14 



FARMERS^ BULLETIN HOG. 



Fig. 9, — Barrel trap : 1, With stiff paper cover 

 2, with hinged barrel cover ; a, stop ; h, baits. 



A flat stone or a heavy phmk— supported by a figure-4 trigger. An 

 old rat Avill go under such a contrivance to feed Avithout fear. 



Steel trap.— The ordinary steel trap (No. 0 or 1) may sometimes be 

 satisfactorily employed to capture a rat. The animal is usually 

 caught" by the foot, and its squealing has a tendency to frighten other 

 rats. The trap may be set in a shallow pan or box and covered with 



bran or oats, care being 

 taken to have the space 

 under the trigger pan free 

 of grain. This may be 

 done by placing a very 

 little cotton under the trig- 

 ger and setting as lightly as 

 possible. In a narrow run 

 or at the mouth of a burrow 

 a steel trap unbaited and 

 covered with very light 

 cloth or tissue paper is 

 often effective. 



The best bait usually is food of a kind that the rats and mice do not 

 get in the vicinity. In a meat market, vegetables or grain should 

 be used ; in a feed store, meat. As far as possible food other than 

 the bait should be inaccessible while trapping is in progress. The 

 bait should be kept fresh and attractive, and the kind changed when 

 necessary. Baits and traps should be handled as little as possible. 



Barrel trap. — About 



7 



60 years ago a writer 

 in the Cornhill Maga- 

 zine gave details of a 

 trap, by means of 

 which it was claimed 

 that 3,000 rats were 

 caught in a warehouse 

 in a single night. The 

 plan involved tolling 

 the rats to the place 

 and feeding them for several nights on the tops of barrels covered 

 Avith coarse brown paper. Afterwards a cross was cut in the paper, 

 so that the rats fell into the barrel (fig. 9 (1)). Many variations of 

 the plan, but few improvements upon it, have been suggested by agri- 

 cultural writers since that time. Reports are frequently made of large 

 catches of rats by means of a barrel fitted wiith a light cover of wood, 

 hinged on a rod so as to turn with the weight of a rat (fig. 9 (2) ). 



Fig. 10. 



-Pit trap, aa. Hat run ; bfc, cover; cc, position of 

 weiglits ; eld, rods on which covers turn. 



