64 



notwithstanding the killing done by the cat, the number present 

 had not decreased, as not enough had been killed to dispose of 

 the annual increase. After the cat had been in the barn six 

 months, I set eleven old rusty traps one night and got six rats; 

 two sprung traps and got away. This one night's work of old 

 and rather ineffective traps equalled six weeks' work of the cat. 

 No one knows how many rats infest his place when he keeps a 

 ratcatching cat, for then the rats almost invariably keep out of 

 sight. I have found it difficult to get rid of rats when I had cats, 

 as traps could not be set freely on account of the cats, but as 

 soon as the cats were disposed of, the rats were trapped. I have 

 just returned from a visit in the country with a friend who keeps 

 two cats which, he says regretfully, are very destructive to birds. 

 When asked why he did not dispose of them he replied that a 

 farmer must have cats to catch the rats and mice about his 

 buildings. At that very moment there were two traps set for 

 mice in a livrng room, and he admitted that whenever rats be- 

 came unbearable in his barn the cats were shut out and poison 

 was used. Apparently, however, my own experience with cats 

 has been unfortunate, as the farm canvass undertaken by the 

 State Board of Agriculture shows that about four-fifths of the 

 farmers interviewed seem to believe that cats are more or less 

 effective as rat killers. The following figures are given for what 

 they are worth. They refer to village and farm cats: — 



Interviews, 291 



Cats kept, 559 



Known ratters, 197 



Known not ratters, 43 



Have rats, 118 



Have no rats, 131 



Had more rats before getting cat, 22 



Have rats and no cat, -27 



Have no rats and no cat, 24 



Have cats and no rats, 107 



Have both cats and rats, 96 



89 keeping 184 cats use traps also. 



45 keeping 90 cats use poisons. 



36 keeping 70 cats use both traps and poisons. 



These figures, furnished mainly by friends and owners of cats, 

 do not speak highly of the ratcatching ability of the average cat, 

 but they seem to show that more than one-third of the cats kept 

 by these country people kill more or less rats. A little more than 

 one-fifth seem to be effective ratcatchers, as they appear to 

 have killed or driven out rats. It is safe to say that some of 



