RATS IN POULTRY YARDS.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2638, 20 September 1882, Page 4

RATS IN POULTRY YARDS.

Ab Illinois correspondent of tho " Poultry Yard" writ ■ on this subjeot:—Procure an old eighteen gallon beer or any other cask, "not smaller," whioh will hold water j knock one end out and cut a piece of board of the •hape of the ccek to lodge on the lop sending endwise. Xhen oat a nine-inoh diamond shape, vita a key-hole law, cut of the centre cf the piece lodged on, and balance it properly with two stout darning needles at eaoh eide of the diamond, whioh will work np and down freely if correctly done, and make a level top, then bend a piece «j£ stiff wire in an arch about one foot high, directly over tho diamond and impend in the oentre of it the bait out of the rats' way so that they can see and smell it well. Also plaoe four gallons of water in tho cask, and grease the sides, and in the oentre, plaoe a briok or stone only suffioient for one Tat to sit on with oomfort half un inch above the level of the water. The first rat landed, finding itself like Robinson Crusoe on an island, oommences squeaking, and draws all his friends and relations. The sfcrongoat rat lives the longest, as they all light for this position as they drop one by one into the tub, and drown each other. The rats should be fed for a few days on tho top of the cask to givo them confidence, and tho balance made firm for that period. I have seen as n-aay az & dozan caught in one night by this wholesale drop. As a rule, where poultry are over fed there are plenty of rats.