s a general term, denoting those animals which are either directly or indirectly injurious to mankind, the inferior animals, or the fruits of the earth; as fleas, caterpillars, flies, worms, &c.
As we propose in this article to point out the means of destroying some of those animals, we shall employ the term vermin in a more extended sense, including also under it, mice, rats, moles, &c.
Rats and Mice.—Various methods have been proposed for the destruction of these vermin. The following preparation has been recommended as very effectual. Take of the seeds of stavesacre (delphinium staphisagria), or of wolfswort (pedicularis palustris), powdered, more or less as the occasion requires, one part; of oatmeal, three parts; mix them well, and make them up into a paste with honey. Lay pieces of this paste in the holes, and on the places where mice and rats frequent; and it will effectually kill or rid the places of those vermin by their eating it.
The Society for Encouraging Arts proposed a premium of L50 for a preparation capable of alluring or fascinating rats, so that they might be taken alive. In consequence of this, a great number of new traps, &c. were invented, and the following methods of alluring the rats to a certain place were divulged. One of the methods which is most easily and efficaciously practised, is the trailing of some pieces of their most favourite food, which should be of the kind that has the strongest scent, such as toasted cheese or boiled red herrings, from the holes or entrances of the closet to their recesses in every part of the house or contiguous building. At the extremities, and at different parts of the course of this trailed track, small quantities of meal, or any other kind of their food, should be laid, to bring the greater number into the tracks, and to encourage them to pursue it to the place where they are intended to be taken. At that place, when time admits of it, a more plentiful repast is laid for them, and the trailing is repeated for two or three nights. Besides this trailing and way-baiting, some of the most expert of the rat-catchers have a shorter, and perhaps more effectual method of bringing them together; which is the calling them, by making such a whistling noise as resembles their own call; and by this means, with the assistance of the way-baits, they bring them out of their holes, and lead them to the repast previously prepared for them at the places designed for taking them. But this is much more difficult to be practised than the art of trailing; for the learning of the exact notes or cries of any kind of beasts or birds, so as to deceive them, is a peculiar talent which is attained only by few.
In practising either of these methods of trailing or calling, great caution must be used by the operator to suppress and prevent the scent of his feet and body from being perceived; which is done by overpowering that scent by others of a stronger nature. In order to do this, the feet are to be covered with cloths rubbed over with assafoetida, or other strong smelling substances; and even oil of rhodium is sometimes used for this purpose, but sparingly, on account of its high price, though it has a very alluring as well as disgusting effect. If this caution of avoiding the scent of the operator's feet, near the track, and in the place where the rats are proposed to be collected, be not properly observed, it will very much obstruct the success of the attempt to take them; for they are very shy of coming where the scent of human feet lies very fresh, as it intimates to their sagacious instinct the presence of human creatures, whom they naturally dread. To the above-mentioned means of alluring by trailing, way-baiting, and calling, is added another of very material efficacy, which is the use of oil of rhodium. Like the *marum Syriacum* and *valerian* in the case of cats, it has a very extraordinary fascinating power on these animals. This oil, as it is extremely dear, is therefore sparingly used. It is exalted in a small quantity in the place, and at the entrance of it, where the rats are intended to be taken, particularly at the time when they are to be last brought together, in order to their destruction: and it is used also by smearing it on the surface of some of the implements used in taking by the method described below. Its effect in removing their caution and dread, by the delight which they appear to have in it, is very extraordinary. It is likewise usual for the operator to disguise his figure as well as scent. This is done by putting on a sort of gown or cloak, of one colour, that hides the natural form, and makes him appear like a post, or some such inanimate thing, which habit must likewise be scented as above, to overpower the smell of his person; and besides this, he is to avoid all motion till he has secured his point of having the rats in his power.
When the rats are thus enticed and collected, where time is afforded, and the whole in any house and out-buildings are to be cleared away, they are suffered to regale on what they most like, which is ready prepared for them, and then to go away quietly for two or three nights; by which means those that are not allured the first night, are brought afterwards, either by their fellows, or the effects of the trailing, &c., and will not fail to come duly again, if they are not disturbed or molested. Many of the rat-catchers make shorter work, and content themselves with what can be brought together in one night; but this is never effectual, unless where the building is small and entire, and the rats but few in number.
