Oie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
919 
Fann Mechanics 
A Gas Gun for Woodchucks 
On page 724, W. G., North Carolina, 
gives remedy for ground hogs. Of all the 
different ways I have heard and read 
about, his method sounds most economical 
and efficient. Would he give details? 
There is much damage and irritation 
caused by the ground hog. W. c. S. 
Vermont. 
The rodents were becoming so plentiful 
In our young orchards <1,000 acres) that 
they were barking the trees and effecting 
considerable injury, and some means of 
combating had to be resorted to. I vis¬ 
ited the Bureau of Biological Survey in 
Washington, D. C., in person, and there 
got the idea that we put to work so suc¬ 
cessfully in our'orchards. 
I'aporized carbon bisulphide, a poison 
gas that is colorless and heavier than air, 
if forced into the holes, would do the 
work most effectually, we Avere told. AVe 
were also told that a pump for vaporizing 
this liquid was manufactured and sold on 
the Pacific coast, but that was two or 
three weeks aAvay, and in that time we 
Avere in danger of losing several acres of 
young trees from these rodents. A little 
“Yankee” ingenuity soon converted a 
small compressed-air sprayer into a aui- 
porizer that proved to be efficient in every 
l^l)r(n/er Converted into a Vaporizer 
Fw //.5S 
re.spect. The accompanying .sketch, Fig. 
458, indicates the changes that Avere 
made in the sprayer. The pump cylinder, 
A, was extended to the bottom of the 
t.ank by soldering an addition to it, as 
seen in B, the valve Avas left undisturbed. 
The lower tAvo inches of the extended cyl¬ 
inder, B, Avas perforated Avith small holes 
as seen at C, and through these small 
holes the air Avas forced out into the 
liquid, and as the liquid is A'ery A'olatile 
a f(‘w .strokes of the pump soon fills the 
Tipper part of the pump with almost a 
saturated atmosphere of carbon bisulphide 
gas. The outlet pipe, I), in the sprayer 
originally extendeiJ to the bottom of the 
tank, as shoAvn by the dotted lines; this 
was cut off at E, so that only gas could 
enter it. A cut-off valve Avas placed a 
short distance from the inimp and Avith 
about 10 feet of additional hose to slip 
into the burrows the outfit was ready for 
operation. A gallon of liiiuid costing 55 
cents at that time (1914) Avould A'apor- 
ize sufficient gas to plug about 20 holes. 
After the hose Avas introduced into the 
burroAv the entrance Avas elo.sed Avith soil 
and tramped in and then the pump Avas 
started and continued until the odor of 
the gas could be detected on the outside. 
The execution -Avas complete in practically 
every burroAV that contained a Avood- 
chuek. Occasionally a burroAV had .sev¬ 
eral entrances, and one or more was over¬ 
looked if the ground Avas rough, and in 
some of the.se the hog Avas missed. A 
man who smokes has no business hunting 
groundhogs Avith a gas gun, for the va¬ 
porized carbon gas is exceedingly ex¬ 
plosive and should be handled Avith care 
in that respect. Saturating bunches of 
waste or other absorbent material Avith 
the liquid carbon and introducing info the 
burroAvs has sometimes been effectual, but 
with any number of these pests to con¬ 
tend Avith a gas gun Avill pay for itself 
the fir.st day that it is taken out. We 
used to dig them out Avith pick and shovel 
just to get them out of the fields Avhen I 
was a boy at home in the Pennsylvania 
hills, spending one to four hours’ hard 
labor. I would like to take a gas gun 
now and tramp oA’^er those Pennsylvania 
hills again, just to get the descendants 
from the ones that eluded me Avhen I 
Avas laboring so diligently Avith pick and 
shovel. w. G. YEAGER, 
DaA'idson Co.. N. C. County Agent. 
Home Grain Grinding 
During the past year wheat substitute 
retailed at high price.s, as everyone knoAA’s, 
and as I had a feed grinder and engine I 
ground cornmeal, Avhole Avheat ond. buck- 
Avheat for home use. While the feed-mill 
ground nice graham flour and cornmeal 
for mush and bread, when used alone it 
Avoiild not grind either corn or AA'heat fine 
enough to mix Avith flour for making 
bread. 
