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Outdoor Problems of the Householder: Toads

Toads. Many strange prejudices and traditions attach to toads such as the unfounded notion that they cause warts on the hands, poison infants by their breath, bring good fortune to the house in whose newmade cellar they take up their abode, or cause bloody milk in cows if killed by accident or design.

Toads feed chiefly on insects, a large percentage of which are injurious to gardeners and orchardists. Analysis of the contents of their stomachs prove that they are among the most useful friends to orchard and garden. They are very sensitive to heat and hence secrete themselves in rubbish during the day. This fact suggests means by which they may be encouraged to frequent gardens and vineyards. Place a number of large flat stones or pieces of 2-inch plank about the edge of the garden supported a couple of inches from the ground by means of half brick or small stones. Throw a sack or square of old carpet or matting over these to exclude the light. Leave an entrance only on the north side.

Or dig shallow holes in the earth and partially cover them with boards or flat stone.

Encourage children to feed toads with captured flies and other insects.

This may be readily done when they come to the entrance of their lairs about twilight. This will impress upon children the value of the services of the toad and the importance of their protection. Many English and some other gardeners purchase young toads and colonize them to rid greenhouses and gardens of insects and snails. A shallow pool having a small but constant water supply will encourage their breeding on the premises.

Field Mice and Moles. There are a large number of species of field mice and moles, ground squirrels and other small rodents throughout the United States which do great injury to lawns, orchards, gardens and farm crops by burrowing through the soil and eating the roots of plants, bark of trees and the like. Orchard and shade trees are often completely girdled by field mice in winter and destroyed. In some localities the number of mice increases at times to enormous proportions as during the celebrated plague of mice in the Humboldt Valley, Nevada, in 1907.

All field crops and trees were largely destroyed. The damage so done amounted to many hundred thousands of dollars. Experiments during this and other plagues indicate that the most effective mode of destroying mice is by poisoning. Yellow phosphorus and carbon bisul- OUTDOOR PROBLEMS OF THE HOUSEHOLDER 277 phide are sometimes employed. But the former is dangerous to handle and may cause disastrous fires. The latter is highly explosive. Wheat and grain poisoned by these substances are also eaten readily by many useful birds. The most effective method employed was the use of alfalfa hay, or crushed wheat, poisoned with strychnia sulphate. The advantage of the former when available is that it is without danger to birds.

Choose for this purpose alfalfa hay which is fresh and green, rather than bleached. Chop into 2-inch lengths in an ordinary feed cutter and mix in a large metal receptacle such as a galvanized iron pail or tub.

Use one ounce of strychnia sulphate to 30 pounds of chopped alfalfa hay: moistened in five or six gallons of water, or as much as the hay will absorb. Place the chopped hay in the receptacle and moisten with about half of the water. Dissolve the poison in the rest of the water by heating in a closed vessel. Now sprinkle over the dampened hay, mix until the moisture is all taken up, and sack for use. Use within two or three days as it spoils quickly. Distribute by hand. Place a small pinch equal to a teaspoonful near the entrance of each burrow or scatter along the surface trails. Place the poison a little to one side of the entrance to prevent its being covered by the earth thrown out. Or in winter drop into the entrance of the burrows.

The amount of poison likely to be taken up by stock is small. No such accidents have been reported. But for safety, stock may be kept out of the fields a few days after the poison has been distributed.

Or in summer use green alfalfa at the rate of 45 pounds of hay to one ounce of strychnia sulphate moistened in 1½ gallons of water. Dissolve the strychnia in gallon of water by heating in a closed vessel. Add one gallon of cold water, sprinkle slowly over the alfalfa and mix until the moisture is all taken up. Distribute in the same manner, placing the bait in the holes or along runways.

Or use crushed wheat at the rate of 60 pounds to the ounce of strychnia sulphate, dissolved in 2 gallons of water. Heat and stir the sulphate in the water in a closed vessel until completely dissolved. Sprinkle over the wheat and mix well. Add two teaspoonfuls of powdered borax to prevent fermentation. Place preferably near the burrows and along runways. But remember that poisoned grain will be taken up freely by birds. Hence the use of alfalfa is preferable.

To protect trees from mice and moles use thin wooden wrappers called "tree protectors." Or apply liberally to the exposed roots and trunks the lime and sulphur wash used for spraying. Do this with a brush at the beginning of winter.

Great numbers of field mice are destroyed by owls, hawks and other natural enemies, especially skunks and weasels. The two latter animals are especially worthy of protection.

Woodchucks. - These animals hole up in August and hibernate until the following March. The young-usually five in a litter-are born during the latter part of April and are able to eat green vegetables by early June. They are very injurious to clover and hay and also to early truck and garden crops. In many localities they also act as hosts of the wood tick which is the source of spotted fever. Hence for many reasons they merit complete extermination. To poison woodchucks, use a mixture of about 2 gallons of dandelion heads, clover tops or alfalfa hay. Coat either of these with one pint of flour paste containing 3 ounces of arsenic. This spoils quickly. Hence mix in the afternoon and place after dark at the entrance of the woodchucks' burrow. It will then be at hand when they come out in the morning.

Or employ steel traps which may be set in the mouths of the burrows or about the entrance, preferably concealed with paper or dry grass.

Use a rather large size "jump" trap, preferably No. 11.

Insect Pests. - To control insects and diseases that infest garden crops gather all refuse from crops, pile at some convenient place and burn promptly. Many injurious insects find protection for the winter under loose material remaining in the garden. Moreover, the dead vines of plants are likely to be covered with spores of various diseases. Such refuse has little or no value as a fertilizer. The gain from prompt burn ing will more than offset any loss of humus to the soil.

CLEARING NEW LAND Such conditions as remodeling old farm houses and surrounding them with attractive lawns and gardens, or the purchase of homesites on land which is more or less timbered, often require clearing away trees, stumps and under-brush. The quickest and simplest way to remove large stumps is by the use of dynamite. The cost will vary from ten to twenty cents for each stump. Dynamite is a mixture of nitroglycerine with a granular absorbent in varying proportions. It comes in cylindrical sticks of different sizes. Pure nitroglycerine is one of the most powerful and dangerous of all explosives. While dynamite is somewhat less liable to cause accident from careless handling it is always better to employ an experienced person to handle it. To blow up a stump with dynamite dig down beside the stump far enough to admit of boring a hole into it with an auger so that the charge will explode as nearly as possible in the middle of the stump at the bottom. Select a low grade dynamite containing about 30 per cent nitroglycerine. This explodes more slowly and tends rather to upheave than to shatter. Insert a suitable charge in the auger hole with cap and fuse attached. Cover with earth to the level of the ground and tamp gently.