1872 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
265 
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(For other Household Items , see “ Basket ” pages.) 
Neighborhood Picnics. 
I am glad we are growing- wise enough to see the 
folly of leaving all of blessed childhood behind us, 
in putting away childish things. We are learning 
■that play is as necessary as work, even for grown-up 
persons, and that innocent gayety pays. Besides, 
I do believe that we big folks are getting to feel 
more like brothers and sisters in the same great 
family. So we, who got cheated out of most of 
the fun of holidays in our childhood by the seri¬ 
ous-minded parents and teachers of a former gen¬ 
eration, are getting our Christmas presents and 
our holiday picnics at last. Isn’t it nice? 
Good-by to the old-fashioned village celebrations, 
with their pompous orators, their tedious proces¬ 
sions, their heavy dinners, and solemn cannonading ! 
And welcome to the village and neighborhood pic¬ 
nics, with their friendly greetings, social visits, fun, 
frolic, basket-dinners, and a safe good time generally, 
for old and young together ! That is the best of it, 
after all—old and young, rich and poor, learned and 
ignorant, happy together ! 
The genuine neighborhood Fourth-of-July picnic 
is Christmas over again so far as the spirit of Christ¬ 
mas goes. Everybody avants everybody else to go 
to the picnic and have a good time. The more the 
merrier. Calico and muslin dresses are in the best 
taste, and no one need stay away on account of 
dress. Cakes and tarts and jellies and ices are 
in order, and so are biscuits and doughnuts and 
Graham gems and plain bread and butter. Every¬ 
body can furnish something. If there are homeless 
ones who can not, we will take them into our 
party, and make them believe that nobody is obliged 
to carry provisions, unless it is convenient, and 
that those of us who make preparations for our own 
families, always make provision for two or three 
more, so that there will surely be enough and to 
spare. And let us be sure that such is actually the 
case. Let us have all the fruit possible, and free to 
all—great saucers of berries for children who have 
never had enough of any good thing to eat at 
home. Somebody will delight to furnish plenty 
of nice sugar. Let us have “lots” of lemonade, 
and why not cool milk also ? 
In many country places ice-cream is a great rarity, 
but it need not be too rare or too expensive for 
our rural picnic. I guess we can manage it. T„wo 
or three of us can club together, and furnish milk 
and cream and sugar. Excellent ice-cream can be 
made as cheaply as custard. "We may be able to 
borrow a freezer if there is none in the neighbor¬ 
hood. But there should be one in every neighbor¬ 
hood, if it has to be a “ company concern.” 
Let. us have plenty of light, sweet,‘delicate cake, 
but let it be wholesome. The great bane of cake 
is in the shortening. If you carry greasy cake to 
the picnic, somebody’s darling will cry on account 
of “a pain under her apron.” Look out for your 
tart-crusts, too. And don’t let the children take 
lemonade, or ice-cream, or ice-water, when exces¬ 
sively heated. 
Of course, you can take the baby along, if it is 
old enough to enjoy company, but keep it as se¬ 
cluded as possible. “ Outdoors” won’t hurt it at 
xili, but too much handling and baby talk from a 
variety of people may excite its nerves. If let alone, 
nature will divert it with the nearest pretty thing, 
and you will only do mischief by trying to call its 
attention to what you fancy might please it better. 
Give it very plain and simple fare, if you feed it— 
as much as possible like home-food. Go prepared 
for a shower, with umbrellas and extra shawls. 
At a picnic of this sort, every one should be 
ready and willing to help make the day a comfortable 
and pleasant one for all the rest. If you do not set 
tables, but simply spread your table-cloths on the 
grass and pass things around, sitting in groups 
here and there, there will be little work to do. 
"Whatever work is to be done, the young men and 
maidens should take upon themselves. It is just 
the opportunity country boys and girls need, and 
they will get a first-rate time out of it. 
It is a common mistake to stay too late. The 
children should get home safely before the earliest 
bed-time. It is an excellent plan to go in the fore¬ 
noon, have a good dinner in the grove at noon, and 
take quiet suppers at home. Let us have music 
and games, and perhaps dancing and swinging and 
boat-riding. There is no harm in having a good 
speech, but that should not be the main thing at 
such a social picnic. "We neighbors might a good 
deal better talk together about our common inter¬ 
ests than be talked at by an outsider. It is our na¬ 
tion’s birthday—Fourth of July is—and we are the 
people, you know, and wc had better see what 
kind of people we are when we are together, and 
what we can do to make better governors of our¬ 
selves for the great nation that we are. R. 
Trapping Rats and Mice. 
Most people, but especially those who live in the 
country, are at one time or another annoyed by 
rats and mice. The destruction caused by these 
animals amounts annually to a large sum in the 
aggregate. The garret, the cellar, the store-room, 
and all sheds and out-buildings belonging to the 
house, are liable to be infested by them, as arc 
barns, granaries, poultry- 
houses, and other of the 
farm buildings. Poison¬ 
ing is often attended by 
such unpleasant results, 
that it is not to be com¬ 
mended, and trapping is 
the most satisfactory man¬ 
ner of extermination. 
