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02 - Studies in the Art of Rat-Catching by Henry C. Barkley · Studies in the Art of Rat-Catching

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Studies in the Art of Rat Catching
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  Speaker 1: by H. C. Barkley. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain recording by Clive Catterel. Studies in the Art
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  Speaker 1: of Rat Catching by H. C. Barkley, Chapter one in
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  Speaker 1: the following elementary treatise for the use of Public Schools,
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  Speaker 1: I propose following exactly the same plan as my parson,
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  Speaker 1: a good fellow not afraid of a ferret or a rat,
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  Speaker 1: does with his sermons that is divided into different heads,
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  Speaker 1: and then jumble up all the heads with the body
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  Speaker 1: till it becomes as difficult to follow as a rat's
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  Speaker 1: hole in a soft bank. And to begin with, I
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  Speaker 1: am going to talk about ferrets, for without them, rat
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  Speaker 1: catching won't pay. Where ferrits first came from, I'm not sure,
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  Speaker 1: but somewhere I have read that they were imported from Morocco,
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  Speaker 1: and that they were not natives of Great Britain any
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  Speaker 1: more than the Ordinis. If they were imported, then that
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  Speaker 1: importer ranks in my mind with but before Christopher Columbus
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  Speaker 1: and all such great travelers. Anyhow, it is quite clear
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  Speaker 1: that nowhere in Great Britain are their wild ferrets, for
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  Speaker 1: they are distinct from the stoat, the mouse hunter, the
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  Speaker 1: pole cat, et cetera, as I am from a red Indian,
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  Speaker 1: and yet all belong to the same family, so much
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  Speaker 1: so that I have known of a marriage taking place
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  Speaker 1: between the ferret and pole cat, the offspring of which
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  Speaker 1: have again married ferrets, and in their turn have multiplied
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  Speaker 1: and increased, which is a proof that they are not mules,
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  Speaker 1: for the children of mules, either in birds or beasts,
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  Speaker 1: do not have young ones. There are two distinct colors
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  Speaker 1: in ferrets. One is a rich dark brown and tan,
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  Speaker 1: and the other white with pink eyes, and in my opinion,
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  Speaker 1: one is just as good as the other for work,
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  Speaker 1: though by preference I always keep the white ferret, as
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  Speaker 1: it is sooner seen if it comes out of a
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  Speaker 1: hole and works away down a fence or ditch bottom.
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  Speaker 1: I have never known a dark colored ferret coming among
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  Speaker 1: a litter of white ones, or a white one among
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  Speaker 1: the dark. But there is a cross between the two
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  Speaker 1: which produces a grisly beast, generally bigger than its mother,
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  Speaker 1: which I have for many years avoided, though it is
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  Speaker 1: much thought of in some parts of the Midlands. I fancy,
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  Speaker 1: though I may be wrong, that the cross is a dull,
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  Speaker 1: slow ferret, wanting in dash and courage, and not so
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  Speaker 1: friendly and affectionate as the others, and therefore apt to
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  Speaker 1: stick with just its nose out of the hole so
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  Speaker 1: that you can't pick it up, or else it will
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  Speaker 1: lay up and give a lot of trouble digging it out.
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  Speaker 1: For rat catching, the female ferret should always be used,
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  Speaker 1: as it is not half the size of the male,
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  Speaker 1: and can therefore follow a rat faster and better in
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  Speaker 1: narrow holes. In fact, an ordinary female ferret should be
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  Speaker 1: able to follow a full grown rat anywhere. The male
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  Speaker 1: ferret should be kept entirely for rabbiting, as he has
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  Speaker 1: not to follow down small hulls, and being stronger than
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  Speaker 1: the female, can stand the rough knocking about he often
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  Speaker 1: gets from a rabbit better than his wife can. In
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  Speaker 1: buying a ferret for work, get one from nine to
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  Speaker 1: fifteen months old. As young ferrets I find usually have
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  Speaker 1: more courage and dashed than an old one. They have
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  Speaker 1: not been so often punished, and therefore do not think
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  Speaker 1: discretion the better part of valor. However, this will not
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  Speaker 1: be found to be an invariable rule. I have known
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  Speaker 1: old ferrets that would have faced a lion and seemed
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  Speaker 1: to care nothing about being badly bidden. Whereas I have
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  Speaker 1: known a young ferret turn out good for nothing from
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  Speaker 1: having one sharp nip from a rat. Such beasts had
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  Speaker 1: better be parted with, for a bad, slow or cowardly
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  Speaker 1: ferret is vexation of spirit and not profitable. If I
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  Speaker 1: am buying brown ferrets, I always pick the darkest, as
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  Speaker 1: I fancy they have most dash. This may be only fancy,
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  Speaker 1: or it may be the original ferret was white, and
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  Speaker 1: that the brown is the cross between it and the
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  Speaker 1: pole cat. And therefore the darker the ferret, the more
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  Speaker 1: like it is in temper as well as color to
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  Speaker 1: its big, strong wild ancestor. Anyhow, I buy the dark ones.
