84 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. 



have been due not so much to lack of effective methods as 

 to the neglect of certain precautions and the absence of con- 

 certed action. We have rendered our work abortive by con- 

 tinuing to provide subsistence and hiding places for the rats. 

 When these advantages are denied, persistent and concerted 

 use of the methods here recommended will prove far more 

 effective. 



Rat- Proof Building. — First in importance, as a measure 

 of rat repression, is the exclusion of the animals from places 

 where they find food and safe retreats for rearing their 

 young. 



The best way to keep rats from buildings, whether in 

 city or in country, is by the use of cement in construction. 

 As the advantages of this material are coming to be generally 

 understood, its use is rapidly extending to all kinds of build- 

 ings. Dwellings, dairies, barns, stables, chicken houses, ice 

 houses, bridges, dams, silos, tanks, cisterns, root cellars, hot- 

 beds, sidewalks, and curbs are now often made wholly of 

 cement. The process of mixing and laying this material re- 

 quires little skill or special knowledge, and workmen of ordi- 

 nary intelligence can successfully follow the plain directions 

 contained in handbooks of cement construction. Illustrated 

 handbooks are often furnished free by cement manufacturers. 



Many modern public buildings are so constructed that 

 rats can find no lodgment in the walls or foundations, and 

 yet in a few years, through negligence, such buildings often 

 become infested with the pests. Sometimes drain pipes are 

 left uncovered for hours at a time. Often outer doors, espe- 

 cially those opening on alleys, are left ajar. A common mis- 

 take is failure to screen basement windows which must be 

 opened for ventilation. However the intruders are admitted, 

 when once inside they intrench themselves behind furniture 

 or stores, and are difficult to dislodge. The addition of inner 

 doors to vestibules is an important precaution against rats, 



