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o}oK0 PHEASANT FARMING Sree 
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the pheasant breeder to fight rats continually and by every method 
possible, and even then he will have some rats. I have tried steel 
traps, wire cage traps, poison, carbon bisulphide, gopher extermin- 
ators and various other remedies, but find nothing so effective as a 
good “varmint” dog. It is useless to put out poison as long as the 
rats have access to other food. Gopher exterminators or explosive 
cartridges placed in rat holes and ignited fill the passage with 
smoke and gas. By using these we have killed some rats, but this 
method is uncertain, likewise the carbon bisulphide. 
Cats are an abomination. Government statistics tell us that not 
two per cent of the cats are ratters, and no cat ever lived that would 
not kill a young pheasant, if given an opportunity. One-inch mesh 
wire netting sunk two feet into the ground around a pen will keep 
out rats for two or three seasons, or until the wire begins to corrode. 
The sides and top of pen must also be of one-inch mesh wire, other- 
wise the rats will get in over the top. 
If all buildings are up from the ground high enough to permit 
a dog to have full access, and you have the right kind of a dog, he 
will take care of the rats as fast as they come. Whenever a rat hole 
Airedale, the Pheasant Breeder’s Dog 
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