Much may be done in the 
way of keeping rats and 
mice out of an apartment 
or a building. If a cel¬ 
lar is well cemented, the 
Fig. 1.—BARREL TRAP. 
only chance a rat has to enter is through an open 
door or window. All rat and mouse-holes in store¬ 
rooms should be closed. . Strips of tin or zinc 
tacked over the holes will be of service. When 
the way of ingress and egress is stopped the animal 
must hide somewhere in the room. Hence, no 
unnecessary lumber, or rubbish that will afford a 
harbor should be allowed to remain. If we did 
less to make our buildings attractive to rats we 
should have fewer of them. Traps of various 
kinds are sold at the stores, some of which answer 
a good purpose. Almost any kind of a trap will 
catch a mouse, and the foolish little fellows are not 
deterred by the fate of a comrade from seeking a 
similar one. With the rat it is quite different, and 
it takes considerable cunning and patience to cir¬ 
cumvent an old rat that knows traps and avoids 
them. The best way to manage these old stagers 
is to patiently bait them at the traps, which should 
be so arranged as not to spring. When the rats 
have ceased to be suspicious of the trap, and will 
come to take their food there, then is the time to 
catch them unawares. If a steel trap or any of 
the ordinary wire traps are used, they should be 
thoroughly washed after a capture. A gentleman 
who is very expert at rat-catching informed us that 
Fig. 2.— MOUSE-TRAP. 
he considered this important,as a rat will very rarely 
go into a trap in which one has been caught unless 
it be well washed. 
A farmer friend, who has given considerable 
attention to the vermin question, gives us the fol¬ 
lowing : “Have traps everywhere. I give some 
illustrations of handy traps, which can be made in 
odd hours, and which might be placed where the 
vermin are expected. Variations of the same plan 
of traps will suggest themselves. Triangular pieces 
of tin, fastened about three feet above the floor at 
the corners of sheds, stables, and barns, will pre¬ 
vent rats from climbing up, while they will not 
prevent them coming down. And lastly, let it be 
Fig. 3.—TRAP AT WORK. 
remembered that owls find their natural food in 
such vermin, and will do no harm in the hen-roosts 
if these are kept closed at night. Therefore, if an 
owl should be seen around the premises in the dusk 
of the evening, it is not wise to rush to arms at 
once to destroy him as an invader of the peace. 
To make the traps, take a barrel (fig. 1) and support 
the head on pivots; a weight is fixed to one pivot 
to keep the head in position ; a few grains of corn 
are glued on to the head. When a rat or mouse 
steps on the head it turns and the animal drops 
into the barrel; the weight immediately brings the 
head into position again. The trap (fig. 2) is a 
smaller one, for mice, made of wood or tin, on the 
same principle. These traps should for a few days 
be set in the haunts of the vermin, fixed so as not 
to work, so that they will become accustomed to 
them. Then set for use. Fig. 3 shows the trap 
in operation. 
Home Topics. 
BY VAITH ROCHESTER. 
Hints to Visitors. —Do people who always 
keep help, and who entertain few guests, under¬ 
stand that the hospitality of other people is often 
a very serious matter which they can ill afford ? 
I have known city people to give up housekeep¬ 
ing and go to boarding, because they could not 
afford to entertain the company which they could 
not escape. Country cousins and old neighbors 
coming to the city on errands of business or pleas¬ 
ure, used their house as a sort of free hotel, taking 
their own welcome for granted, and giving as an 
equivalent for the trouble and expense caused only 
invitations for return visits, which they knew would 
never be made. 
It is certainly very convenient to have friends in 
the city, who will be really glad to see us at any 
time, and who can cordially and unaffectedly urge 
us to stay long and come again. One who has 
such sincere friends, need not be ashamed to accept 
their invitations, though unable to make any return 
of hospitality. Mutual love is sufficient reason, 
and will make all straight. 
I hope we all of us know the pleasure there is to 
be found in entertaining our friends, and in making 
visitors comfortable and happy in our homes. But 
when we already have more work than we can per¬ 
form or greater expenses than we can easily meet, 
we can only wonder at the assurance with which 
people who care nothing about us, make them¬ 
selves at home in our houses. I have heard my 
mother tell of the family that quartered themselves 
upon her one night, when her own family was 
young and numerous—a man and his wife with two 
or three children. The woman of the party gave 
mother a very cordial greeting, but mother was 
obliged to confess that she did not remember the 
lady. “ Why, don’t you remember,” said she, 
“ that our folks used to sit in the church-pew ad¬ 
joining yours, when your father’s folks lived in 
Massachusetts?” With great effort mother re¬ 
membered or pretended that she did, and on that 
pretext the traveling family got a good lodging and 
two or three meals. 
Country people suffer quite as much as city peo¬ 
ple from selfish visitors—perhaps more. A whole 
family of city relatives will sometimes swoop down 
upon some farm-house, expecting all sorts of at¬ 
tentions from people who can not wait upon them 
