RABBIT EXTEIIMINATORS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 223, 28 July 1879, Page 2

RABBIT EXTEIIMINATORS.

v ' I (From the Camperdown Chronicle, June 17th.) We had an opportunity of inspecting tlu rabbit exterminators at work on the Hon. Neil Black's Mount Noorat estate on the 10th instant. When we arrived on the ground, there were three of these machines at work, each attended by two men, with a boy going in advance to marl; with a small flag the burrows to be operated upon. That portion of the estate on which the men were at work was Mount Noorat itself, comprising about 700 acres, completely riddled with rabbit burrows, and the mode of operation was this: —Each of the parties—consisting of two men, one in charge of the machine and the other with a spade—proceeded in regular order to one or other of the burrows, on which the boy in advance had planted a flag, and then

began work. The machine had much (lie appearance of a l:u-»o shcvi-h>n oil-can mounted on Ik framework of a lorn, wheelbarrow, which was partly wiicelct ninl partly carried from place to place, am in which the gas for ihu destruction oi" the rabbits was generated, as we were given tc understand, from charcoal—of which material there was was any quantity about—whiting and white lead. There were no rabbits visible anywhere,at the time, that being the early part of the afternoon, "iien the mouth of the burrow was reached, one end of a flexible tube about an mch in diameter by live feet to six feet in lenght, attached to thegas generator, or gas reservoir, was inserted in the burrow to the extent of 12 inches to 18 inches, and allowed to lie there till the fumes began to return. Tlieman in attendance on the machine with a spade then closed up the hole, leaving no room for (he escape of any gas except by some other aperture, when immediately afterwards it began to farce its way through some other mouths, in some cases from six or seven at a time, Avhicli were all closed up with earth, and stamped down as quickly as possible, so as to make them secure. When ihis had been done, the flexible tube was withdrawn from the first mouth of the burrow, and all was made secure there, as it 'had been with reference to the other mouths, before proceeding to another burrow. How the men knew when to withdraw the flexible tube, we heard, was by the gas returning upon them, and the burrow refusing to take more, which it ordinarily, did the instant the whole of the mouths were stopped. In the shallow burrows—that is. in the burrows that lie pretty near the surface—the rabbits could bi heard kicking and squealing as soon as tlu gas began to diiluso itself, and one nioutl: after another of the burrow was stoppet up. We should very naturally have supposed that when the fumes were driven ir at one mouth of the burrow the rabbit; would have attemped to escape at another but that, we were told, was a very ran occurrence, so rare as never to be lookei for. They rather force their way againsi the fumes, so much so as not iitifrcijuentlj to stop up the passage for a time, and pre vent any more gas from entering, unti they are either overpowered or retreat. When the holes are closed up, the rabbit: are left in the burrows to rot, and ik more notice taken ot them.