rat’s bane, properly so called—a settler for the million. 
257 
RAT’S BANE, PROPERLY SO CALLED—A SETTLER 
FOR THE MILLION. 
For the benefit of all who may hereafter fall 
victims to the rapicity of rats, I will now, as briefly 
as may be, lay before them my military tactics, 
and explain how I finally brought up my corps 
de reserve , which gained me a decisive victory. 
Instead of commencinghostilities at once, on dis¬ 
covering the extent of the ravages committed, I 
gave encouragement to the enemy, by throwing 
in his way divers articles of food, such as drip¬ 
pings, lard, meat, bones, fish, and other dainties. 
This gave him confidence, and threw him off his 
guard, so that he revelled unsuspiciously among 
all the good things of this life, while I was secretly 
plotting his destruction. I took care, meantime, 
to secure all the hen houses, and shut the in¬ 
mates up every night, to protect them from their 
blood-thirsty foe. The great field day was Friday 
last, a day I shall long remember—I devoted en¬ 
tirely to stratagy. Nil actum reputans si quid super- 
esset agendum , [Thinking that nothing was done 
if anything remained to do], I completed all my 
arrangements before the hour of dusk, impatient¬ 
ly waiting for the rising sun of the morrow. 
Poison was my weapon; fresh herrings and sprats 
were my aid-de-camp. The poison was carbonate 
The Common Brown Rat. Fig. 72. 
of barytes, ground to an impalpable powder, and 
phosphorus. An incision was first made in the 
backs of the herrings, and the carbonate of 
barytes well rubbed in. The parts were then, 
as artistically as posible, reunited. The sprats 
being smaller than the herrings, and more plas¬ 
tic, were pierced through their sides with a 
sharp piece of deal wood. Had a knife, a fork, 
or the human hand touched them, all would have 
been vain. The barytes was then “ drilled in,” 
and other sprats not poisoned, were placed above 
and below them, so that the suspicion was dis¬ 
armed. “ Latet unguis in herba /” [There was a 
snake concealed in the grass]. It should be 
borne in mind that the barytes is without taste 
and without smell; hence its great value. The 
way in which I applied the phophorus would 
take more space to detail than you can well af¬ 
ford in one number of your paper. At a future 
time, I will gladly furnish particulars of this, and 
other interesting matters, connected with my 
recent experiments, for I have been both a “ sap¬ 
per” and a “ miner.” | 
When the preparations were all completed, I 
stationed my trusty messengers in every part of 
the garden andshrubberries—some under trees,! 
some in flower pots, some hidden by a brick, 
others partly imbedded in the garden walks, &c. 
They “did their bidding ” right bravely. On 
coming down stairs, the morning following, I 
found the enemy had fallen into the snare. There 
was a serious dimunition of the provisions fur¬ 
nished for their repast, and the hand of death 
was observable on every side. They had eaten 
ravenously ; they had been seized with cruel 
thirst; they had sated themselves with water; 
they had “ burst their boilers!” To use an ex¬ 
pressive, and most appropriate classical quota¬ 
tion, there was a visible “ Decessio pereuntium — 
successio periturorum ,” which clearly proved 
I had won the day. In a word, two days and 
two nights had effectually routed the whole 
army, and I was left master of the field. If it 
be urged by some, as perhaps it will be, that I 
am cruel, consider the agravation, an unprovo¬ 
ked and brutal attack upon a large affectionate 
family of sleeping innocents, who were ruthless¬ 
ly snatched from their beds at midnight, torn 
limb from limb, and their agonised bodies 
crunched ; aye, crunched is the word, between 
the fangs of murderous assassins. Oh ! “ had 
they ten thousand lives, my great revenge has 
stomach enough for them all.”— Agricultural Gaz. 
PACKING ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MESSRS. 
FRAZER. 
These gentlemen have one of the most exten¬ 
sive and complete pork-packing establishments, 
at Chillicothe, there is to be found in the United 
States. “ It is capable,” says the Chillicothe pa¬ 
per “ of scalding or singing 1,200 hogs per day ; 
and ample celler room for curing this great 
number, in the mode adopted by the owners du¬ 
ring the last two years, for the English market. 
But the thing that struck us, most forcibly, was 
the method here adopted of saving, and putting 
to practical use and profit , every part of the entire 
hog. 
“ First, the blood is carefully saved and bar¬ 
relled, for the use of the salt manufacturer ; the 
hair and bristles are sold to mattress and brush 
makers; the offal is cooked immediately, in a 
large tub for the purpose, and fed to stock hogs. 
The heads and feet, as soon as taken off, are 
put into immense tanks for the purpose, and 
steamed sufficiently, when the lard is drawn 
from the tap, and used in the manufacture of 
soap of every variety; the condensed steam 
drawn from the bottom, amounting to several 
hundred pounds, daily, is converted into glue. 
The leaf lard is carefully and cleanly handled, 
cooked in twelve large kettles, and has" we un¬ 
derstand, when manufactured, a reputation both 
in England and the United States, second to 
none in either country. 
“Attached to an immense boiler is a beautiful 
engine, that drives circular saws, a cornmili, 
planing machine, grindstones, and any number 
of pumps, besides forcing water to every part 
of the establishment. Here we saw a kettle 
containing 12,000 lbs. of soap in the process of 
making, and were told that three days were 
required to make a boiling; that the usual 
quantity made was about 24,000 lbs. per 
week, besides a sufficient quantity of soft soap, 
to supply the home demand. In one of the cel¬ 
lars are screw presses of 80 tons power, where 
