bevelled face downward, and square end in the hole.  Draw down the bow-string and pass it beneath the plug, at the same time catching the tip of the latter in the notch of the bait stick.  If properly constructed the string will thus rest on the slight uncut portion of the under side of the peg, and the trap is thus set.  If the bait is pushed when approached, the notch is forced off from the plug, and the string flies up with a twang! securing the neck of its victim, and producing almost instant death.  If the bait is pulled, the bait stick thus forces the plug into the hole in the board, and thus slides the cord on to the bevel, which immediately releases it, and the bow is sprung.  So that no matter whether the bait is pushed or drawn towards the front, the trap is equally sure to spring.

In setting this curious machine, it is only necessary to insert it into the ground, and surround the bait with a slight pen, in order that it may not be approached from behind.  By now laying a stone or a pile of sticks in front of the affair, so that the bait may be more readily reached, the thing is ready.  Care is required in setting to arrange the pieces delicately.  The plug should be very slightly inserted into the auger hole, and the notch in the bait stick should be as small as possible, and hold.  All this is made clear in our illustration (b).

By observing these little niceties the trap becomes very sure and sensitive.

Bait with small apple, nub of corn, or the like.

THE MOLE TRAP.

If there is anyone subject upon which the ingenuity of the farmers has been taxed, it is on the invention of a mole trap which would effectually clear their premises of these blind burrowing vermin.  Many patented devices of this character are on the market, and many odd pictured ideas on the subject have gone the rounds of the illustrated press, but they all sink into insignificance when tested beside the trap we here present.  It has no equal among mole traps, and it can be made with the utmost ease and without cost.  The principle on which it works is the same as the Fish Trap on page 120.

Construct a hollow wooden tube about five inches in diameter, and eight inches in length.  A section of a small tree, neatly excavated with a large auger is just the thing.  Through [Page 120] the centre of one of the sides a small hole the size of a lead pencil should be bored, this being the upper side.  About half an inch distant from each end a smaller hole should be made for the passage of the noose.  The spring should consist either of a stout steel rod, whalebone or stiff sapling, a foot or more in length, inserted downward through holes in the side of the tube after the manner of the Fish Trap already alluded to.  No bait is required.  A simple stick the size of the central hole at one end, and an inch in width at the other being sufficient.