Rats and How to Destroy Them (Traps and Trapping Series - Vermin & Pest Control)

By Mark Hovell

Originally published in 1924, this rare early work on rats and their control is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. READ COUNTRY BOOKS has republished it in an affordable, high quality, modern edition using the original text and artwork. The author was an expert and dedicated destroyer of rats who also invented the "Terrier" Death Run Rat Trap and the Blocking Trap. He was persuaded to write this fascinating book after fighting a memorable battle in ridding a friend's house and farm of a long established and numerous rat colony. Utilising his vast knowledge of the Brown and the Black Rat, and his many years of practical experience in their destruction, he penned this, the most comprehensive of all books ever published on this particular subject. Over five hundred pages contain forty eight detailed chapters including : - Habits and Natural History of the Rat. - Traps, Type and Use - Signals. - Trapping Methods. - Snaring. - Ferrets and Ferreting. - The Mongoose. - Dogs. - Trailing. - Poisoning. - Virus. - Blocking. - Flooding. - Fumigation. - Varnish and Rat Lime Trap. - The Rodier System. How to Deal with Rats in the House, Shop, Outbuildings, Yards, Stables, Cow -Houses, Fowl Pens, Pig Sties, Gardens, Greenhouses, Rivers and Ships. - Rats on Shooting Estates and Farms. - Sewers. - Notes on Plague. - Cancer in Rats. etc etc. There are also chapters on the control of mice, cockroaches and sparrows, with extra detailed chapters on traps and their design. Over fifty text illustrations are included, detailing trap design and usage etc. Also retained are several pages of vintage advertisements for rat traps, poisons, baits, books etc. This is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the countryside, rural conservation, pest control, game keeping etc, with much of the historical information remaining useful and practical today. Many of the earliest sporting books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. READ COUNTRY BOOKS are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Apr 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781447499374

Book preview

RATS

AND

HOW TO DESTROY THEM

DEALING WITH

Rats in a House, Shop, Warehouse, Outbuilding,

Yard, Stable, Cow-house, Fowl-house, Pig-sty,

Garden, Greenhouse or Vinery; by a

River, Stream or Ornamental Water;

on a Ship, Shooting Estate, or

Farm; and in Sewers

BY

MARK HOVELL, F.R.C.S.

With Introduction by S. L. BENSUSAN

MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

DEDICATED TO

THE RT. HONBLE. LORD ABERCONWAY, U.K.,

AND

SIR JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D., F.R.S.,

LL.D., D.SC., J.P.

THE TWO MEN WHO HAVE DONE MOST IN THE PAST

FEW YEARS TO DIRECT PUBLIC ATTENTION TO THE

REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RAT MENACE.

PREFACE.

MANY years ago, circumstances arose which induced the author to superintend the destruction of a large colony of rats that had frequented certain premises for a very long time. In the house entrusted to his care, the rats were in large numbers on the ground floor, and occasionally they were seen in the bedrooms. In stables, cow-houses and outbuildings they were to be found in large numbers at all seasons. They invaded the fowl-house and carried off the eggs. They destroyed young poultry in early spring, and in the autumn they would establish themselves in the fruit-rooms. The hedgerows were full of their holes, and they had undermined banks around the ponds. They gave the gardener no peace, and dug up the peas and beans as soon as they had been sown. They burrowed under the lights, and ate their way into the green-house, and, wherever they went they left a trail of destruction. Whatever the owner of the house and those who worked there may have thought of them they appeared quite satisfied with themselves, and their quarters must have been all they desired, since they made no attempt to leave them.

Needless to say, they had been attacked in spasmodic fashion. Ferrets were employed from time to time, and traps set with very little skill; those who had charge of them thinking that any place where a rat had been seen, or whence young pullets had been carried off, was suitable for a trap. Sometimes the mangled body of a pullet or duckling was used as bait. Unfortunately, even those who were responsible for the attacks on the rats, were in the habit of handling the traps so freely that they left the taint of their hands upon them, and, in spite of all that may be said to the contrary, rats recognize the smell of a human being and it suffices to put them on their guard. Time out of mind the traps were carefully set and as carefully avoided.

The thresholds of stables and outbuildings were worn away here and there, for the place was old and the rats could pass freely under the doors. In parts, where the thresholds were sound, the rats had gnawed a hole large enough for their purposes in the doorways. Such holes were to be found in the fowl-houses and in many of the other buildings, and in fact, it may be said that the whole of the premises was open to rats. There was no part of house or buildings that could be regarded as secure. It was to this condition of affairs, that it was found necessary to apply a drastic remedy.

