The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-07-19
DISCRIMINATING Rats and Mice.

Mice and rats seem to increase very
rapidly in the haunts OF civilization, es-
pecially in large cities. Seaports are
particularly infested with them, as New
Workers know but too well. These YER
min have grown TO be supreme nui-
sance there, notably in old houses, which
are fairly overrun. They multiply every
year, appearing in numbers where a
short time ago they were hardly seen.
How to get rid OF mice and rats is se-
rious problem with householders, who
are often forced to move on their ac-
count. Even an entirely-new house il
apt to be invaded after a few months,
and to be seriously hurt as o place OF
residence by the ravages of the nox-
ious animals. Traps, however ingen-
ious of contrivance, do little or no
good after brief while, as the cunning
creatures detect their purpose, and
either avoid them or secure the bait
without danger of captivity. Cats get
lazy. A good mouser will in few
months become indifferent to what has
been its favorite pursuit. And any or
dinary cat is afraid of rats, as well it
may be, and will seldom venture to at
tack them. They are generally too
wary for terrier, which, with all hi.
vigilance and ferocity, is deceived by
them. 1t is thought that the introduc-
ton OF ferrets into houses would miti
gate the annoyance. They are often
employed in Europe to destroy such ver-
min, and were so employed by the old
Romans. If kept from the cold they
are readily taken care of, and, al.
though not docile or affectionate, they
are ranked as domestic animals. They
are natives of Africa, and dependent on
man, both here and in Europe, as with
out his aid they would perish. They will
soon rid house, 1t is said, Of mice and
rats, which have natural dread of them,
and have been Known to desert premises
that they occupy They are terrible
and unrelenting foe. They are aoc-
turnal, sleeping nearly all day, and very
watchinl at night, when the household
pests commit most of their depredations.
Their smallness and slenderness enable
them frequently to follow rats into holes
and kill them in tiice. The general
belief that they destroy life by sucking
blood is erroneous, Notwithstanding the
statements OF naturalists, from Button
to Cuvier and Geotlrey st. Hilaire.
After death they, like other members of
the weasel tribe, doubtless suck the
blood Of their victims, but they kill too
quickly for so slow process. 1t has
been shown, by repeated experiments,
that they often inhict but. single
wound, which proves almost instantane-
ously fatal. They then, as a rule, quit
their victim at once and kill another in
the same way. The simple wound is
under or behind the ear, and may or
may not pierce the large blood-vcssels.
The CANNES enter the spinal cord be-
tween the skull and the first vertebra of
the neck, destroying the victim as the
matadore destroys the bull. They
pierce the medulla oblongata, the very
center of life, and Immediately extin-
guish motion, consciousness and sensa-
ton. This is one of the many instances
in which the instinct Of animals has an
ticipated the tardy deductions of sci
ence. The ferret is SO mastery q rat
slayer that there seems to be every rea-
son for introducing him into our domestic
economy, as he will accomplish what
trap, poison, cat and dog have moi and
cannot