepared as follows : Dissolve a half ounce of strychnin sul- 

 phate in a pint of boiling water ; add a pint of thick sugar sirup and stir thoroughly. 

 A smaller quantity may be prepared with proportional quantity of water and sirup. 

 In preparing the bait it is necessary to moisten all the oatmeal with the sirup. 

 Wheat and corn are excellent alternative baits. The grain should be soaked over 

 night in the strychnin sirup. 



Arsenic is probably the most popular of the rat poisons, owing to its cheapness, 

 yet experiments prove that, measured by results obtained, arsenic is dearer than 

 strychnin. Besides, arsenic is extremely variable in its effect upon rats, and if the 

 animals survive a first dose it is very difficult to induce them to take another. 



Powdered white arsenic (arsenious acid) may be fed to rats and mice in almost 

 any of the baits mentioned under barium carbonate and strychnin. It has been 

 used successfully when rubbed into fresh fish or spread on buttered toast. Another 

 method is to mix twelve parts by weight of corn meal and one part of arsenic with 

 whites of eggs into a stiff dough. 



An old formula for poisoning rats and mice with arsenic is the following : Take 

 a pound of oatmeal, a pound of coarse brown sugar, and a spoonful of arsenic. 

 Mix well together and put the composition into an earthen jar. Put a tablespoonful 

 at a place in runs frequented by rats and mice. 



Poison in poultry houses. For poisoning rats in buildings and yards occupied by 

 poultry the following method is recommended: Two wooden boxes should be used, 

 one considerably larger than the other and each having one or more holes in the sides 

 large enough to admit rats. The poison bait should be placed on the bottom and 

 near the middle of the smaller box, and the larger box should then be inverted over 

 it. Rats thus have free access to the bait, but fowls are excluded. 



Trapping. Owing to their cunning it is not always easy to clear rats from 

 premises by trapping ; if food is abundant it is impossible. A few adults refuse to 

 enter the most innocent-looking trap. And yet trapping, if persistently followed, 

 is one of the most effective ways of destroying the animals. 



For general use the improved modern traps with a wire fall released by a baited 

 trigger and driven by a coiled spring have marked advantages over the old forms, 

 and many of them may be used at the same time. These traps, sometimes called 

 "guillotine" traps, are of many designs, but the more simply constructed are pre- 

 ferable. Probably those made entirely of metal are best, as they are more durable. 

 Guillotine traps should be baited with small pieces of sausage or fried bacon. Other 

 excellent baits for rats are oatmeal, toasted cheese, toasted bread (buttered), fish, 

 fish offal, fresh liver, raw meat, pine nuts, apples, carrots, and corn, and sunflower, 

 squash, or pumpkin seeds. Broken fresh eggs are good bait at all seasons, and ripe 

 tomatoes, green cucumbers, and other fresh vegetables are very tempting to the 

 animals in the winter. 



m 



