Evening star., 1946-12-04
This and That
By Charles e. Trace,DeH
aFALLs CHURCH. va.


Dear Sir:
'I have been faithful reader of your
ever popular column for about fiye years,
from time to time contributing my
observations as briefly as possible, hav-
ing made point of never reporting
tragedy of any sort. However, in this
particular instance I feel it Is my duty
to your many readers to relate my ex-
perience for avoidance of similar
accident.
"In my 10 years residence In the woods
/ had never seen rat until that after
noon, when happened to see sizable
one emerge from the foundation at a
point where the furnace pipe was trans
posed by plumber, leaving hole
through the kitchen floor.
II purchased an enormous trap, and
placed 1t ON the ground near the en-
trance, going out early next morning
to view my catch but was heart
broken to see handsome male cardinal
lying beside the trap. with hts neck
broken. having come early to sample
the bait.
II never quite got over my grief, but
have better method of disposing Of
this most unwanted pest, the rat.
Slncereiy yours, ". ~. y.
The better method, although our cor
respondent does not say so, Is the use OF
red squill. So
This material may be purchased again;
In the right sort of bait-meat or fish,
it will get them every time.
The point about red squill is that 1t
will not kill pet animals or birds. 1t
will, however. make them very Ill.
Rodents have no vomit complex; that
Is, they cannot get rid of anything
through throwing it up.
Humans, dogs, cats, even birds are
able to rid themselves OF the red squill.
Rats and mice, however, must keep
down what they eat. and In this way
their days are ended. The red squili
makes them seek water, so that they
usually do not die on the premises.
The use of this material Is. far better
than the deadly ingredients commonly
used in rat poisons"
Nothing shows what queer civiliza-
tion we have more than the fact that
such poisons cannot be purchased by
themselves, but may be secured In un-
limited quantities as rat poisons.
Recently we saw an entire drugstore
window filled with hundreds OF tubes of
rat poison containing phosphorus
Death from such mixture is horrible
In the extreme, especially when 1t Is
of pet animal.
The use of red squill obviates all this,
but extreme care should be taken even
in its use.
Best results are secured when small
quantities, about half teaspoonfui, are
used by themselves, number OF them,
OF course, but no one larger.
These should be placed In the runs,
poked down with large spoon or stick,
so that ordinarily no pet or bird can
reach them
While red squill is not supposed to
kill pets, it may damage household pets
and our songbirds, There is never any
telling, especially with the birds (who
live on short rations In the winter
whether they are In good enough con-
dition to stand an Illness
Our favorite gray squirrel, too. being
OF the rodent family, may not be able
to take" red squill, he, too, lacking
the vonnit complex,
It is best, then. to be on the safe side,
and place bats far back In runs, under
piles of wood, and In other positions 80
that our friends OF the outdoors cannot
get at them.
Red squill materials should be placed
just at dusk, after the cardinals have
left for the day. and removed at hrst
light the next morning, In other words.
although this Is safe material, inn
nitely safer than either drastic poisons
or traps, there Is no need to take any
chances with It.