357 Ground Vermin. 



unduly excitable, for nothing is worse and more injurious 

 to any chance of effecting good results than a cur running 

 hither and thither, without doing more than yelp and 

 distract the other dogs' attention. If any outlying exits 

 of drains in any way connected with the parts being 

 ferreted exist, they should be provided with wire-cage 

 traps, such as are sometimes used as eel-traps ; these, 

 when properly fixed, under the conditions named, often 

 catch a good many. They must be looked at continually, 

 otherwise a ferret might get in, and if among five or six 

 rats would have rather a rough time of it. In order to 

 make this wholesale ferreting about the buildings a success, 

 an entire day should be devoted to it, commencing early in 

 the morning, and as it will probably take place in autumn 

 or winter, it is necessary to take up the ferrets at from 

 two to three o'clock. Corn- ricks, when rats unluckily 

 have taken up their abode therein and are devastating 

 them, should be immediately cleared out by ferrets, and 

 every possible means of access to rats stopped. If ricks 

 be built simply on the ground, then constant trapping and 

 ferreting are the only means of alleviating or altogether 

 stopping the mischief. 



When it is desirable to extirpate rats which have adopted 

 a hedgerow for their abode, they may, if the holes of 

 entrance and egress be discovered, be trapped by using a 

 small-sized gin at each hole. The setting of the traps 

 must, of course, be carefully effected in accordance with 

 instructions which will be given presently. On the other 

 hand, ferreting can in such cases be resorted to with 

 beneficial results, two or three good dogs and active ferrets 

 being necessary. 



Before proceeding to discuss the relative qualities of the 

 various traps which can be employed to advantage, further 

 attention must be called to the great powers of scent 



