208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



used by the United States government in its rat extermination 

 work. This costs more than the other flat traps, but the ad- 

 vantage is claimed for it that the rat can spring it by either 

 raising or lowering the trigger; also it has less wood in its 

 construction than the other, which better fits it for outdoor use, 

 and is more strongly made. 



Exposure to rain and snow eventually will spoil any trap 

 of this type, as rust will weaken the springs, while wetting and 

 drying may cause the wood to split, but the official trap will 

 stand a season's exposure to the elements. 



Cleaning, Disguising, Scenting and Concealing Traps. — It is 

 w^ell known that trappers use scented baits to lure animals to 

 their traps, and there is many a "secret" of the professional 

 trapper that is supposed to insure success. Some of these lures 

 are useful, among them strong-smelling foods the odor of which 

 readily can be perceived from a distance by all wild animals. 



Certain other scents, like musk, anise and catnip, are known 

 to attract certain animals. In the days when rat-baiting was 

 a common pastime, and when the rat pit was almost as much 

 a national institution in England as the bull ring still is in 

 Spain, rat catching was a thriving trade, and professional rat 

 catchers of that day were firm believers in the use of scents 

 for attracting rats. The experiments made by the Massa- 

 chusetts State Board of Agriculture seem to prove that certain 

 scents are attractive to some rats, but it is possible that these 

 odors serve more to disguise the smell of the trap than to lure 

 the rats. When the trap gives off an odor of iron rust, rat 

 blood or human perspiration, no doubt the experienced rat 

 takes the alarm. Therefore the expert rat catcher cleans the 

 trap, disguises the odor or substitutes some strong odor for it. 

 Whatever the reason, the scented traps caught more rats than 

 those unscented. While trapping for three days in two barns 

 with cleaned, covered and scented traps, handled with clean or 

 scented gloves, we caught twenty-three rats. Three days' trap- 

 ping with uncovered and unscented traps secured but three. 

 To get the best results traps should be handled only with gloves 

 and with great care and gentleness. Throwing or kicking the 

 traps about is likely to put some of them out of action. The 

 leather gloves used in trapping should not be handled, should 



