88 



mice get in we catch them immediately. I never have had a rat 

 or a mouse in my summer camp, where no cats are allowed, but 

 in the farmhouse near by, where two cats are kept, rats come 

 and go, and in the barn and outbuildings, which the cats fre- 

 quent, rats always exist in numbers, although rarely seen. I 

 never use poison in my buildings. Ratproofing and traps prop- 

 erly used will free any dwelling house of rats and mice. Readers 

 who do not know how are referred to Economic Biology Bulletin 

 No. 1, "Rats and Rat Riddance," which may be procured by 

 applying to the secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Agriculture, Room 136, State House, Boston. Some catless 

 people have little success with traps and are overrun with rats 

 and mice. This happens because they do not know how to 

 handle the rat problem, or have not time, skill, industry or per- 

 sistence enough to outwit the rats. Others who have no cats have 

 less trouble with rats than their neighbors who keep many cats. 



Inquiry among correspondents who keep no cats elicited the 

 reasons why they do without them, which fall under the follow- 

 ing heads: (1) danger to children from bites, scratches and dis- 

 ease; (2) cats kill birds; (3) cats kill chickens; (4) antipathy for 

 cats; (5) cats do more harm than good; (6) cats are unclean and 

 make too much trouble. 



Those who do not keep cats have not solved the cat problem, 

 however, as many of them complain that their premises are 

 overrun by neighbors' cats or stray cats, and that birds and 

 chickens are killed by them. Nine complain of the destruction 

 of young trees by cats' claws, 39 of damage to gardens by tramp- 

 ling and scratching in them, and 179 of disturbance by cater- 

 wauling. 



Catproof Fence. 



A catproof fence may be made by first setting up a chicken 

 wire fence six feet high and attaching to the tops of the posts 

 slim upright poles from which a fine fish seine is hung with its 

 lower edge fastened to the top of the wire fence, thus making a 

 barrier at least nine feet high. The fish net hangs so loosely 

 from the slim poles that it gives beneath the weight of the cat 

 and baffles the animal completely. The bottom of the fence 

 should fit the ground closely, and there should be no trees near, 

 on the limbs of which cats can climb and then drop inside. A 

 fruit garden enclosed by such a fence is likely to become a para- 

 dise for birds, but it may become a playground for rats as well, 

 and measures to kill them may be necessary. 



The reasons why people keep cats are given by cat owners as 

 follows: (1) as companions and pets; (2) to catch rats, mice and 