The means of taking them when brought together are various. Some entice them into a very large bag, the mouth of which is sufficiently capacious to cover nearly the whole floor of the place where they are collected. This is done by smearing some vessel, placed in the middle of the bag, with oil of rhodium, and laying in the bag baits of food. The bag, which before lay flat on the ground with the mouth spread open, is to be suddenly closed when the rats are all in. Others drive or frighten them, by slight noises or motions, into a bag of a long form, the mouth of which, after all the rats are come in, is drawn up to the opening of the place by which they entered, all other ways of retreat being secured. Others, again, intoxicate or poison them, by mixing with the repast prepared for them, the *cocculus Indicus*, or the *nux vomica*. They direct four ounces of *cocculus Indicus*, with twelve ounces of oatmeal, and two ounces of treacle or honey, made into a moist paste with strong beer; but if the *nux vomica* be used, a much less proportion will serve than is here given of the *cocculus*. Any similar composition of these drugs, with that kind of food which rats are most fond of, and which has a strong flavour to hide that of the drugs, will equally answer the end. If indeed *cocculus Indicus* be well powdered, and infused in strong beer for some time, at least half the quantity here directed will serve as well as the quantity before mentioned. When the rats appear to be thoroughly intoxicated with the *cocculus*, or sick with the *nux vomica*, they may be taken with the hand and put into a bag or cage, the door of the place being first shut, lest those which have strength remaining should make their escape.
In destroying rats, advantage may be taken of that remarkable degree of instinct which they possess of deserting one place, where they find themselves disturbed or harassed, and retiring to new haunts. It is well known, that after one or two rats are poisoned, or taken in traps, or wounded or otherwise injured, and afterwards permitted to escape, the whole colony immediately disappears. The practice, however, of destroying by poison rats that frequent dwelling-houses, should be as much as possible avoided; for they retire to places behind the wainscot, &c. from which, after death, their putrid bodies, emitting a most offensive smell, cannot be removed. But it is far less difficult than is generally imagined to secure the different apartments of a dwelling-house, and even the cellars, from the inroads of rats and mice, and thus to prevent their unwelcome visits, by shutting up the passages through which they enter. Stone and lime, when they can be applied, are effectual; but common plaster, by introducing pieces of broken pottery ware or glass along with it, will also answer the purpose; and even a piece of cork, with a pin or two stuck through it to prevent them from eating it away, is a complete barrier to mice entering through a hole in wood, and may even prevent the entrance of rats. We have seen this method of shutting up the holes, as soon as they were opened by the industry of the enemy, steadily pursued for some time, attended with the fullest success, even in an old house of considerable extent, and finished from top to bottom with wood, some of which was much decayed.
For the sake of food, rats and mice often frequent gardens, fields, and woods, in the summer season; but, on the approach of winter, they return to their former haunts in the habitations of man; and accordingly it is observed that houses which are free from those vermin during the summer, swarm with them about the end of autumn. Attention to this circumstance in the habits of these animals, may be the means of securing us from their visits and depredations; for if, at the time alluded to, every hole and cranny through which mouse or rat can enter, be shut up, and carefully kept close and secure, the perseverance of the foe is exhausted and overcome by repeated and constant resistance, and thus he is forced to abandon the unequal contest, and to retire to other haunts where his motions are less interrupted.
Various other methods have been proposed for the destruction of rats; and although we have thrown out a hint against the use of arsenic for this purpose in dwelling-houses, yet where it can be employed with perfect safety, and without risk of the nuisance alluded to, as in cellars and outhouses, it is undoubtedly one of the most effectual to which we can have recourse.
Suffocating these vermin by means of the fumes of sulphur, as on board of ships, in granaries, and other buildings, which can be shut up, is sometimes successfully practised. Rats and other vermin have also been effectually destroyed by burning wood in close apartments, thus producing fixed air or carbonic acid gas, by which they are suffocated.
