424 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
price of eight cents a piece, I immediately availed myself of this 
unexpected benefit and had no difficulty in materially diminishing 
the number of woodchucks on the estate which, at that time, I had 
in charge. 
Mr. Wedger’s ‘‘ Torches.”” —In external appearance the wood- 
chuck torches resemble somewhat a Roman candle or a sky-rocket, 
tz. e. they are stiff paper tubes, about 6 inches long and 1.75 inches 
thick, filled with a combustible mixture and carrying a short fuse 
at one end. At the time of my first acquaintance with Mr. Wedger 
he told me in confidence the composition of the mixture used for 
filling his torches. Since his death the establishment which he 
directed has been closed and I am permitted to publish the follow- 
ing receipt through the courtesy of his son, Mr. W. L. Wedger of 
Boston. It is to be presumed that — knowing the composition of 
the mixture to be put into the tubes— any maker of fireworks 
could prepare the torches. 
Mr. Wedger’s Receipt for Woodchuck Fire. 
Nitrate of Soda 0.00.4... Sj 's ces eee 12 parts 
Pulphitiy vee ae a 1 ele) 2 G48 
Mealed-Gunpowder .... % +>. eee 4 2ks 
Sulphide of Antimony’; | ..-.):3)\. 4.0 ae plea Sie 
Both ends of the stiff tube in which the mixture is placed are 
packed firmly with clay, a hole being left in the middle of one of 
these plugs which serves not only for the insertion of the fuse, but 
is made large enough to allow of the suffocating fumes being dis- 
charged through it with great force. In using the torch, the fuse 
is lighted, the tube is thrust quickly into the woodchuck’s burrow, 
a piece of board or a flat stone is placed upon the mouth of the 
hole and a quantity of earth is scraped over the board with a hoe, 
in order to prevent any of the smoke from escaping into the air. 
The sulphide of antimony in the torch yields on burning a pecu- 
liarly dense and stifling smoke, and the combustion of the materials 
is so vigorous that the fumes are forced at once into every part of 
the burrow. It will be perceived that—as compared with other 
methods of smothering — an enormous advantage is gained from 
the vis a tergo of the burning torch, acting, as it must, to push the 
irrespirable vapor instantly to the innermost recesses of the hole. 
Several of my friends, on testing the Wedger torch, have found, 
as I did, that it is a thoroughly effective means of destroying 
