FERRETING. 15 



Street, Manchester, as an illustration. Here 

 are six or eight different firms in one block of 

 buildings. Now, suppose four of these firms 

 are suffering from the damage the Eats are 

 doing. Well, one or two of these firms may 

 go to the expense of having the Eats cleared 

 away. But between the two buildings there 

 may be a hardware business or ironmonger's 

 shop, where Eats cannot do any harm to their 

 goods. The owners of these shops will not go 

 to the expense of having Eats caught, nor will 

 they let us go into their shops at midnight ; 

 therefore the result is the Eat-catcher in his 

 trapping and ferretting is limited to these two 

 places, and all he can do is to catch some and 

 drive the rest into the hardware shop. When 

 under the floors in such places one finds there 

 has been so many alterations made at different 

 times that one joist may be a foot or six 

 inches below the other, and when the Eats are 

 completely driven out of these places it would 

 require joiners and bricksetters to work for weeks 

 under the floors to stop the Eats returning. 

 And most firms will not go to this expense. I 

 only give my readers this as an illustration of 

 what has often happened with me, and to 

 show why I never guarantee to clear Eats 

 completely in large towns. If they are in a 

 private house, stable, greenhouse, or any block 



