FERRETVILLE. 31 



them into the business and the}^ made quite a 

 success of it, but they did not grasp the possibil- 

 ities of it as Held did, who, while he got the idea 

 from them, has developed it far beyond anything 

 ever dreamed of by the Farnsworth men. 



Originally ferrets were used almost exclu- 

 sively for killing rabbits, but since many of the 

 states have passed laws forbidding such use of 

 them, in order to protect rabbits, their principal 

 use in states like Ohio is in ridding places of rats. 

 A ferrefc can go any place a rat can and rats are 

 mortally afraid of them. They fly when a ferret 

 enters their burrows. 



As is well known, ships soon become in- 

 fested with rats, which board them as they are 

 tied up at the wharfs. Wharfs are always in- 

 fested with rats of large species that live on the 

 refuse from the cargoes thrown out there. It is 

 a frequent sight in the water shipping districts 

 of ports to see rats going aboard by way of the 

 mooring ropes. 



Every vessel carries its equipment of ferrets, 

 whose duty it is to keep the holds free from the 

 rodents that, during a voyage, may do extensive 

 and expensive damage to goods in the cargoes. 

 Vessel-owning companies are large buyers from 

 the Held establishment — their orders generally 

 calling for from 50 to 100 animals. 



