POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21813, 19 June 1936, Page 17

POINTS FROM OTHER LETTERS

F. Gread (Ataahua), referring to the correspondence on extermination of rats, says: “I think the rats get access from the spouting, and under the ridging of the hip rafters. A few years ago in the loft of a farm building where I v, as working (the building was 40ft by 80ft with a 12-foot ridge and four hip rafters), I was astonished to see above my head a streak of black native rats all along the 12 feet, almost packed tight together with their tails all hanging down the ridge. As soon as they caught sight of me they all shot down the hip rafters and into the spouting. It was a splendid promenade. The ridging that covers the corrugated iron gives ample room for a fair-sized rat to scamper up and down. I think that if ‘Desperate’ could get someone into the loft with a ferret, and chase the rats out, look to the ridging where it comes down to the spouting, and also cut away any limbs of trees that give the rats access to the spouting, he might be able to sleep in peace.” “Age Quod Agis” gives an extract from “Cyclopedia of Receipts”: (1) When rats refuse to nibble at toasted cheese and baits, a few drops of highly-scented oil of rhodium poured on the bottom of a care top will always attract them. (2) Strew pounded potash in their holes. The potash gets into their coats and irritates their skin, and the rats desert the place. (3) Mix corn meal or wheat flour with Blaster of Paris or carbonate of baryta. This forms a hard*cake in the rat’s stomach, and kills it. Be careful to keep it out of the reach of children. (4) Sprinkle a litle calomel on buttered bread, and place where the rats can get it, putting a dish of water close by. This does not kill them, but makes them soon disappear. (5) One ounce arsenic, one ounce lard; mix I 'nto a paste with meal, and put abou! the haunts of the rats. They will eat this greedily. Rat poisons are objectionable because the rats are apt to die in their holes.

“Felix” says: I had a similar experience with rats in the walls and on the ceilings to that mentioned by your correspondent, “Desperate.” Traps were set and poison laid in all likely places, including the loft, but nothing had any effect until portions of the skirting boards were removed from the chimney corners. Traps were again set and poison laid in these openings. A baby mouse or two were caught, and one rat was found dead in the garden, but whether it was time for a general exodus or the rats saw that a determined effort was to be made to shift them, they just left. Your correspondent might try removing the skirting round a chimney, and will probably find ample evidence that the rats '.ave a rendezvous in that warm corner. Any of the phosphorus poisons will scare them away. “F.C.A.” writes: “In reply to your correspondent, ‘Desperate,’ if he ties a half-shelled walnut on his trap there should be no difficulty in getting rid of the rats. They are evidently native rats, which will not touch cheese, etc. Sometimes they will take bread. I cleaned them out of my house this way, but the half nut must be firmly tied on to the trap trigger.”

“Hops” asks for a recipe for making yeast.

“F.C-A.’’ write*.— “ln reply to your correspondent, ‘Desperate, 1 if he ties a half-shelled walnut on hi* trap there should be no difficulty in getting rid of the rats. They are evidently native rats, which will not touch cheese, etc. Sometimes they will take bread. I cleaned them out of my house this way, but the half nut must be firmly tied on to the trap trigger ”