Before going into details, it may be stated that for very many years now no rats have been seen in the buildings or in the house, and although there is still a steady movement of rats from adjoining properties towards the premises described they have almost, without exception, been trapped as they entered them. Now and again, on a rare occasion a rat has found its way into one of the outbuildings, probably because a door has been left open. Right through the year, from January to December, traps are kept set, traps with covers and signals which will be described hereafter. The first intimation that a rat or rats have approached the premises is seen in the signal that tells of a rat captured. The method by which the premises were cleared was not an expensive one, although it involved a certain amount of trouble and expenditure. But had it cost thrice what it did, the profit would still have been out of all proportion to the outlay. In the first place, the thresholds were repaired and all the holes that had been gnawed by the sharp teeth of rats were closed up. Then the rats were driven from their holes and places of concealment, either by ferrets or by the use of the water-cart, and the few that escaped from the slaughter were trapped. Gradually, as the buildings were cleared, all other rats on the premises were driven out and the holes they had made were filled in. As far as the house was concerned, the holes in the basement were carefully followed and found to communicate both at the back and the front with old brick drains of which the existence had been quite unknown. When they were stopped up and the premises cleared, Run-traps were set in all the paths along which vermin were likely to approach from outside, whether in search of food or shelter. Needless to say, perhaps, that a certain amount of practical knowledge was necessary to set the traps in the right places. It is not suggested that anybody can dispense with experience if he would be a successful trapper, but experience is not hard to gain, and the change on the premises written about here was so marked, that friends and neighbours began to inquire how they too could get rid of the rats that were troubling them. Some help was given, but the question of rat-destruction has many aspects as will soon be apparent to the reader. The means by which a large and old-established colony was entirely destroyed will serve to get rid of rats elsewhere, and the author, yielding to the repeated request of many friends, has written this book from his experience and notes which he has made.

A further inducement to the writing of this book is the knowledge of the enormous loss that rats inflict upon Great Britain. It is impossible to present accurate statistics but, with values as they are at the time of writing, it would not be surprising if the damage sustained by Great Britain, say in last year, approached one million pounds sterling per week, taking rural as well as urban districts and considering the docks and warehouses in which food is stored in bulk. In spite of all that has been said, the public do not realize the loss occasioned by the consumption of grain in the stack, granary, and mill or the damage and pollution caused to the grain that rats do not eat. People would be surprised if they knew how our food suffered while in transit in ships, or if they could get a true estimate of the damage done by rats in any year to buildings. There is yet another and more serious indictment against rats. We have in the county of Suffolk, between the rivers Orwell and Stour, an area in which bubonic plague appears to be more or less epizootic among rats, and the plague has on more than one occasion shown itself in the deadly pneumonic form. The grave significance of plague-infected rats in British seaports is not generally grasped, though almost yearly the Medical Officer of Health for the Port of London and the Medical Officers of Health for other ports also find several rats suffering from plague. Reports all over the country show that the black rat (Rattus rattus), which has never been exterminated in London and several seaport towns, is largely on the increase on this island, probably as the result of immigration, the rats landing most likely with their fleas already impregnated with plague germs. When we remember that we have millions of brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in this country, whose flea can spread plague as readily as the flea of the black rat, and that as these rats still exist in spite of the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act it must be clear that if plague-infected rats were introduced among them, disease would be spread with great rapidity. As will be seen in a later section, the plague would affect not only rats but also other living creatures including man, in consequence of the bite of their flea.

The recent outbreak of infectious jaundice calls attention to another disease transmitted from rats to mankind which probably has caused many deaths, but as in the case of pneumonic plague at Shotley, its origin and real nature have been unrecognized.

For some time past the Ministry of Agriculture has been spreading information as to some of the means of rat-destruction, but the knowledge is not sufficiently comprehensive or widespread at present, and in many parts of England the measures that should be employed to keep premises free from vermin are not known. That this proposition is sound, and admits no denial, is shown by the universal distribution of rats. Nobody wishes to harbour them, most people try to get rid of them, but they persist. It is quite clear that, while the Act will do much to improve conditions, a determined and sustained public effort must be made and maintained to reduce the number of rats as far as possible; and general organization is required to disseminate knowledge of the very best and most practical methods and to see that they are carried out. Above all, in consequence of the rapidity with which rats multiply, the best methods must be of universal application; that is why legislation should be welcome, because it imposes, or should impose, penalties upon those who will not render voluntary help. All those who are doing their best to free their premises from rats, require the largest possible measure of help; while those who are neglecting their duty, require the largest possible measure of compulsion. Whatever penalties are necessary to make the last named do their duty to their neighbours should be rigorously imposed. Some years ago, details set out here might have been deemed not only superfluous but almost impertinent, in so far as they give insufficient credit to the average standard of common sense. Unfortunately, experience has shown that mistakes will be made by all who have not a natural instinct for trapping, or for pitting their intelligence against that of a very clever and cunning enemy, and consequently, the attempt has been made in the following sections to obviate the possibility of error. While some of the explanations will be found unnecessary to those who have had the advantage of a complete education, it must be pointed out that this book is written to help all classes, and there should be nothing in what is set out that should not be clear to every reader. The repetition, which in ordinary circumstances one would endeavour to avoid, has been employed with a twofold object in many parts of the book. In the first place to make each section complete in itself, and secondly to impress all details that are of practical importance. Inasmuch as the use of dogs and ferrets must be considered, it has been thought well to introduce special sections on the management of both, in the hope that they will prove not only of interest but of value. Thanks are due to Mr. John Murray for permission to make quotations which are duly indicated from the late Mr. H. C. Barkley’s interesting and very practical book Studies in the Art of Rat-Catching.

