254 
THE RAT. 
as for rats ; but without the bread-crumb or scenting oils, be- 
cause they do not seem to like the scent. In a dwelling-house, 
I always had the place cleared of all food ; then spread the 
mixture on a sheet of paper, and in the morning, when I 
went to clear it away, there often would be numbers lying 
dead. This I repeated night after night, till there were no 
signs of any left. But I do not recommend poisoning mice 
in dwelling-houses, because of the danger of poison lying 
about : they are easily trapped ; or if you procure a half- 
grown kitten, or one of the small cats spoken of, it will 
speedily clear the place." 
Whistling Joe's poisonous draught for barns and ricks was 
as follows : — Take a quarter of a pound of the best powdered 
nux-vomica ; put it into an old saucepan, with three 
quarts of water, and boil it till it comes down to two quarts; 
then put into it two pounds of treacle, to overcome the 
bitterness of the nux-vomica ; when cold, pour some into 
little earthen pans, and put them in different places uhder 
the eaves of the ricks, and on the top of the walls and cross- 
beams in barns. Both rats and mice will greedily drink of 
it ; and it will certainly kill them. But if you have owls 
in your barns, it will poison them also, if they drink of it. 
In his concluding advice and instructions, Joe gives us 
some of the pretended secrets of other rat-catchers. " I have 
known it a practice with some," says he, " to resort to a 
variety of means, for the purpose of fumigating or fright- 
ening rats away. But that I consider merely trifling with 
the matter, because they only drive them on to the neigh- 
bour's premises for the time being ; and before the w^eek is 
passed they may be back again. 
" Some rat-catchers," says he, carry a pepper-box lilled 
with finely-powdered arsenic ; then getting some dead rats, 
they shake a quantity of the poison over their fore parts, 
and place them in the drains or holes of other rats. If they 
find these creatures have laid siege to a corn- rick, they place 
some in their holes and rims, either in the sides or thatch ; 
or if you place some of the dead rats so sprinkled beneath 
the barn floor or the calf-pen, where rats are fond of taking 
up their abode, it will not only drive them away, but pre- 
vent others coming while the dead ones remain. Then, 
again, I have known them to sew a little red jacket on to a 
