[From W.H. Gibson's Camp Life in the Woods, and the Tricks of Trapping. Harper & Brothers. In Press.]

MOUSE-TRAPS.

Very effective traps may be set up in a few minutes by the use of a few bowls. There are two methods commonly employed. One consists of the bowl and a knife-blade. An ordinary table-knife is used, and a piece of cheese is firmly forced on to the end of the blade; the bowl is then balanced on the edge, allowing the bait to project about an inch and a half beneath the bowl. The odor of cheese will attract a mouse almost anywhere, and he soon finds his way to the tempting morsel in this case. A very slight nibble is sufficient to tilt the blade, and the bowl falls over its prisoner.

In the second method, a thimble is used in place of the knife. The cheese is forced into its interior, and the open end of the thimble inserted far beneath the bowl, allowing about half its length to project outward.

The mouse is thus obliged to pass under the bowl in order to reach the bait, and in his efforts to grasp the morsel the thimble is dislodged, and the captive secured beneath the vessel. Where a small thimble is used, it becomes necessary to place a bit of pasteboard or flat chip beneath it, in order to raise it sufficiently to afford an easy passage for the mouse. Both of these devices are said to work excellently.

FLY-TRAP.

Take a tumbler, and half fill it with strong soap-suds. Cut a circle of stiff paper which will exactly fit into the top of the glass. In the centre of the paper cut a hole half an inch in diameter; or, better still, a slice of bread may be placed on the glass. Smear one side of the disk with molasses, and insert it in the tumbler with this side downward. Swarms of flies soon surround it, and one by one find their way downward-through the hole. Once below the paper, and their doom is sealed. For a short time the molasses absorbs their attention, and they, in turn, absorb the molasses.

In their efforts to escape they one by one precipitate themselves into the soap-suds below, where they speedily perish. The tumbler is soon half filled with the dead insects; and where a number of the traps are set in a single room, the apartment is soon rid of the pests.