If the directions and suggestions given in the succeeding sections assist those who are troubled with rats to clear their premises and do something to save the country’s foodstuffs, and prevent the general damage done by these destructive animals, the full object of a considerable effort, extending over some years and over much of the scanty leisure of a busy man, will have been attained.

THE AUTHOR.

SECTIONS.

PART I.

Preface

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

The Habits of Rats. Some Facts of General Interest

Traps

Signals

Trapping

Snaring

Ferrets

Mongoose

Ferreting

Dogs

Trailing

Poisoning

Virus

Blocking

Flooding

Fumigation

Varnish and Rat-lime Trap

The Rodier System

Rats in the House, Shop, Warehouse, &c.

Rats in the Outbuilding

Rats in the Yard

Rats in the Stable

Rats in the Cow-house

Rats in the Fowl-house

Rats in the Pig-sty

Rats in the Garden, Green-house or Vinery

Rats by River, Stream or Ornamental Water

Rats on a Ship

Rats on a Shooting Estate and on a Farm

Rats in Sewers

Some Notes on Plague

Some Notes on Cancer

Cockroaches

Mice

Sparrows

Conclusion and Recapitulation

Appendix

Scheme for the Organized Destruction of Rats throughout Great Britain, containing Suggested Bye-laws

PART II.

Traps

Signals

Snaring

Ferret-hutches

Rats in the House, Shop, Warehouse, &c.

Rats on a Ship

Rats on a Shooting Estate and on a Farm

Rats in Sewers

Mice

Index

CONTENTS.

THE HABITS OF RATS: SOME FACTS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Indifference to the presence of rats on premises due to want of thought and observation—Want of knowledge as to the steps which should be taken to get rid of rats, and the manner in which trapping operations should be undertaken—Usual ignorance with regard to selection of traps and the manner in which they should be baited and set—Weight of rats—Average measurement of rats—Method of progression of rats in snow, the tracts showing the routes by which the rats travel—Table showing comparison of size of a rat with its weight—Usual number of young ones in a litter—Fecundity of rats—Period of gestation—Indifference to the presence of rats when it is thought that there are only a few—Tables showing fecundity of rats—A rat should be killed as soon as its presence is discovered—Premises cannot be kept free from rats, unless traps are kept set throughout the year—Migration of rats—Their food supply during the winter—Date of departure of rats to the hedgerows—Amount of grain which rats waste and eat—Proportions of flour, sharps and bran in corn—Weight of a sack of flour—Number of quartern loaves in a quarter of wheat—Tables showing amount of wheat, flour, quartern loaves, sharps and bran eaten or wasted by rats—Diseases conveyed by rats—Weasels and stoats do not usually attack adult rats—Weasels and stoats hunting in a pack—Time at which rats usually come out to feed—Rats often feed regularly at some distance from their nest—Necessity for the destruction of rats to be systematic—It is essential that all holes into buildings should be stopped or protected—Importance of closing all holes as soon as the rats have been driven out—Broken glass, &c., useless for stopping holes—No permanent good done by tarring rats’ holes—Positions in which traps should be placed—Supervision by someone in authority essential—Someone to be responsible for the trapping and destruction of rats on the premises—Methods of keeping premises free from rats—Necessity for trapping and other methods of rat destruction to be placed in the hands of a capable and responsible person—The master’s eyes should remain wide open, and he should assure himself that the work is being attended to properly—Method for ascertaining the rats’ run—Golden rules for ensuring the destruction of rats.

