i a Se. 
Jan. 19, 1917. 
wary animal, not to be easily fooled, 
and traps must be baited and set in 
accordance with the principles of 
common sense. 
“Regarding the use of cats as rat 
catchers, I have little to say. Few 
cats, unless properly trained, will at+ 
tack full grown brown rats. But if 
you wish to encourage the natural 
hunting propensities in your cats one 
thing should be observed. Do not let 
your cat out at night to climb trees 
and rob birds’ nests, but keep him in 
the house to watch for rats. 
“Dogs are much better ratters than 
cats and terrier breeds are to be pre- 
ferred, especially Airdales and fox 
terriers. A single dog has been known 
to make tremendous kills—over 1,000 
a year. 
“The one effective medium of rat 
riddance is starvation by keeping all 
food supplies away from rats. Car- 
bage should be cared for in such a 
manner as to prevent rats from reach- 
ing it. Covered metal cans should be 
used, or if the buried type of recep- 
tacle be used, the cover should always 
be kept on. Types that have self- 
closing covers that require spring re- 
lease to open them are to be pre- 
ferred. 
“Barns are the great rat hotels of 
the country and while it is almost 
impossible to keep rats from burrow- 
ing about in hay lofts or running 
around in open manure pits, much 
can be done to save grain by the usc 
of metal-sheathed grain bins with 
weighted covers, and care taken no? 
to scatter corn or oats when feeding. 
Horse mangers should be built 18 to 
24 mches deep, to prevent horses 
from nosing feed out on floor, and 
should when practical be set two feet 
away from the walls and entirely un- 
connected with them. When you 
realize that a horse can eat out of 
morral, the general use of large feel 
Loxes seems entirely unnecessary. 
“Corn cribs should always be built 
upon high posts supplied with rat 
guards. When expense can be taken, 
it is also advisable to line them with 
wire netting, which will also protect 
them from squirrels and birds, and 
great care should be taken that noth- 
ing is ever allowed to lean against 
them, as rats make gangways of all 
such things as boards, tool handles, 
ladders, ete. 
“This also applies to poultry houses 
which should be placed two feet above 
the ground, and chicken yards can be 
protected by a concrete wall sunk two 
feet in the ground and by the use of 
ene-inch wire mesh for fencing, 
which should also extend over the top 
of the yard, as, otherwise, rats will 
climb the netting and drop over in- 
side of it. The expense of the con- 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
crete wall can be saved by burying 
the wire two feet in the ground, al- 
though this is not as durable, as the 
wire is hable to pull and sag. 
“Greenhouses can be protected by 
use of wire screening and_ spring 
doors, but to make greenhouses rat- 
proof is an expensive proposition. 
“Planked walks and planked yards 
should be abolished and either re- 
placed with concrete, ashes or hard 
packed soil. Planked areas are a 
most proficient place for rats. 
“In the matter of dwelling houses 
of course the proper method lies at 
the beginning in rat-proof construc- 
tion, but 
a careful survey of the premises and 
the taking of precaution to close all 
avenues of entrance. The cellars and 
attics require the principal attention. 
Care should be taken to inspect each 
and every place where gas, water, and 
sewer pipes enter to see that no open- 
ings are left around them. Such 
openings should be filled with con- 
crete to the entire width of the sup- 
porting wall. The places of entrance 
of all wires should also be inspected. 
Ventilator shafts should also have 
their openings wired, while it 1s most 
essential that all basement windows 
should be netted and bulkheads and 
doors should fit tightly and when pos- 
sible be equi yped with self-shutting 
devices. 
“Care should also be taken to see 
whether or not rats may not enter by 
open windows when trees are in close 
proximity as they will often jump 
from limbs to window sills. ? 
“Cellars, attics and closets should 
be kept free from accumulation of 
rubbish in which rats find excellent 
breeding places. An old house may 
often be protected by the use of wire 
screening between floors and curved 
upward for two feet behind base- 
boards. Winter vegetables should 
also be stored in rat-proof bins upon 
sheleves or in wire cages. 
“Tt is only at the cost of eternal 
vigilance that rat protection can be 
gained. It is necessary to spend 
thought and money to meet in a prac- 
tical and efficient manner the partic- 
ular problems that face each individ- 
ual home and property owner. It 1s 
impossible to lay hard and fast rules 
that will apply in every case. But 
if you stick to the idea that you are 
going to seal your house against rats 
and that you are going to deprive 
them of food and take measures 
suited to your own peculiar condi- 
tions, you can with pains and effort 
preserve your property against rat 
destruction.” 
Be patient, don’t get mad and you 
can do anything.—Mazzint. 
a great deal can be done by. 
~ They 
~ 
AN IMPORTANT POINT 
As we understand the matter, no 
arrangements for peace among the 
rations now battling in Europe can be 
final and complete” without the ap- 
proval of the Hon. Augustus P. Gard- 
ner, representative in Congress from 
the old Essex district. Because of 
that fact, friends of peace may very 
well fear that it will never come. 
Mr. Gardner, who is as courageous 
as they make them and cares not a 
nickel whose toes he treads on, can- 
not afford to be led into a trap. If 
the representatives of the warring na- 
tions should after the usual parley, 
agree upon terms of peace and sub- 
nut their agreement to the gentleman 
from Essex, what would be his sol- 
emn duty? 
It might be that Germany would 
concede everything. It might be tha* 
the Kaiser w ould: ask, as a graceful 
and appreciative concession to Mr. 
Gardner, for banishment to St. 
Helena, or, better still, to Misery is- 
land, but even then would Mr. Gard- 
ner be justified in accepting the 
terms? If there is one thing that Mr 
Gardner in politics has consistently 
stood for it is opposition to unan- 
imity. Never, except in his own dis- 
trict, does he permit himself to flock 
with a majority. Therefore, it 1s 
reasonable to believe that, rather than 
to sacrifice his hard-won reputation, 
he would reject terms unanimously 
agreed upon and would continue the 
war, alone and unaided, as an armed 
protest against the shamefulness 
of a unanimous decision. — Boston 
7 raveler. 
POLICE SEEK RAISE. 
Patrolmen in the Manchester Po- 
lice dept. will ask for an increase in 
pay at the next Town meeting. The 
extent of the increase they will ask 
will be governed largely by conditions 
between now and the first of March. 
now receive $3 per day and 
work seven days a week. Prices of 
uniforms, shoes and police accessories 
have nearly doubled in the last ten 
years they find upon comparing costs 
»f these articles. Manchester has had 
the highest appropriation per capita 
for its police protection of any town 
in the state, amounting, according to 
certain estimates, to about $3.62. 
Isrookline has the nearest approach to 
this per capita cost. However, high 
as the per capita cost appears, it 1s 
worked no hardship to anyone for 
reasons quite evident. Other towns 
and cities have made substantial in- 
creases in the salaries of their police- 
men of all grades—in fact every town 
and city is facing the same problem. 
Patronize Breeze Advertisers. 
