Trapping has special advantages for small areas where a limited number of mice are present, but it is also adapted to large areas whenever it is undesirable to lay out poison. It is then necessary to use many traps and continue their use for several weeks. If mice are moderately abundant, from 12 to 20 traps per acre maybe used to advantage. These should soon make decided inroads on the numbers of mice in an orchard if not practically to exterminate them. For pine mice the tunnels should be excavated sufficiently to admit the trap on a level with the bottom. A light garden trowel may be used for the necessary digging. POISONING. On large areas where mice are abundant, poisoning is the quickest means of destroying them, and even on small areas it has decided advantages over trapping. The following formula is recommended: _Dry grain formula._--Mix thoroughly 1 ounce powdered strychnine (alkaloid), 1 ounce powdered bicarbonate of soda, and 1/8 ounce (or less) of saccharine. Put the mixture in a tin pepper box and sift it gradually over 50 pounds of crushed wheat or 40 pounds of crushed oats in a metal tub, mixing the grain constantly so that the poison will be evenly distributed. Dry mixing, as above described, has the advantage that the grain may be kept any length of time without fermentation. If it is desired to moisten the grain to facilitate thorough mixing, it would be well to use a thin starch paste (as described below, but without strychnine) before applying the poison. The starch soon hardens and fermentation is not likely to follow. If crushed oats or wheat can not be obtained, whole oats may be used, but they should be of good quality. As mice hull the oats before eating them, it is desirable to have the poison penetrate the kernels. A very thin starch paste is recommended as a medium for applying poison to the grain. Prepare as follows: _Wet grain formula._--Dissolve 1 ounce of strychnia sulphate in 2 quarts of boiling water. Dissolve 2 tablespoonfuls of laundry starch in 1/2 pint of cold water. Add the starch to the strychnine solution and boil for a few minutes until the starch is clear. A little saccharine may be added if desired, but it is not essential. Pour the hot starch over 1 bushel of oats in a metal tub and stir thoroughly. Let the grain stand overnight to absorb the poison. The poisoned grain prepared by either of the above formulas is to be distributed over the infested area, not more than a teaspoonful at a place, care being taken to put it in mouse runs and at the entrances of burrows. To avoid destroying birds it should whenever possible be placed under such shelters as piles of weeds, straw, brush, or other litter, or under boards. Small drain tiles, 1 1/2 inches in diameter, have sometimes been used to advantage to hold poisoned grain, but old tin cans with the edges bent nearly together will serve the same purpose.