TRAPS

Best kinds of traps for permanent use—Steel trap can be kept constantly set—For permanent use a Run-trap required which does not need baiting—The Wonder Trap—After efficient rat destruction, traps open at one end only required for occasional use—Relative cost of Run trap with traps which open only at one end—Rat-trap—Rabbit-trap—Disadvantages of rat-trap—Reasons for oiling traps—A five-inch rabbit-trap should be used always for rats—First quality traps work best—Dorset trap unnecessary—Meaning of terms plain and grooved—Price of rabbit-traps—Steel traps can be made with catch to fasten either jaw—Reliable person should be sent to purchase five-inch rabbit-traps, as they are not usually kept in stock—Chain unnecessary when steel trap is set in Signal Run—Cruel to set small steel trap—Six-inch rabbit-trap—No objection to an exposed trap being painted—All traps should be sprung at least once a month—Blood should always be removed from a trap—How to set a steel trap—The Terrier Signal Run—It conceals the trap and protects domestic animals and poultry—Run-traps—Best kind to select—The Terrier Death Run trap—Advantages of the Death Run trap—Wooden traps—The Hutch trap—Advisable to have fixed time for springing and oiling traps—Covers—All traps should be enclosed in a wooden cover with an entrance at both ends—Description of cover with signal—The Terrier Blocking trap—Its use—Description of trap—Position in which the trap should be placed—The drowning box—Method of working the trap—Number of rats caught—Description of sand balance for springing the trap—Combined rabbit and vermin trap—Traps for occasional use—The disadvantages of the ordinary wire cage trap—Break-back traps—Method for setting break-back traps—Pitfall trap—Figure 4 trap with treadle.

SIGNALS

Necessity for signals—How to make a signal—Arrangement for signal set at a distance.

TRAPPING

Conditions under which trapping should be begun—It is unnecessary to bury or otherwise conceal a steel trap after all the rats have been destroyed which frequent the place where it will be kept set always in the future—Necessity for keeping traps set all the year round—Reasons why at the present time traps are not usually kept set continually—Unnecessary to bait Run-traps—Necessity for signals—The reason why traps must never be handled—Cause of the erroneous belief that it is difficult to trap a rat—Methods for preparing the hands for setting a trap—Gloves not recommended—Treatment required for a newly-purchased trap before it is fit to be set—Precautions which should be taken when a trap has to be handled—The habits of rats which should influence the selection of the place in which a trap is set—The reason why it is advantageous to conceal a trap in a Run, or cover—Reason why it is advisable, when trapping rats in a place which they have frequented for sometime, to prop open for several nights the doors of a trap which cannot be concealed—The manner in which a trap should be baited—Formula for bait—Advisability of making the floor of a trap which cannot be concealed harmonize with the surrounding ground—Good plan to darken place where trap is set—Methods for concealing a wire-work trap—Advantage of keeping a live rat for some hours in a trap which cannot be concealed, before the trap is set or placed in position—Probable reason why rats avoid a trap in which several have been caught—Collection in a cage of the rats which have been caught alive in a trap—Desirability for removing as soon as possible a rat which has been caught, and not leaving a trap set throughout the night unless it is believed that only a small number of rats remain—Blood should always be removed from a trap—Setting a steel trap inside a building for the rats that frequent it—Burying a trap out-of-doors—Useful trapping accessories—Precautions to be taken when burying a trap in earth—Useless to leave in position a trap which has been discovered—Position in which a steel trap should be set—Best to remove traps for two or three nights after rats have been caught—Usually advisable to lightly cover steel traps—Care must be taken to prevent a steel trap from rocking—Methods for occasional trapping—Break-back traps—Method for setting break-back traps—Preventing the risk of a finger being caught in a break-back trap—Dead rats ought to be burnt or buried—Rules for successful trapping.

SNARING

Use of a snare—Selection of place for setting snare—Making a snare—Treatment of snare-shy rats.

FERRETS

Ferrets are of two distinct colours—Female ferret used for ratting—Purchasing ferrets—Handling wild and savage ferrets—Mr. Barkley’s views with regard to feeding ferrets—How to pick up a ferret—Bites from ferrets—Box for carrying ferrets—Bag for carrying ferrets—Lay a bag of ferrets down gently and find a snug corner for them—Don’t put a ferret in your pocket—Never put a line on a ferret when ratting—Ferret bells—Methods for muzzling ferrets—Ferrets for ratting best kept for the purpose—Making distinguishing marks on a ferret—Ferret-hutches—Alterations necessary for a hutch which is kept out of doors—Wirework used in construction of a ferret hutch should have acid removed from it—Advisable to cover a wire-work floor with loose boards—Spare hutches should be kept for wounded or sick ferrets—Barley straw or hay will give ferrets mange—Treatment of mange—Ferret-hutch should be kept clean—Ferrets’ nails should be cut when they grow long—Ferrets should be washed to free them from fleas and vermin—Hutches should be washed and disinfected from time to time—Feeding ferrets—Time at which they should be fed before work—Clean water to be kept in the hutch—Method for cleaning fountain—Improvised bottle fountain—Length of life of a ferret—Breeding ferrets—Period of gestation—Number of young ones in a litter—Nest of young ones must not be disturbed—Ferrets cannot be handled too much—A cure for biting ferrets—Well to have a whistle or have a call when attending to ferrets—The proper way to hold a ferret—Treatment of distemper.

