Live Mouse Trap

A piece of an old bicycle tire and a glass fruit jar are the only materials required for making this trap.
Push one end of the tire into the hole, making sure that there is a space left at the end so that the mice can get in.
Then bend the other end down into a fruit jar or other glass jar. Bait may be placed in the jar if desired, although this is not necessary.

Live Mouse Trap

Excerpt from the book:
THE BOY MECHANIC
VOLUME I
700 THINGS FOR BOYS TO DO
WITH 800 ILLUSTRATIONS
1913, BY H. H. WINDSOR CHICAGO
POPULAR MECHANICS CO. PUBLISHERS

How to Make a Self-Setting Rabbit Trap

Secure a good-sized box, say, 1 ft. high, 1-1/2 ft. wide, and 3 ft. long; and to the bottom, about 10 in. from one end, fasten a 2-in. square piece, A, Fig. 1, extending the width of the box. Place a 10-in. board sloping from the end of the box to the cleat A.

Self-Setting Trap

The swing door B, Fig. 1, is made as shown in Fig. 2, which represents the back side of the door. Sheet metal or tin is cut to the proper size and tacked around the edge of the hole. This prevents the animal from gnawing its way out, also provides a way to make the hole of different sizes for squirrels or other animals. The hole in the door should be about 2 in. wide and 4 in. high for rabbits. The door is made to swing freely on two large nails driven through the sides of the box. The hole in the door being only large enough to admit a small portion of the rabbits head, the rabbit will push its way through to the bait, causing the door to swing back and up, and it will close by its own weight when the animal is inside. A small door is provided in the other end to remove the animals caught.

The advantage of this trap is that where one animal is caught others are liable to follow, and several rabbits will be trapped at a time. Then, too, the rabbits are not harmed in any way as they would be if caught in an ordinary trap.

—Contributed by H. F. Church, Alexandria, Va.

Excerpt from the book:
THE BOY MECHANIC
VOLUME I
700 THINGS FOR BOYS TO DO
WITH 800 ILLUSTRATIONS
1913, BY H. H. WINDSOR CHICAGO
POPULAR MECHANICS CO. PUBLISHERS

To make this harmless and loud toy – the Paper Banger, we need strong sheet of paper size 6,3 x 9,5 inches (16 x 24 cm)  (or other sheet of paper with edge ratio 2:3).

How to make paper bangers?

First fold the sheet in half along the long side to mark the middle of the sheet, and then fold the edges as shown on image A.
Again fold the paper in half, to mark the middle, and fold the edges as shown on image B and C.
Make one more fold in half (image D) and the paper banger is finished.
Grab the edge and swing as hard as you can but have in mind that there should be a slight opening between the two sides in order for air to enter and make the bang during the swing (image E).

The land that we need for growing food is very important. We cant afford to spoil it. There are many ways in which farmers could make better use of the land and grow good crops without the help of factory-made chemicals.
If it is farmed with care, the land will go on giving us enough food to eat for thousands of years to come.
One farming method is to mix trees and crops on the same piece of land.
In Africa, this is called alley cropping. Rows of quick-growing, deep-rooted trees are planted a few yards apart, with rows of crops such as sorghum in between.
The trees help to prevent the soil from being blown or washed away. Their leaves rot and add to the humus in the soil.
Humus is made from dead plant matter. Tree shoots provide animal food and fuel for cooking. The trees and the sorghum take different nutrients from the soil, so they can grow side by side.