No. 4.] RATS AND RAT RIDDANCE. 199 



between the floors and extending up 8 inches under mopboards 

 and casings will suffice. 



Nothing harbors rats in town or country like the barn, shed 

 or other building with timbers laid on the ground or near it, 

 with just space underneath to accommodate rats and exclude 

 dogs and cats. Small ricks or buildings, such as corn barns, 

 henhouses, woodsheds, etc., may be made rat-proof by setting 

 them up on posts at least 2 feet from the ground (.3 feet is 

 better), provided there are no lumber or rubbish piles, trees, 

 chicken ways, etc., by which rats may gain access to the build- 

 ing. Dogs, cats, skunks, weasels and other natural enemies of 

 rats can pass freely beneath such buildings, and will make life 

 unpleasant for the rodents there. There should be no projec- 

 tion of post or beam to which the rat can climb and on which 

 he can stand and gnaw through the floor above. ^ The New 

 England corn barn, standing on four high posts, capped by 

 inverted milk pans and reached only by a ladder, is effective, 

 but its usefulness is too often minimized by lumber, rubbish or 

 other material lying or leaning against it, and forming a bridge 

 or ladder on which rats may enter. A building lined with wire 

 netting of one-half inch mesh and 20 gauge, such as is used for 

 screening cellar windows, is thus protected against rats, mice, 

 squirrels or birds. Henhouses and brooder houses usually are 

 built on the ground, or on posts set into it, with board or dirt 

 floors. Some poultrymen use inch mesh chicken wire netting 

 to keep out rats, digging a trench 2| feet deep around the 

 building, and burying the wire netting upright in this, having 

 first attached the upper end to the sills. I have used this wire 

 with good results, but only when the small doors leading out 

 into the yards were at least 24 inches from the ground, and 

 when the fowls were not furnished gang-planks to walk out on, 

 but were obliged to fly up to the entrances. Mice and small 

 rats, however, will readily pass through this netting, and half- 

 inch mesh is better. In rare instances rats dig under such a 

 30-inch netting and it should extend 36 inches under ground. 

 The plan used on some game preserves may be better for pens. 

 About a foot of netting is laid on the ground, extending out, not 

 in, from the base of a wire fence or building. It is said that all 



1 Poultry houses thus raised are free from dampness, but expert poultrymen do not recommend 

 them for winter use in New England. 