**Moles.**—The mole is found in all parts of Great Britain. It is seldom or never seen above the surface of the ground, except when forced out of its subterraneous abode by excessive drought and heat, by inundations, or by very hard frost. In size it is a little larger than the dormouse, and smaller than the common rat, measuring from five to six inches in length, exclusive of the tail. The male is considerably larger than the female. The body is completely covered with very fine glossy black hair or fur, softer and finer than silk, or the fur of the beaver, inclining to a brownish hue on the abdomen. Its nose is long, and resembles that of the hog; its eyes are very quick and perceptible when the animal is alive. Instead of external ears,
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1 The observations on the structure and habits of the mole, and on the mode of trapping it, have been communicated by Mr. Thomas Yeadell of Preston, for many years practically engaged in the art of mole-catching. 2 Whole families of fine cream-coloured moles have sometimes been taken; and Mr. Yeadell once took a whole litter of piebalds, but he never took or saw a perfectly white one. It is openings protected by the fur, which are admirably fitted for their purpose, as the hearing of few animals is more acute. Its neck is very short; and its body is thick, robust, and muscular, terminated by a tail about an inch long. The fore-legs have more the appearance of hands growing out of the body, turned outwards and backwards, like hands of a man when swimming. These legs are very strong, and are each furnished with five claws. The hind-legs are longer and weaker than the fore ones, being employed in progressive motions; whereas the others are constantly employed in digging and boring the ground, or in stopping and throwing back the earth when loosened; for while the mole is excavating, it is always obliged to draw the loosened earth backwards, and to lift or shove it above the surface of the ground in the same way. Its teeth are beautifully white, and consist of forty-four in all, viz. six upper and eight under incisors, two upper and two under canines, and seven molars on each side above, and six on each side below. Its food consists almost entirely of earthworms and a few insects.
The male and female go together about the end of March or beginning of April, and most of them produce their young in the beginning of June, a few so early as the last week in May. The female brings forth her young only once a year, the number varying from one to nine at a birth, five or six being the average number. She cares her young about nine weeks, that is, from the last week in March or the first in April, till the last week in May or beginning of June. When the season arrives for the male and female going together, if their domiciles are not connected by old workings, the solitary mole will leave his place of abode in the night, and travel a considerable distance above ground to meet with a companion.
The season for trapping moles in Scotland commences on the 20th of August, and ends on the 31st of May in every year, or occasionally a week or two later if the winter be severe one.
About forty years ago, when steps were taken to clear the moles from the estates of his grace Henry duke of Buccleuch in Scotland, a man was appointed to each five thousand or six thousand acres of land, for two or three of the years of a twenty years' lease; and so much success attended the plan, that two men were sufficient to keep fifty thousand Scotch acres of land pretty clear of moles during the remainder of the lease. And had it not been that there were several intervening patches of land, where the moles were not trapped at all, and where their propagation was kept up, one man would probably have sufficed for the purpose.
The most common way of taking moles, is by traps set in the walks or runs; and the best for this purpose are the wooden ones made by the bobbin turners in the neighbourhood of Kendal and elsewhere, and sold at about twopence each. Sixty of these traps, with as much mole-twine as may be bought for eighteenpence, a few sticks, a small bodkin, and a mole-spade, equip the mole-catcher; and will serve him for a year without any additional outlay. With these materials, in good ground, where the moles have not before been disturbed, he will capture three hundred dozens the first season. Before commencing operations, the traps should be steeped in water, and covered in the ground for a day or two, to remove any peculiar smell which may belong to them.
In the subterranean runs of the mole, as among the streets of towns and villages, there are certain walks more frequented than others, and hence entitled to the name of thoroughfares.
The dots in the above diagram represent the mole-hills, and the lines the walks or streets communicating between them, which serve the double purpose of a dwelling and a trap for worms, upon which the mole feeds. It is probable that all these streets, or at all events a large proportion of them, are traversed every twenty-four hours, more especially when food is scarce. It is also obvious that certain parts of these walks must be more frequently passed than others.
