New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-29
RAT.CATCHING.
From The London Globe.

Though the tenant and the landlord. the game
keeper and the gardener, bewail the plague Of rats
and that is the lazy. sport-lovlng poaching village
wastre WHO find; in,Eat catching employ ment that
mt graties his inclination for out of door recrea
ton and yields respectable wage without excessive
toll. III Norfolk there hardly seems to be hamlet
without one two OF this kind In 1t, and, being
In that county about fortnight ago, took fancy 70
watch forenoon's ratcatchng That was no difficult
matter. You cannot take walk without coming
across some engaged in it. The specimen / STUN
bled upon was stiGy built but strong made veteran
S 20 A sharp PC eyc and Joke ready for Occasion
His implements were long spade with an iron hook
and a number Of glass.stopPered bottles. aThc var
and Salsams to dress the WOUNDS Taking up one Of
his frres, he showed where its read all SCARED
hands he wore stout chamos leather gloves tut tie
most interesting part OF his equipment consisted of the
who administer small doses Of arsenic in order to
make the coats look well on the show bench might well
dnced BY constant work in the open Yet the creatures
themselves hopeless mongTes in color and shape
not q Ro w ss0tSs t sen finished as went up
there any more Bobl7 asked the ratcatcher, addressing
R% bis f d rs bob s"ed and turned away A
right said his master, ago on TO the next Bob
%sIss @ a Sns set Fl ieps the Ras of Fl S
Bob REMARKED the man 9us as he gathered his traps
the terrier had stopped and made "dead point
fifty yards along the ditch. and no sooner was ferret
OF one bolt hole" his companions chose two more
the whole three stood alert and vgIlant but per-
fecfly still while the ferret wos put In Hardly had
that been done for couple Of minutes ere the rats,
large and small, began to dash out into the very
jaws Of the dogs. Fifteen had been killed, and then
came interval that made us think the last was
finished. But, when attempted to move Bob
gave a whimper and little scratch at the earth he
watching. Z" mum dig him OUT said the man, and
few welldirected pokes with the spade disclosed rat
that might have been the father of the tribe, caught
in blind alley. single snap was enough to lay him
dead and Rob with his customary sniff turned heel
and was on again TO quarters. This time his
point made opposite thick hedge, the dry ditch
running alongside being quite chOked up with bra and
nettes and weeds With the reaping hook these we're
soon cleared away. however, and some Idea OF the
extent 10 which the vermin prevail may be Judged
from the fact that at least half dozen "loose, rats
were killed before the ferrets were used at all
imagined a splendid days work had been accomplished
when eighty rats had been killed. and both terriers
ferrets and obviously becoming tagged with
the work For II must be remembered that the
creatures had gated In place. they
in a corn rick but were al! found In open country
that to say, in the boundary ditch and hedges Of
turnip field But subsequent inquiry showed that
the slaughter had not been exceptionally LARGE two
men having between them killed 243 In q single morn
ing on an adjacent farm