THE MONGOOSE OR ICHNEUMON

The mongoose, its size and varieties—Its food—Value as rat-destroyer—Result of its use in West Indies—Used in England after recommendation from Authorities of Manchester Zoological Gardens—Mr. Jennison’s view as to how a mongoose should be used—The author strongly deprecates its use for rat-destruction—Reason for view held—Alternative methods of rat-destruction.

FERRETING

When there is wind, direction of ferreting work ought to be against it—Ferreting cannot be conducted too quietly—There should always be two persons working together when hedgerows are to be ferreted—Behaviour of a ferret when facing a rat showing fight—When ferreting care should be taken in handling ferrets—Methods for making a ferret release her hold—Important when ferreting that all worked holes should be stopped—List of articles required for a day’s ratting—Box for carrying ferrets—A ratting-spade—A trapping-spade—A ratting-spade more generally useful than a trapping-spade—Nets for ratting—How to fix a net to a stick—Ferreting a hedgerow—When rat holes have been concealed by vegetation it is best to ferret them the same day on which the bank is cleared—A line and ferret collar should always be carried—Collar worn by a young ferret—Method for marking length of ferret-line—A short stick often useful to trace direction of hole—Fleas on rats—Method for ensuring the destruction of fleas in plague-infected districts—Desirable to carry water for dogs and ferrets when ferreting—Kneeling pads—A gun should be carried when ferreting banks beside water—Dislike of ferrets to wet their feet—Recipe for dubbing—Ferreting a stack—Trap boxes—Treatment of wounded ferrets—Food for sick ferrets.

DOGS

Mr. Barkley’s views—The dog’s master—Breaking a dog not to kill a ferret—Make a dog obey—See to his comfort—Housing dogs—Reason for placing entrance in the centre of the front of the kennel—Arrangement for preventing straw falling out of kennel—Chains frequently used too short—Method for increasing dogs’ freedom—The right way and the wrong way to fasten up a dog—Method for securely fixing a staple in a wall—Use of spring on a chain—Water for dogs—Brimstone insoluble in water—Neither hay nor barley straw should be used for a dog’s bed—Dog should be left unchained when making his bed with fresh straw—Method for handling a savage dog—Method for making a wild dog keep to heel—Method for keeping dogs away from a door-post, &c.—Washing dogs—Box for use of a dog at night when kept in the house—A mistake to use a very young dog for ratting—Training a dog to kill rats—Training dogs to ferrets.

TRAILING

Use of a trail—Oil of peppermint stated to repel rats—Oil of rhodium also called oil of duty—Formulas for spurious oil of rhodium—How to make a trail—Method of using trail.

POISONING

Fallacious opinion that the best method for getting rid of rats is merely to cut off their food supply—Suitable measures outlined—Reasons why Government control will never be efficient—A properly organized rat campaign more than self-supporting—Necessity for a Government Rat-department—For a continuous war against rats, poisoning is essential but it only lessens the number—Blocking, flooding, ferreting, fumigation, trapping or snaring must be resorted to for the destruction of those which have escaped death by poisoning—Dangers attending the popular way of administering poison to rats and mice—The safest way to administer poison—Reason for recent custom of using paste, &c.—It is useless to attempt to poison more than two or three times a year except in places to which rats frequently migrate—Boxes for systematic poisoning—Position in which boxes should be placed—Daily attention to the boxes is necessary for successful poisoning—General supervision by someone in authority is essential for success—Use of line of boxes for poison and traps between docks and a town—Shelters useful when poisoning coverts—hedgerows and other places infested with rats—Construction of shelters suitable for poisoned food—Doubtful advantage of adding an essential oil to bait or poison—Doubtful advantage of sweetening bait or poison—Recipe for suitable bait for drawing rats to a place before the poison is laid—Foods suitable for mixing with poison—Advisable to bait before laying poison—Reasons for placing poisoned foods in concealed place—Necessity for poisoning holes as well as laying poison in shelters—Salt relished by rats—All poisons should be coloured—Peculiarities of English law as regards poisons—Two persons necessary to thoroughly poison walls, ditches, stream, &c.—Description of spoons for laying poison—Danger attending the practice of placing poisoned food in stacks whilst they are being built—All rats killed by poison ought to be burnt or buried deep in the ground—Arsenic—Preserving power of arsenic—Proportion generally used—Symptoms produced by arsenic—Mistake made by gamekeepers and others in using rock arsenic—Formula for arsenic poison suitable for rats—Method for mixing arsenic poison in large quantities—Rats poisoned with arsenic decompose slowly—Carbonate of barium—Amount required to kill a rat—Symptoms produced by the poison—Different kinds of—Proportion of carbonate of barium suitable for poisoning rats—Recipes for carbonate of barium poison—Squill—Squill used for many centuries to destroy rats—Symptoms produced by the poison—Preparations used—Amount required to kill a rat—Methods of preparing the poison—Recipes—Its toxicity varies—Firms which supply squill—Necessity for wearing gloves when handling squill—Strychnine—The best preparation of strychnine to use for poisoning rats—Percentage used for poisoning rats—Reason for finely powdering strychnine—Bicarbonate of soda stated to reduce bitter taste of strychnine—Saccharine used to diminish bitter taste—Method for preparing strychnine poison for rats—Formula for strychnine poison—Receipts for coating grain with strychnine—Phosphorus—Advantages of using phosphorus—Percentage of phosphorus used for poisoning rats—Ingredients for making phosphorus paste—Necessity for care when handling phosphorus—Precautions which should be taken after mixing phosphorus poison—Phosphorus and tallow—Proportion of phosphorus and tallow for making different quantities of poison—Hints to be observed when making phosphorus poison—Phosphorus paste for cockroaches.

