510 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Nov., 1899. 
HOW TO GET RID OF RATS. 
Take a large earthen jar and set it in the ground near a building frequented by 
rats. The top should not be more than an inch or two above the surface of the 
ground. ill this to within about 5 inches of the top with bran. Place boards 
over it, but leave a crack wide enough for a rat to easily enter. Let this set for 
several days and nights, until the rats have got into the habit of visiting it. 
Then take out the bran and fill with water to within 6 inches of the top, and 
on this sprinkle a covering of bran about 2 inches thick. Cover as at first, and 
every rat that has been in the habit of visiting the jar will unhesitatingly jump 
in, and once in there is no escape for him. He sinks, and the floating bran hides 
him from sight of the next victim. By once more filling the jar with bran and 
leaving it for several days before fillmg again with water, suspicion will be 
diverted. If there is no convenient place for setting the jar in the ground 
where it will not be disturbed, good results may be secured by placing a board 
in such a position that the rats can easily climb into the jar.—J. Ll, Irwin, in the 
American Agriculturist. 
SULPHATE OF COPPER. 
ConstpERABLE complaints have been made that the prevalence of bunt in 
wheat crops where the seed has been pickled was due to the use of adulterated 
bluestone rather than to faulty methods of pickling. Similar complaints were 
made in Victoria; consequently the Department of Agriculture had samples 
sent in from various parts for analysis. Mr, A. N. Pearson, the Government 
Agricultural Chemist, now reports that in the majority of cases the percentage 
of sulphate of iron in the samples did not exceed 1 per cent., and in only one 
instance was it any way near 2 per cent. This is considered to be satisfactory 
evidence that the non-success of pickling cannot be attributed to inferior blue- 
stone, and there is little doubt the same applies to the other colonies. 
THE DIVINING ROD. 
Comparatrve.y few people in Queensland have had an opportunity of testing 
the efficacy of the divining rod as an indicator of the presence of subterranean 
water; and because they have had not seen experiments made, they are inclined 
to doubt, and to set down the experimenters as harmless lunatics inclined to 
spiritualism, palmistry, and the Obeah woman of Africa, As a matter of fact, 
there are many persons who are so constituted that the divining rod in their 
hands never fails to point to the spots where water may be obtained ata greater 
or less depth. It has been said that Moses obtained the water in the desert for 
the children of Israel by employing this method. However that may be, it is 
quite certain that water has been found in places where none was suspected in 
various parts of the world by this simple means, and there are at this moment 
people in Queensland who have been very successful in this direction. As for . 
the rod itself, it consists merely of a forked stick of hazel, willow, or peach. 
Indeed, it matters little from.what timber the rod is taken, although some years 
ago it was thought that nothing but hazel was effective. The simplest description 
one can give of the rod is that it resembles a boy’s catapult, but is larger, 
although not much thicker. ‘The best form of rod is a forked stick of some 
such timber as peach or wattle. 
The main stem should be about $-inch in diameter, and from 8 to 10 inches 
long, the two forks long enough to allow each to rest on the hips when grasped 
by the fhand. The fork haying been prepared, all that remains to be done is to 
walk slowly over the ground, holding the fork in the position indicated. Now 
it must be observed that all persons have not the faculty or power for discovering 
water by this means. ‘The word “medium” appears to savour of spiritualism, 
but it is an undoubted fact that certain persons have failed to find water, where 
at the same trial others, using the same rod, have been successful. _ There are, 
we are told, people who make a good living by discovering water when no surface 
water is available. “ss 
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