196 
THE BAT. 
catcher at the rate of two shillings and fourpence per week, 
you would save over twenty half-crowns weekly. Or, to 
give it in plain round terms, and averaging the corn destroyed 
to be worth sixty-four shillings per quarter, five hundred 
rats, to say nothing of their young, or of mice, would, in 
tw^elve months, by eating only a wine-glass each in twenty- 
four hours, cost £146. But, to estimate the rats at a 
thousand, the cost would be £292. 
Now, do you think it worth your while to give a 
rat-catcher six pounds a year, not only to keep him honest, 
but to save you thus much money annually 1 If you have 
never given the matter a consideration before, it is well 
worth your most serious reflection now. I say, pay this man 
six pounds per year ; and surely it shall be worth a farmer's 
while, when a London hotel-keeper pays the same merely to 
keep his house free from rats. However, by paying him 
that sum he would be able not only to live comfortably, 
but to supply himself well with dogs, ferrets, nets, traps, 
and poisons, and devote his entire time to about twenty farms. 
In that case he could give them each a monthly visit, and by 
so doing he would keep the vermin completely under. Not 
only that, the remuneration would have the effect of bring- 
ing a number of respectable scientific men into the market, 
and there would be an end to all losses by vermin. 
Here let me tell you of one great blunder the majority of 
farmers make. When they employ a rat-catcher, they do not 
employ him as a protection against the ravages of vermin, 
but give him a job now and then, as a rat-butcher. They 
first go to the enormous expense of breeding and feeding a 
multitude of rats, and then, when they find their place com- 
jAeiely overrun with a host of fine fat fellows, they give the 
rat-catcher a few shillings to come and kill as many as he 
can in a few hours. Why, of course, it is not this man's 
interest to kill all their rats ; because if he does, there is an 
end to his work, and he may starve. 
The way farmers should engage a rat-catcher is this. They 
should contract with him, as a scientific man, to keep them 
free from vermin ; and by allowing him a fair salary (say 
thirty shillings per quarter), as a remuneration for his time, 
skill, and experience, he will find it to his interest to be 
vigilant and industrious. When the farmer finds himself 