A may be supposed to be a hedge near which the mole will spend much of its time in wet, cold, or stormy weather; B and D are two ridges adjoining to the hedge, where it is much engaged in fine weather; and C the furrow between those ridges. Let fig. 1 represent the walk conducting from the hedge to the first ridge, and fig. 2 a continuation of the same walk between the first and second ridges. Figs. 3 and 4 are mainwalks on the ridges. Nos. 1 and 2 are the walks that will be most used, and therefore are the places where the mole-catcher would place his traps. Nos. 3 and 4 are the next best, in consequence of there being only a single road or passage in each place; and not, as to the right and left of them, a variety of byways. In many cases the inexperienced may be unable to determine which is a main run, in consequence of the ground being apparently all worked up together. In such a case he should endeavour to find a walk in a hedge bottom, or in crossing the ditch to the hedge, or where the mole goes to water, or in the crossing of a gatepost or gateway, or in a footpath, or furrow, or sheepwalk, or along the side of a drain. In such places as these, the ground is generally pretty solid, and it may be assumed as a general rule, that the mole never likes to make a great number of walks where the ground is hard, or where it is frequently trodden on. When the mole-catcher has surveyed the ground, and made up his mind where to place his trap, as at Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, he may strike his spade into the ground in a right line, between the hillocks, and if he finds the ground hollow, he has discovered the walk, and he may there make a hole to set his trap in. Care must be taken not to make this hole too large, and it ought to be about a quarter of an inch lower than the bottom of the walk, so
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Yeall comes to this conclusion from his observation of the state of the female about this time, and from frequently having taken the litter of young in the nest, which is easily found, from its being made in the centre of an unusually large hillock. Although the mole is here stated to breed only once a year, it is the recorded belief of some observers, that two broods are annually produced, one in spring or early in summer, and another in autumn. The more usual and characteristic period, however, we believe to be the latter, and this accords with the practical observations of continental naturalists on the subject.
This is a circumstance which Mr. Yeall conceives to be proved in various ways: first, by his frequently having found the workings entirely abandoned in particular places in the months of March and April; secondly, by finding unusually large numbers of moles together at this time; and, thirdly, by incidental circumstances, such as taking a mole which had lost its tail, or had been deprived of a hind leg. In 1890 Mr. Yeall took a mole without a tail, and the following year he took one wanting a hind leg, both of which had been twisted off, in two of his own, at the distance of a mile or more from the place where they were at last taken. The most frequent cause of the mole changing its ground arises from inundations. When the rivers rise rapidly and cover his workings, he is obliged to abandon his subterranean mole, and swim for his life, which he can do with the buoyancy of a water-rat. that the mole may have a gentle descent into it. The earth ought also to be well filled in upon all sides, so as to exclude the light, and at the same time not to interrupt the mole in its passage; for upon discovering any interruption, it will be apt to make a new road by the side of it, and after having its suspicion excited, it will be very difficult to take it afterwards.
The destruction occasioned by the mole is by no means generally understood. It might be worthy of the consideration of proprietors whether a great system of co-operation might not successfully be formed for its extermination. At all events, the number of this animal might be very much diminished, if noblemen, gentlemen, and farmers would employ some one of their servants in the practice of an art so easily acquired, and so highly useful.
Insects.—Many insects, in the different states of existence through which they pass, are exceedingly troublesome and destructive. Sometimes they spread their devastations in the state of larva or grub, and sometimes in that of perfect insect.
Of the coleopterous insects, the grub of the cock-chafers, which is a brownish or chestnut-coloured beetle, commits the greatest ravages. This beetle appears during great part of the summer, the most plentiful in May or June, and hence is called the May bug. It flies only in the evening, and lodges during the day under the leaves of trees, which it devours, and is sometimes in such numbers, as to defoliate whole woods. The beetle deposits its eggs in the earth, and from these are hatched white or bluish grubs, that feed on the roots of grass, corn, and other vegetables, during the whole summer. In the winter they lie deep in the earth; but in the spring, as vegetation advances, they rise to the surface, and renew their work of destruction. In this state they continue for four, five, or six years, before they change to the chrysalis state, in which they remain till the month of May, when the perfect insect appears. As these insects require so many years to assume the perfect form, they only appear occasionally in sufficient numbers to be extensively destructive to the crops of grain, or vegetables in general. Their numbers, however, have often produced great alarm, and even excited the attention of governments to offer rewards for an effectual method of destroying them.
In the spring season, if the weather prove warm, when the land is ploughed up, these grubs are generally so near the surface as to be turned up with the plough; and being thus exposed, they are picked up and devoured by various birds, which, it is suggested, should not be disturbed or driven away in this salutary labour. When these grubs infest meadow land, it has been proposed to drown them in their holes by overflowing it; but it is supposed that this plan would not be successful, even where it is practicable, unless there is a bed of clay immediately under the soil, to retain the water for a sufficient length of time. A more efficacious way is recommended to prevent the increase of the grubs, by destroying the flies in May or June, before they have deposited their eggs. This may be done by shaking and beating the trees and hedges in the middle of the day; and, as this is a work which may be performed by children, it is a less difficult task than would at first sight be imagined. Domestic fowls are remarkably fond of these beetles, so that a double object is thus gained, the destruction of the beetles and the procuring of food for the poultry.
