Cats and Rats. 
i 8 i 
the expense is very trifling, and there is no after anxiety. Another mode, when the run is sur- 
rounded by walls of moderate height, is to fix along the top a yard-wide netting, A A, as shown 
in Fig. 52 , projecting over each side of the wall. Few cats will venture into a yard thus protected, 
and any which do cannot escape, and are then easily “ disposed of.” Killing them is not necessary ; 
a good garden-engine well handled for a quarter of an hour, the poor wretches vainly striving to 
escape the hated element, will give them such a taste of that yard that they will never enter it 
again. These simple methods of protection are better than destruction ; but should the latter be 
determined upon, a common box-trap, made large enough, and baited with meat, will catch 
numbers, cats being of a very unsuspicious disposition. 
Rats give more trouble and are more destructive, preying upon eggs as well as chickens. 
They may, however, generally be kept out of a house by well laying it in concrete and cement ; 
and as they almost always do their foraging in the night, keeping them out of the house is almost 
equivalent to defying them altogether. If they do get in, putting gas-tar, caustic soda, or chloride 
of lime down their holes will drive them away, and they cannot readily make more. It has been 
stated that nitrate of soda will also drive away rats, but this is doubtful. Another good plan 
is to clear out all the loose stuff of the house or shed floor, and lay down inch-mesh wire 
netting, carrying it also for a yard up the walls or sides. The sand or ashes may then be replaced 
over the netting, and if the door be shut at night no rats nor any other animal can enter. A good 
lively terrier is also an excellent safeguard. If necessary, traps may be set, and when the bait is 
anointed with oil of rhodium, few rats can withstand the temptation. It is best to use two at a time, 
baiting both for a week before setting. Then set one, adding the oil of rhodium, and use it as long 
as rats are caught, leaving the other open, but not baited or set. When the first is forsaken, leave 
it open, but unset and unbaited, and use the other ; and when they get shy of both, by covering over 
so as to appear hidden, the rats will often resort to them again. In this way, and by using the oil 
of rhodium, or valerian, for both of which rats appear to have an irresistible passion, they may be 
nearly exterminated. A simple but very effective rat-trap of another character may be formed 
out of a barrel, as shown in Fig. 53- Fit a loose cover, A, by a hinge at the side, so that it will drop 
unless held up by the spring-wire catch, B. A string from this wire must be earned through a 
small hole to the outside of the building in which the trap is set, and some water put in the bottom 
of the barrel. Then at every time of passing outside, pull the string, and directly after go in an 
re-set the trap. Often, of course, nothing will be caught, but if judicious bait be placed on the 
y , ... 1 4 - 11 of oIa in thp Ion" run • and when one rat is thus nabbed, the noise 
lid, perseverance will surely tell a tale in tne ion & i , 
Q 