VIRUS

Microbes the destructive power of virus—History of employment of virus—How virus is obtained—Specific virulence of virus for a rat is easily lost—Immunity of rats which have eaten a small quantity of virus—Possible danger to domestic animals by increasing the strength of virus in order to kill immune rats—Fatal fever amongst young calves on farm where virus had been carelessly used—Doubts as to whether it is wise to spread mouse typhoid fever and fevers produced by bacilli which belong to the same group of organisms—Serious outbreak of illness amongst human beings following use of virus to destroy mice—Statements that rats and mice that have eaten virus die in the open not borne out by fact—Manner in which disease caused by virus is spread to other rats and mice which have not eaten it—Statement that rats which have eaten virus communicate the disease to other rats which they go amongst shown by experience to be incorrect—Reasons for doubting correctness of statement that virus will continue harmless to poultry, &c., even if it is so at the present time—Experience of many of those who have used virus, as it is at present supplied, is to the effect that it is of but little use—Virus must be considered as not only doubtful in efficiency, but in safety also to human beings and other living creatures—Conclusions arrived at by United States Government with regard to virus.

BLOCKING

Method of procedure—Food should be placed daily in the cellar or room and in the principal hole which is to be blocked—Advisable to wear gaiters when killing the rats—Dead rats should be removed immediately—Best time for first blocking—Often best to leave a hole in a house permanently open—Method for temporarily closing holes—Wooden block for stopping hole—Arrangement of sand-bag for stopping hole—Stopping a hole in a lath-and-plaster wall—Arrangement for blocking an aperture below a door—Arrangement for propping open a door—Necessity for fastening the latch on the door which has to be closed—Advisable to clear room and to place shelters when the rats are numerous—Advisable to have plenty of light while the rats are being killed—Method for thoroughly preventing the escape of rats—Advisability of immediately destroying the fleas which are on the rats—Terrier Blocking trap—A good night’s work.

FLOODING

Advantages of method—Clearing a poultry farm of rats—Advisable to clear building before beginning operations—Insufficient water supply a frequent mistake made—Best method for conducting the operation—Advisable to prepare holes to receive a rush of water—Use of nets recommended—Large water-cart with hose connected with tap useful for flooding isolated buildings and holes in bank and ground—Advantages of having a metal end affixed to the hose—Banks and hedgerows more thoroughly and quickly cleared of rats by a water-cart than by ferreting—Method for flooding a run which is above the level of the hole—Often advisable to flood rat and mouse holes in a field—It would be a convenience if in the future manufacturers of water-carts affixed a tap suitable for a hose attachment—Advisable to have a filling-pump attached to the cart and arrangement for keeping suction-pipe near the surface of the water—A force-pump sometimes useful.