I cleaned up a small hand-mill I had 
not used for several years, took off the 
hand Avheel and put a 10-inch pulley on 
instead and fastened the mill Avhere it 
could be belted to a pulley on the feed- 
mill. The small mill runs at about 250 
rcAmlutions per minutes, Avhile the 4VL- 
inch grinding plates have fine grooves that 
because of the moderate speed produce a 
finely pulverized meal or flour. Of course 
the plates are set to run very close, and 
the mill grinds sloAvly, but the sloAvness 
docs not matter, as the small mill can be 
operated Avhile grinding feed or cracking 
corn on the feed-mill 
I had some ordinary 14 or 16-inch 
sieves, but these sieA’es Avould let about all 
the meal ground on the small mill through 
them, so the next problem Avas to get a 
finer sieAm that would take out some of 
the bran, especially from the cornmeal. 
In a feAv days I Avas able to get a piece 
of ,S2-mesh screen, from Avhich I made 
two sieves. These sieves take most of 
the bran out of the ground Avheat and 
corn, making a nice Avhole wheat flour and 
a meal that is nice for bread, but rather 
too fine for mush. The meat is better 
than bolted corn flour for most purposes, 
unle.ss it be •blending Avith wheat flotir. 
These sieves made the buckAvheat nice and 
fine, but either the mill or sieAm, or both, 
failed to make the rice flour fine enough 
for blending purposes. I’erhaps a 16 or 
40-mesh sieve Avould be better. I do not 
AA%ant bolting cloth, as I Avant to keep as 
much of the Avheat in the flour as pos¬ 
sible. The Avheat flour makes a sweet, 
nut-flavored bread that shows very little 
bran and has an appetizing color. I hope 
Ave do not have to go back to Avhite bolted 
flour again. 
The mill would cost noAV about .$.1.50 
and the screen about ,$1.50 for 18x,16 
inches. Such a mill is rather too hard to 
run by hand, though they do not need 
much poAver and may be operated by small 
engines Avhile running other machinery. 
We can get only .17 pounds of flour from a 
bushel of wheat now, so I can save a 
heavy toll on flour, besides a large saving 
on Avheat substitutes, and can have them 
fl’esh. w. E. PUCKAVALL. 
Highland Co.. Ohio. 
Construction of Septic Tank 
Can you tell anything about septic 
tanks, how to build them, and do they 
always work properly? l. a. p. 
Shelburne, Mass. 
Septic tanks are in common use for the 
disposal of seAV’age from homes or small 
establishments and are very astisfactory 
in operation. The principle is that of a 
dark, watertight compartment into which 
the seAvage is carried and where the solid 
portions become liquefied by the action of 
the organisms living in and upon them. 
As the chamber receives additions to its 
contents, the liquid overfloAvs into drain 
tile laid a few inches beneath the surface 
of the ground and distributed over a suf¬ 
ficiently large area to permit of the out¬ 
flow becoming pui-ificd by exposure to the 
air and organisms in the soil. Septic 
tanks are_ usually built of concrete and 
may be simple or complicated in design ; 
some of the plans offered by sanitary en¬ 
gineers being entirely too complicated for 
anything but expert installation. 
The State College of Agriculture at 
Ithaca, N. Y., has publLshed plans for 
.septic tank construction Avhich Avill be 
sent to those applyiiig for them. Other 
State experiment .stations have published 
bulletins of information upon this subject, 
and very likely your own at Amherst can 
furnish you with detailed plans, m. r. d. 
Cut Your Digging Cost 
Put machinery in the place of men. That’s the Avay to meet 
the help shortage and hold doAvn war-time expenses. You 
can cut digging cost, get along with less help, and do a quicker, 
better job by using the 
IRONAQE 
Engine Potato Digger 
$ 
The dy -2 li.]). “Ngav Way” Engine driA’cs the carrier. The team has 
only to open the furroAv. That’s easy Avork for tAvo hor.ses and you 
save one team for other Avork. The tubers roll out into a narrow 
roAV just right to basket. Should a stone lodge, an automatic clutch 
sets the engine free—prevents breakage. The engine is detachable 
and can be transferred in a jiffy to the IRON AGE Engine Sprayer, 
or it can bo used to run the ensilage cutter, pump, buzz saAV. and' do 
other Avork. We also make horse-driven diggers for those with 
smaller acreages. 
Write for catatoy 
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Rural New-Yerker, 333 W. 30thSt., NeAvYork 
