258 
THE KAT. 
least so far as killing them on the spot. I mixed it in 
various proportions up to half squill, half cheese ; and though 
every bolus I made, speedily disappeared, still, whether they 
ate them where I placed them, or carried them to their 
holes, I know not. But certain it is, our noses soon set us 
to work ; for on taking up the hearthstone, there lay the 
dead rats. 
The following prescript appears in the '^Family Economist." 
" Mix, in equal quantities, the oil of amber and ox-gall ; 
then add to them oatmeal flour sufficient to form a paste, 
which divide into little balls about the size of ordinary 
marbles, and lay them in the middle of the room which rats 
are supposed or known to visit ; surround the balls with a 
number of vessels filled with water. The smell of the oil 
will be sure to attract the rats. They will greedily devour 
the balls, and, becoming thirsty, they will drink till they die 
on the spot." 
In the "Agricultural Gazette," a writer states, that 
having at different times tried many nostrums for the 
destruction of rats, with very indifferent success, owing 
to the sagacity of the animals, he adopted a plan which 
may not be generally known ; its simplicity and (as 
he has always found) its infallibility being its principal 
recommendations. " Take a red herring, and having opened 
it, rub the inside with arsenic ; then sew it up again, taking 
care there is none of the poison on the outside ; place it in 
the barn or other place infested, and you will find it quickly 
disappear, as also the rats. Perhaps, if you were to treat 
them first with a few red herrings unpoisoned, it might give 
them greater confidence ; and be sure to have dishes and 
low pans laden with water for them to drink." 
The author of the "Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," says 
that in destroying rats in quantities where dogs cannot 
avail, poison is mostly resorted to ; for which purpose arsenic 
is most generally used. The best method of applying it is, 
to place slices of bread and butter, sprinkled over with lump 
sugar, to their holes, or near their haunts, and to repeat this 
from time to time, until it is readily devoured. The next 
time, sprinkle it with arsenic as well as sugar. But mind 
that no other animal can get at it. In this way numbers of 
rats will be destroyed. 
