RODENT Pp]STS OF THE FARM. 



7 



For poisoning mice in small areas, as lawns, gardens, seed beds, 

 vegetable pits, and the like, a convenient bait may be prepared from 

 ordinary rolled oats, as follows : 



Oatmeal formula. — ;Dissolve ig ounce of strychnin in 1 pint of boiling water 

 and pour it over as much oatmeal (about 2 pounds) as it will wet. INIix until 

 all the grain is moistened. Put it out, a teaspoonful at a place, under shelter 

 of weed and brush piles or wide boards. 



The poisoned oatmeal is adapted for Idlling either meadow or 

 pine mice, but for the latter sweet potatoes, prepared as follows, 

 have proved even more effective : 



Potato formula. — Cut sweet potatoes into pieces about the size of grapes. 

 Place 3 quarts of these cut baits in a pan or bucket, and from a tin pepperbox 

 slowly sift over them ^ ounce of powdered strychnin mixed with an equal 

 quantity of baking soda, stirring constantly so that the poison is evenly dis- 

 tributed. Poison should be applied as soon as potatoes are cut and bait should 

 be put out while fresh. 



The bait, whether of grain or pieces of potato, may be dropped 

 into the pine mouse tunnels through the natural openings or through 

 holes made with pieces of l:iroom handle or other stick. Bird life 

 will not be endangered by baits thus placed. 



WHITE-FOOTED MICE. 



White-footed mice, or deer mice,^ are of many species and are pres- 

 ent in almost all parts of the country. They live in fields and woods, 

 and while they feed on grain to some extent, they rarely are present 

 on cultivated lands in sufficient numbers to do serious harm. Occa- 

 sionally they invade greenhouses or hotbeds and destroy seeds or 

 sprouting plants. In the seed beds of nurserymen-, and especially in 

 those of the forester who tries to groAv conifers, they often do much 

 injury. They are, in fact, the most serious pests known to the conifer 

 nurseries of the Forest Service. 



In ordinary places white-footed mice may be readily poisoned by 

 the methods recommended for meadow and pine mice. Unfortu- 

 nately the seed of the pine is the favorite food of these animals and 

 where it is planted in abundance they refuse to take grain baits. 

 Crushed pine seeds poisoned with strychnin by the " w^et-grain for- 

 mula," given above, have proved effective in such places. Preliminary 

 poisoning of these mice on areas to be seeded to pine is highly recom- 

 mended. For seed beds, poisoning on surrounding areas two or three 

 times a year will usually prevent the approach of mice and give 

 immunity to the planted seeds. 



COTTON RATS. 



In parts of the Southern States a large native mouse, or rat, com- 

 monly known as the cotton rat^ (fig. 3), often becomes a field pest. 



^ Genus Pcrompscus. 



2 Genus Si(imodo)i. 