FUMIGATION

Smoke-ferrets useful when ferrets are not available and it is wished to drive rats from a hole in a bank, or suffocate them if they will not leave it—Useful also when a rat stands at bay in a position from which a ferret cannot or will not drive him—Sulphur the chief ingredient of most smoke-ferrets—Nitre necessary ingredient to enable sulphur to burn in a confined space, and also useful by emitting light—Red oxide of iron used to conceal colour of sulphur—Smoke-ferrets best made in a mixing machine—Suitable mixture for smoke-ferrets—Usual dimensions of smoke-ferrets for bolting rats—When mixing nitre and sulphur care should be taken that charcoal is not added, as gunpowder might result—Composition of gunpowder—Best to light a smoke-ferret with a fusee—Method of introducing a smoke-ferret into a rat’s hole—Best method for closing rats’ holes to prevent the fumes from a smoke-ferret escaping—Useful to attach the wooden or metal cover to a peg with string when working on a steep bank or over a wet ditch—In plague-infected areas a smoke-ferret placed in all rats’ holes before they are closed would kill the fleas in the rats’ nest—Apparatus for driving fumes of sulphur into rats’ holes more inconvenient than a smoke-ferret—Portable form of Clayton’s apparatus—The holes should be filled in as soon as the rats have been driven out of them—The United States Department of Agriculture recommends rats being asphyxiated in their burrows with bisulphide of carbon—Disadvantages of this method—War-gas—Flooding often better method than fumigation.

VARNISH AND RAT-LIME TRAP

Method employed—Duration of effectiveness under favourable conditions—Causes of failure—Temperature affects the varnish—Firms supplying the varnish—Cost of varnish—Rat-lime—Firms supplying Rat-lime.

THE RODIER SYSTEM

Theory of system—Application of system at Zoological Gardens, Manchester—Mr. Jennison’s summing up unsatisfactory—Practically impossible to apply system to rat-destruction—Male rats are as destructive and carry disease to same extent as females—Mr. Jennison’s advice most unpractical—If adopted, very few rats would be destroyed—Only professional rat-catchers dare to handle rats in order to determine their sex—Unlikely that male rats who have done damage will be liberated merely that they may assist in worrying females—The system applied to rats would be not only useless, but dangerous.

RATS IN THE HOUSE, SHOP, WAREHOUSE, &C.

The ways by which rats enter a house—Importance of removing or stopping old brick drains—Importance of tracing a rat’s hole in a basement from which a draught proceeds—Method for tracing a rat’s hole—Method for blocking brick drain when it passes under a building, &c.—Method for preventing rats getting into a house from ivy, &c.—Terrier Death Run traps or trapped Terrier Signal Runs should be kept set around a house—Methods for destroying rats in a house—Catching a rat with a run behind a skirting board—No permanent good will be done by laying quicklime or smearing surfaces with tar—Method for discovering the position of a dead rat or mouse—Destruction of rats in restaurants, hotels and shops—Advantage if all houses or shops in the same row or block of buildings are blocked on the same night—Advisable to arrange for an employee to drop a sand-bag or the doors of a Blocking trap at least once a week when rats are attracted to premises—Method for preventing rats lying on a ceiling—Advisability of keeping trapped Signal Runs always set—Advisability of not closing the holes in a room which rats have long frequented.

RATS IN THE OUTBUILDING

Importance of keeping rats out of buildings—Necessity for removing all lumber and vegetation from against outer wall of a building—All holes in a building to be ferreted or flooded—A hole in a double boarded wall not to be permanently closed immediately—Advantage of clearing an outhouse before ferreting or flooding the holes—Advisable to place a net across an open doorway while ferreting or flooding the holes—The rats which are on the premises are the most difficult to get rid of—Advisability of concreting and paving all outbuildings—Method for permanently stopping all holes under doors—All holes through walls for gutter drains to be covered with a grating—Method for protecting the corner of a door or door-post from being gnawed—Method for preventing rats passing between a door and a raised threshold—Method for protecting the corners of a door and door-frame—Method for stopping small holes in wood-work—Sizes of sheet metal usually sufficient to cover a rat’s hole—Zinc useless for stopping a rat’s hole—The sizes in which sheet-iron is procurable—Necessity for submerging new galvanized iron in water or washing it with a strong solution of soda—Method for trapping rats which enter an outbuilding from the top of its walls—Method for placing a steel trap inside an outbuilding—Advisable to place the hole for a cat at not less than two feet from the ground.

RATS IN THE YARD

Rats often enter premises through an aperture under the yard gate—Position in which a Terrier Death Run trap or a Terrier Signal Run should be placed to catch rats entering a yard—Method for preventing rats entering a coach-house or other outbuilding situated below the level of the yard—Rats may often be found under a dog kennel—A rat living beneath a dog-kennel—Necessity for filling the interstices in a loose stone wall—Ingredients for making mortar—Advisable to keep constantly trapped a hole in the ground, in or close to the situation where a rat’s hole has been made previously—Method for trapping a hole of this description—Necessity for clearing rats from the banks of a pond—Methods for destroying the rats which inhabit the banks of a pond—Method for preventing rats from again frequenting the pond—The open end of a drain should be covered with grating—Rats in a faggot stack—Ferreting rats in a faggot stack—Destruction of rats in a fowl-yard—Rats often frequent the goods yard of a railway company, and may live beneath the platforms of a railway station—Method for trapping rats in a goods yard.

