POISONING.
Poison for killing rabbits has been used in the West with considerable success. Only in exceptional cases, however, is its use advisable in States that protect rabbits. The most favorable season for using poison is in winter or after a long drought in summer has made green food scarce. In some localities summer poisoning is interfered with by crickets or grasshoppers consuming the bait.
The following method is adapted for general use: Insert crystals of strychnine or powdered strychnine in pieces of apple or melon rind and place these baits at intervals along rabbit runs or paths. Take care to put the poisoned baits where children and domestic animals can not get them. Where no well-defined runs are visible in orchards, artificial ones may be made with a narrow drag or scraper. Along such runs or the dead furrows of plowed fields rabbits habitually travel. Baits may be placed on the ground or elevated on short sticks along the path, and should be looked after with care. Any baits left after poisoning operations are finished should be destroyed.
For poisoning rabbits in winter or during droughts the following formula is recommended: Good oats, 12 quarts; powdered strychnine, 1 ounce; laundry starch, 1 tablespoonful; soda (bicarbonate), 1 ounce; saccharine, 1/8 ounce; water, 1 quart. Mix the starch with 1/2 pint of cold water. Pour this into 1-1/2 pints of boiling water and continue the boiling for a minute or two until the starch is clear. Mix the dry strychnine and soda in a small pan and sift it over the hot starch, stirring thoroughly to form a smooth paste. Add the saccharine and stir again. Pour the mixture over the oats in a metal tub, mixing until all the grain is wet. Allow the oats to dry before distributing. Not over a tablespoonful of the grain should be put in a single bait and this should be scattered considerably. A little alfalfa hay will help attract rabbits to the poisoned grain. This poison is recommended for use when snow covers the ground. It is effective against both cottontails and large rabbits.
Partly ripened heads of barley or wheat soaked in a solution of strychnine and saccharine or coated with the starch-strychnine solution just described have also proved effective baits for rabbits, but great care must be exercised in using them, as they are likely to be eaten by live stock.
Cottontail rabbits may be poisoned in winter by baiting them with twigs cut from apple trees and dipped in or thinly coated with the starch-strychnine poison. These twigs are scattered along rabbit trails and are effective against both meadow mice and rabbits. They are less dangerous to domestic animals than grain baits.