FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
management of the Convention at Buffalo is itself a power- 
ful argument that noble-minded men are making rapid 
progress in that direction. 
In the Convention, as we were anticipating the closing 
evening session, a resolution was cordially and unanimously 
adopted that the final act should be the offering of prayer to 
Almighty God; and when that prayer was ended, the plain 
and responsive amen from many lips was full of feeling, 
and its power more than filled that hall, and immediately 
started out upon the avenues of human influence, to crown 
with lasting honor the Convention which, at the close of its 
secular labors, devoutly acknowledged the Divine Sovereign 
in whom we all live, and move, and have our being. 
Then came the last good-bye at parting. Good wishes 
were lavished, not as common stock, as air and water, but 
were given as the tokens of the most cordial friendship. 
And even now, as I write, the frequent and hearty ‘‘ God 
bless you,’’ so often heard as I left, is working in me the 
determined purpose, if God in his wise providence permits, 
to meet those friends again. 
WiILir1amM ATWoopD. 
Bia Fuats, January 29, 1874. 


Correspondence. 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
RATS. 
Jos. M. WADE. 
Dear Sir: To the readers of the Fanciers’ Journal, as 
well as to fanciers generally, the question of rats, their habits, 
instincts, and destructiveness, will ever be a matter of in- 
terest. To one who attempts to raise poultry or pigeons in 
the circumscribed limits of a city yard, or in the neighbor- 
hood of corn-cribs, or buildings with ground floors, they 
will prove an unceasing source of provocation, unless entirely 
excluded from the coop or cot. My own experience with 
them has not been of long standing, but most decided in its 
way. I propose to give a specimen or two. 
While living in the country I had no cause of complaint, 
but having moved to the city, and bought some pigeons, I 
have, in the last two years, had many opportunities of be- 
coming intimately acquainted with the vermine. My dove- 
cot is a large one, and at that time a part of the flooring 
was not laid.. I had thought that the birds would like to 
pick the lime and gravel on this dirt floor. Burrowing 
through this the rats obtained ready ingress and egress. For 
some time they contented themselves with the peas and corn 
that remained there over night, and did not molest my stock ; 
but one morning a dead pigeon, left on the floor, was found 
nearly consumed. Then some sick ones—I had several of 
them—were helped out of existence. Thus they ascended 
the scale of depredation, until at last a fine pouter, an un- 
usually strong bird, which was quite well the evening pre- 
vious, was found half eaten on the ground. This convinced 
me that something must be done. I looked about for their 
holes, and stopped them; but next morning a beautiful tum- 
bler hen, put up to mate with another, had disappeared; and 
only her breast-bone left to tell her fate. A vigorous search 
was instituted, and five rats, round and fat, were found 
hidden away in the pigeon-house. These were soon got rid 
of, and every hole fastened up. I hoped this was the end— 
it was not, but the beginning. Every night they cut in, but 
seemed to content themselves with the fact of being in for 
that night. If their hole was not discovered, or left unclosed, 

105 
the next night some bird or birds would suffer. I tried to 
trap or poison them. A trap was placed over a newly-cut 
hole, so as to prevent the rats reaching the cot except 
through the trap. While I was securing it, one of the tribe 
peeped through the hole into the trap. 
to that hole again. But they cut in elsewhere as before, and 
killed a fan. I took the bird the next night, covered it with 
‘sure-pop,”’ placed it at the hole, and put a board over it so 
that the rats could not get into the house. Next morning 
the pigeon was gone, and I congratulated myself that it had 
been eaten. The rats, however, did not abate their attacks, 
so I bought a steel-trap, and placed it, bated, where I had 
put the poisoned pigeon. When I next examined it I found 
it buried in dirt. I cleared this away, and set itagain. The 
next morning the poisoned pigeon was found entire in the trap. 
I strewed bread, smeared with the poison, in their runs. 
The bread disappeared, and quite a number of young, half- 
grown rats were found dead or dying of the poison, but no 
trace was ever discovered of any old one having suffered. 
Again they had cut in—this time directly through the 
flooring. I set my steel-trap temptingly beside the hole, 
and covered trap and hole with a large tight box. This I 
thought would take them, and so it did; but only young rats 
again. Three half-grown were caught in succession, and 
then, to my surprise, the hole was stopped up. As the flooring 
was only about two inches from the ground, this could easily 
be done. I opened it, and again set the trap. Next morning 
another young rat was caught, and not the hole only, but even 
the run leading to it were thoroughly stopped. All this while 
I had killed several in various ways, but not a single old 
one, either by trap or poison. 
By this time, as I had stopped their holes with tin as they 
were cut, a considerable portion of the flooring, and one side 
of the cot, were tinned over. I now secured every weak 
point, and so arranged the nests so as to have no hiding 
places whatever inside the house. I also encouraged a ter- 
rier to remain under the dove-cot, and this, I think, mate- 
rially assisted me in getting rid of them. 
Now I breathe freely, and surely I deserve to. J. 
No other rat came 
G. 
< CO 
. GREENVILLE, N. J., January 16, 1874. 
Mr. Jos. M. Wanbz. 
Dear Srr: I received the Fanciers’ Journal just as I was 
preparing to go to Connecticut to judge on game fowls. 
A weekly publication of this class is what I have always 
advocated. Our fraternity must have a quicker way of in- 
troducing their fowls to public notice than once a month. I 
am most anxious for its success, and I think that by your 
management it will be the leading paper of its kind. 
Iam also pleased that you give that noble and faithful 
animal, the dog, a place in your columns, and I hope that 
our poultry men will have a place set apart at the exhibition 
for competition in thoroughbred dogs. I have never lost a 
chicken by a thief, so well have my faithful guardians at- 
tended to their duty; and my cats save my young chicks 
from the rats. I have seen them set a whole day behind a 
coop of little ones watching a chance for Mr. Rat. Send 
me the Journal regularly, and when 1 return I will remit 
$2.50. 
Inclosed I send you my standard on game if you feel like 
publishing it; if not, please return it to me, as it is the only 
one I have. Yours truly, 
Isaac Van WINKE. 
