A NEW RABBIT EXTERMINATOR,

Dunstan Times, Issue 1065, 22 September 1882, Page 3

A NEW RABBIT EXTERMINATOR,

In connection with M r Forsyth's anoaratns for exterminating rabbits wo (Dunedin Evening Star) may publish the fo lowing letter, which was sent to him by Professor Black : University Laboratory, Dunedin, 3rd Sentembor, 1882. Sir,—l have great pleasure in stating that I consider your invention for poisoning of rabbits in their burrows deserves attention and a fait trial, as one of the means now at our disposal to meet the rabbit pest. By your process, prussic acid gas is generated in the burrow, and this is wep known as one of the deadliest and most rapidly fatal of all prisons. Being a gas the rabbits in the burrows cannot help inhaling it, and if every outlet to the burrows bo properly stopped, the death of the rabbits is only a question of time. I strongly approve of the mixture you employ to produce the poisonous gas. In judicious bands it must prove eff ctual. There will always be, however, danger in the ca°e of unskilled per’ sons taking liberties with your chemicals, owing to tho deadly nature of theeases pro 1 ducert by the pres nee of any acid coming in contact with them. Your poison, I may state, is of the same character as bi-sulphide of carbon, which Mr .lames Holmes, of Castle Rock, tried at my suggestion some years ago and found so successful. 1 hail this invention of yours as one additional weapon against the common enemy that is doing so much harm. T .ike the sulphide of carbon, it will be of great service in the summer months, when poisoned grain is not so readily eaten by the rabbits. In recommending your invention unhesitatingly as a very useful method of meeting the evil in many cases, I must still be allowed to say that grain prepared with phosphorous appears to me to be far and away the best method of destroying rabbits on the large scale yet discovered. In conclusion, let me strongly insist on the necessity of sulpher in your mixture, and also on] a danger of letting any acid come in contact with it You are at liberty to make any use of this note, provided in publishing it you publish the whole of it. James G. Black. Dunedin, September 3.