DESTRUCTION OF RATS. 
89 
at six pounds per year ; here he only pays a monthly visit, and 
is, according to contract, compelled to poison all ; consequently 
he can form no idea as to the numbers killed. He likewise 
informs me that, some time ago, he was engaged by a 
gentleman of New Galway, to free his estate from rats. ' 
That gentleman defrayed all his expenses there and back^ 
and gave him half a guinea a day, besides supporting him 
upon the fat of the land. It took him six weeks to complete 
the job, for which he received £18. 18s. 
Having disposed of the ratcatchers for the present, and 
exposed the wolves in ratcatchers' clothing, we shall proceed 
to give some unerring methods for clearing one's premises of 
rats ; at the same time I propose making every man, if he 
pleases, his own ratcatcher, and thereby entirely supersede 
burglars, both within and without. 
In the first place, as I said before, send for an honest 
bricklayer, and let him hunt out every rat-hole in the foun- 
dation of your premises ; and into each, where practicable, 
put a quantity of unslaked lime. After this, let him plaster 
every hole tight up with broken glass and mortar ; then you 
may rest assured that the first time rats come that way, they 
will run back much quicker than they came ; for if there be 
one thing in the world that rats hate more than another, it 
appears to be quicklime ; consequently, if a place be strewn 
with it, or if some be placed round about their holes, the 
instant they find it out, they will beat a retreat, and not 
come that way again till it is gone. 
In proof of the efficacy of lime, I shall instance a gentle- 
man who had occasion to use a quantity about his premises, 
which had hitherto been much infested with rats, Avhen, 
before using the lime, he could scarcely walk across the yard 
at night without treading on them. But he placed some 
fresh unslaked lime around their holes, and it had the 
effect of driving them all from his premises. 
As an extraordinary instance of rat-killing, I may 
mention that a gentleman living in Wales, aided by his 
two juvenile brothers, killed no less than 170 rats in less 
than half an hour, by the use of lime. The three brothers 
poured some water into some quicklime, and after stirring it, 
poured it into the rat-holes, when out dashed the rats, heels 
over head, one over the other, and were as quickly killed by 
