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'presence in spite of their singularly acute attributes of taste and smell.
Poison baits are best made as follows :—
One pound of powdered native barium carbonate is mixed
thoroughly in an enamelled basin with three pounds of flour made from
the grain which constitutes the staple food of the locality in which
operations are to be carried out. Sufficient water is added to ma,ke
the whole into a fairly firm paste. The resulting mass is sufficient for
some 2,400 baits, each containing three grains of poison, which are
conveniently rolled into pill form. Clean hands and dishes are
necessary to avoid imparting to the baits extraneous taste and odour
which may dimmish their attractiveness. Baits should be made fresh
each day as a hard stale bait is rarely eaten by the rat.
Poison baits made in the manner described should be laid in the
' evening, four baits on a small piece of paper being placed in situations
readily accessible to rats but not so readily accessible to children
and domestic animals. a Twelve baits, three groups, will be found
generally sufficient for an average sized Indian room. A careful
record of the baits set should be kept, and in the morning all
unconsumed baits should be collected and destroyed, note being made
of the number consumed wholly or in part, and the dead rats found
should be counted and destroyed. This process can be repeated daily
until no more baits are consumed. -Another baiting of the village or
town can be carried out some two weeks later. When baiting is
being carried out special efforts should be made to encourage house-
holders to keep all other available food for rats covered up, especially
at night. In laying baits the presence of rat holes, or other indica-
tions of the presence of rats, will afford useful indications as to where
baits can be laid with most chance of success.
If rat poisoning be carried out with careful attention to all these
details, a very notable degree of success will be achieved, with very
appreciable benefit when plague threatens.
.2. Trapping.—To effect a considerable diminution in the rat
population and to keep it at a low level by means of trapping is a rela-
tively expensive measure and one that requires careful and intelligent
supervision if results commensurate with the outlay are to be secured.
It is a measure, however, that usually excites less opposition than does
the use of poison baits, and if trapping operations be conducted with
energy and with due "1-egard to detail they are of very considerable
value as a plague-preventive measure.
Many rat-traps 011 the market arc defective in design and construc-
tion. Traps selected haphazard have very varying degrees of
efficiency, and recent observations have shown that the size of the
trap, the size of the inlet, the strength of the trap, the accuracy with
which the flap fits the frame designed for its reception, are ail
important points in determining the efficiency of the trap. Other
things being equal the larger the diameter of the inlet the more
satisfactory the trap. Experiments designed to determine the type of
trap best suited to Indian requirements are now in progress, and it is
hoped that specifications of the best all-round trap will soon be avail-
able.
R Fifteen grains of barium carbonate ^ill frequently Mil a cat ; 20 grains is fatal to
ohickens. Dogs can withstand A dose of HO grains,