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Show PLANT SURE DEATH TO RATS Would Seem It Might Be Utilized to Rid the World of a Most Deadly Enemy. "Why not raise your own rat poison?" the Philippine , bureau of science Is asking the people. Its name Is "dloscora hlrsnta blume," and It grows wild throughout the Island lowlands. The poison content Is dloscorlne, an alkaloid which produces paralysis of the central nervous system. The dlscora Is a tuber; lookB like a potato and grows like one. It a-so tastes enough like the old-fasjjloned "spud" to fool Mr. Rat for a moment. But It has a little reaction all of Its own. The government scientists say that one nibble Is enough to kill a large rat. A slice, without proper preparation, prepara-tion, would kill a human being. On the other hand It has been determined de-termined that by peeling the tuber and allowing it to stand In running water for a period of 24 hours the dloscorlne content Is washed out and the vegetable may be prepared for human consumption in the same manner man-ner as is a potato. When thus prepared It has a slightly sweet taste and is snld to have a most agreeable effect upon the palate. At present one of the largest of the government agricultural scnools In the Philippines Is making use of the tuber to kill rats and field mice, which are proving an increasing menace to growing crops. |