Some species of the dermestes, and also of the genus ptinus, are exceedingly destructive in the cabinets of naturalists, and also to furniture. Various methods have been recommended to stop their ravages. We believe the most effectual is spirit of turpentine, when it can be properly applied. A solution of corrosive sublimate is sometimes employed, but it should be recollected that it seldom fails in time to produce some chemical change on animal and vegetable matter. Objects of natural history, as birds, animals, &c., are sometimes exposed to the moderate heat of an oven, or before a fire, for several hours; but this method will also be attended with injurious effects, unless practised with great care. Insects which infest furniture have been destroyed by the application of oil, and allowing it to remain for a day or two, before the furniture is rubbed up. Japaned or varnished furniture may be secured from the effects of these insects, by re-coating it, when they are in the larva state, by which they are deprived of air. Railings and other works out of doors, which are exposed to the weather, are sometimes eaten with insects, and particularly by some of the larvae of the genus curculio. The wood thus attacked may be prevented from farther ravages, by a fresh coat of paint.
The earwig is a destructive insect in the flower, kitchen, and fruit garden. To prevent their depredations, it has been recommended to take them with the hand, when they come out during the night in search of food. They may be taken also by rolling up a piece of paper, and hanging it up on the plants which they infest; for in these places they take shelter through the day. Another method of destroying them has been mentioned, and that is to watch them towards morning with the view of discovering the haunt to which they resort during the day. This may perhaps be a melon frame, dunghill, or heap of rubbish; and the removing of it will destroy the greater number of these troublesome insects.
The small insect which commits such depredations among turnips, by eating the seedling leaves as soon as they appear, as frequently to destroy whole crops, is supposed to be a small black polished beetle, belonging to the genus Altica. It does not seem to be well ascertained whether this small beetle, which is better known by the name of turnip-fly, commits its ravages in the larva or in the beetle state. It is said to prefer the leaves of the common radish to those of the turnips; and it is therefore recommended to sow radishes along with the turnips, to prevent the destruction of the latter.
Of the insects belonging to the order hemiptera, there are some which are exceedingly destructive. The cockroach, a native of the warmer parts of America and the West Indies, is a very troublesome, and a very voracious insect. It has been introduced into this country, and particularly into the sea-port towns, in consequence of commercial intercourse. It comes out to feed in the night time, and eats of almost every thing that comes in its way. Cockroaches are easily taken by the following method. Cover the outside of a deep glass or basin with paper; introduce some bits of bread or sugar into the basin or glass, and set it in a place frequented by the cockroaches. They creep up by means of the paper on the outside, and dro
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1 Sometimes, when Mr. Veal has met with a mole which had been rendered cunning from the string of a trap having broken, or its having been caught by the tail or by a hind leg, which it had twisted off, and escaped, he has successfully resorted to the various stratagems. The first of these is to form a cake of softish earth about half an inch thick, to be plastered over both ends of the trap, so as effectively to interrupt the passage. The mole, upon reaching this obstacle, immediately sets to work to remove it, and no sooner has dug its way through the earth, and against the trigger, than the trap strikes, and it is taken. When this stratagem failed, he accustomed to set a dead mole upright upon its hinder part, with its head standing up into the centre of the trap, so as to touch the trigger and whether from the combative propensity of the mole, or from its desire to relieve a companion, it rushes at the dead mole, disposes it trigger, and is taken. The last stratagem he never found to fail. In all cases, but more especially in those of a different nature care ought to be taken to have the trap and strings in perfect order, using a strong stick for a spring, so that the animal shall be firmly secure. The Scotch myrtle (myrica gale, Lin.) a plant very common in low and moist nourish places in this country, is said to be an excellent remedy, in consequence of its powerful aromatic odour, against the attacks of these animals. For this purpose, the plant is strewed about the apartment or bed which is infested with fleas.