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Show County Agent ; SNOW TIME IS IDEAL FOR KILLING JACKRABBITS, SAYS COUNTY AGENT With winter upon us, now is a good time to poison jackrabbits, it was stated this week by Grant Esplin, county Agent. Mr. Esplin pointed out that using poisoned pois-oned hay leaves is a very effective way to kill large numbers num-bers of these pests when the ground is covered with snow. Anyone who wishes can get hay leaves poisoned at the Merle Gray residence in Beaver. The farmer should take the hay leaves to Mr. Gray, who will apply the poison at no cost tn the individual. If farmers in other communities commun-ities are interested in obtaining bait, mixing days can be arranged ar-ranged for their communities, j Anyone interested can contact I Mr. Gray, the county agent, or' Glen Murray of the Soil Con-1 servation Service. . . REDUCE FIRE HAZARD I IN XMAS TREES There are methods which will reduce the fire hazard of Christmas Christ-mas trees but it should be borne j in mind that no inexpensive method is known that will make a tree completely fireproof, according ac-cording to Prof. Joseph Coulam, agricultural engineer for the Extension Service at the U S A C. "The hazard is great, due to the fact that many people retain their holiday tree too long and every day it is in the house increases the danger as it dries out," he said. Check the wiring of the strings of lights to make sure there are no bare spots in the wiring; turn off the lights when out of the room, and place the tree in a jar of water to keep it green as long as possible, are simple but worthwhile precau- tions. Fire-resistant chemicals may be used to aid in fireproofing a , tree. Ammonium sulfate (or calciul chloride) may be used by placing in a glass jar, tin pail or earthen crock and dissolving in water, using IV2 pints of water for each pound of ammonium am-monium sulfate. The amount of chemical to use is determined by weighing the tree and dividing divid-ing the weight in pounds by 4. j A narrow-mouthed container is preferable as it lessens evaporation evapor-ation of the solution. Just before treating, saw off the trunk of the tree about an inch from the end, preferably at an obalique angle or in a V-shape ,in order that the chemical chem-ical solution may have free access to the fresh wood at the cut end. Set the tree in the solution so-lution in a cool place away from- direct sunlight and leave it there until most of the solution solu-tion is absorbed by the tree. The foliage appears to reain its preen color longer when treated treat-ed at a temperature' of 55 to 65 degrees. Four to six days should be allowed for fireproofing. fireproof-ing. The degree of fire resistance resist-ance depends on the amount of the solution taken up by the tree. The Beaver County Agent's office will be able to supply more information about fire-proofing fire-proofing Christmas trees. |