RATS IN THE STABLE

Rats frequently prevent horses from sleeping—The threshold must be made good and all holes stopped to prevent rats getting in—The rats in a stable must be flooded, ferreted or blocked out of their holes, or trapped—All gutters used for drainage should have an iron grating affixed to their outer end—Trouble would be saved if manufacturers were to cast a suitable frame and grating—All holes should be stopped in the walls or in the boarding which covers them—All doors and thresholds inside the stable should be repaired—Method for removing rats from between a floor and a ceiling below it—Inexpedient to use dogs to kill the rats in a loft when the boards are up—All holes in walls, ceiling and floor to be stopped.

RATS IN THE COW-HOUSE

Rats frequently lie under a boxed-in manger—Space beneath boxed-in mangers, if retained, to be filled in with concrete or bricks and mortar.

RATS IN THE FOWL-HOUSE

Doorways to be made good and all holes in the walls to be stopped—All rats to be killed and their holes in the floor to be immediately filled in—Nests to be raised a foot or more from the floor—Advisable to make nests movable—Rats frequently lie behind the nests in the space formed between them and the studs and the outer boards forming the wall of the building—Rats frequently enter a fowl-house through the hole made for the fowls—Reason for raising the hole—Method for trapping rats which descend into a fowl-house.

RATS IN THE PIG-STY

Rats usually found in a pig-sty—Methods by which rats should be destroyed—Necessity for keeping the ground clear around a sty—Advisable not to poison rats near a pig-sty—All holes in the walls of the covered compartment to be stopped and the floor remade—Method for making movable wooden floor—Method for making the outer compartment of the sty rat-proof—A hole through the sty-wall for drainage should have a grating hung on the outer side—Method for keeping rats out of a sty made of wooden uprights with an interval between them—Run traps may be placed outside a sty—Method for constructing a simple trapped run against a sty—Efficiency of this method of trapping clearly proved—Advisable to keep trapped Terrier Signal Runs around pigs’ tubs—Arrangement for Terrier Signal Runs—Trapping open-air pig area.

RATS IN THE GARDEN, GREEN-HOUSE OR VINERY

Terrier Death Run traps or Terrier Signal Runs should be kept set to protect a garden—Additional traps should be placed in a garden if rats damage the crops—Method for checking progress of rats through ornamental gates—Method for keeping rabbits out of a garden—Access to a vinery frequently obtained through the holes made for the vines—Holes through a wall for heating pipes should be carefully filled in—Rats sometimes enter a vinery from an old brick drain.

RATS BY RIVER, STREAM, OR ORNAMENTAL WATER

Fondness of rats for vicinity of water—The brown rat takes readily to water—Rats prefer to cross a stream by a plank or rail—Methods for trapping rats by the side of water—Method for setting a trap across a stream—Method for trapping a plank bridge—Method for trapping a larger bridge—Trapping by the side of a pond or wet ditch—Trapping at the bottom of a wet ditch—Mode of setting trap across a ditch—Killing rats in trees surrounded by a flood.

RATS ON A SHIP

Although rats have inhabited ships since early times until recently no organized plan for their destruction has been carried out—No measures will be undertaken for rat destruction on a large scale until it is made compulsory for all vessels to be fumigated at stated intervals—System adopted by Messrs. Elder, Dempster and Co.—Systematic destruction of rats on ships necessary to prevent damage to cargo and prevent them entering the warehouses on the quay—Unless rats are systematically destroyed on ships plague-infected rats are more liable to reach home ports—Wholesale method of rat destruction necessary as well as continuous trapping on board—The Clayton method—Time necessary to leave the fumes in the hold—Damage to freight by gas used for rat destruction—Old method of fumigation with sulphur—Dr. Nocht’s mixture of gas for rat-destruction—Drawbacks to the use of this mixture—Constant passage of rats between the docks and the neighbouring town—Laxness at many small ports with regard to rat-guards on the hawsers—Desirable to fumigate every ship as soon as its holds are empty—The Blocking trap invaluable at all ports—Bye-laws of the Port of London Authority dealing with rats—Necessity for keeping traps set throughout the voyage—Swing door on gangway to prevent rats entering a ship.

RATS ON A SHOOTING ESTATE AND FARM

All game-keepers are not good rat-trappers—Usually a mistake for all the keepers on an estate to trap—The head keeper must be made responsible for the extermination of the rats—Causes of the prevalence of rats on a shooting estate—Poisoning only lessens the number of rats—Rats often found in large numbers around buildings and in banks in proximity to a game-keeper’s cottage—Rats frequently found in large numbers near places to which a game-keeper goes daily—A keeper’s frequent excuse for not having killed the rats—If the will existed the means to do it would be