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  Speaker 1: If I am buying female ferrets, I like big, long ones,
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  Speaker 1: as a small ferret has not weight enough to tackle
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  Speaker 1: a big rat and therefore often gets desperately punished. I
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  Speaker 1: like to see the ferrets and a tub end up
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  Speaker 1: looking well nourished and strong, and directly I touch the tub.
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  Speaker 1: I like to see them dash out of their hidden
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  Speaker 1: beds in the straw and rush to spring up the
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  Speaker 1: sides like a lot of furies. When I put my
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  Speaker 1: hand in to take one. I prefer not to be bitten.
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  Speaker 1: But yet I have often known a ferret turn out
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  Speaker 1: very well that has begun by making its teeth meat
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  Speaker 1: through my finger. When I have the ferret in hand,
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  Speaker 1: I first look at its tail and then at its feet,
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  Speaker 1: and if these are clean, it will do. If, on
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, I find a thin appearance about the
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  Speaker 1: hairs of its tail and a black looking dust at
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  Speaker 1: the roots, the ferret goes back in the tub. Or
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  Speaker 1: if the underside of the feet are black and the
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  Speaker 1: claws encrusted with dirt, I will have nothing to say
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  Speaker 1: to it, as it has the mange and will be troublesome. Decueur,
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  Speaker 1: all this done, I put the ferret on the ground
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  Speaker 1: and keep picking it up and letting it go. If
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  Speaker 1: when I do this it sets up the hairs of
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  Speaker 1: its tail and arches its back and hisses at me,
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  Speaker 1: I may buy it, but I know if I do,
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  Speaker 1: I shall have to handle it much to get it tame. If,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, when I play with it the
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  Speaker 1: ferret begins to dance sideways and play, I pay down
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  Speaker 1: my money and take it at once, For I have
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  Speaker 1: never known a playful ferret to prove a bad one.
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  Speaker 1: If when you get the ferret it is wild and savage,
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  Speaker 1: it should be constantly handled till it is quite tamed
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  Speaker 1: before it is used. Little brothers and sisters will be
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  Speaker 1: found useful in this. Give them the ferret to play
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  Speaker 1: with in an empty or nearly empty barn or shed
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  Speaker 1: where it cannot escape. Put into the shed with them
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  Speaker 1: some long drain pipes, and tell them to ferret rats
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  Speaker 1: out of them. The chances are they will put the
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  Speaker 1: ferret through them and pick it up so often that
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  Speaker 1: they will learn there is nothing to fear when it
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  Speaker 1: comes out of a real rat's hole, and will ever
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  Speaker 1: after come to hand readily. You had better not be
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  Speaker 1: in the way when the children return to their mother
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  Speaker 1: or nurse. I have had disagreeable moments on such occasions.
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  Speaker 1: Having got all your ferrets, the next question is how
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  Speaker 1: to keep them. I have tried scores of different houses
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  Speaker 1: for them. I have kept them in a big roomy shed,
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  Speaker 1: in tubs, in boxes, and in pits in the ground.
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  Speaker 1: But now I always use a box with three compartments.
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  Speaker 1: The left hand compartment should be the smallest and filled
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  Speaker 1: with wheat straw, well packed in with a small round
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  Speaker 1: hole a little way up the division for the ferrets
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  Speaker 1: to use as a door. The middle compartment should be
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  Speaker 1: empty and have the floor and front made of wire
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  Speaker 1: netting to allow light, ventilation and drainage. The third compartment
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  Speaker 1: should be entered from the middle one by a hole
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  Speaker 1: in the division, but should have a strong tin tray
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  Speaker 1: fitted over the floor of it, covered with sand, which
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  Speaker 1: can be drawn out and cleaned. The front of this compartment,
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  Speaker 1: too should be wire netting. The sand tray should be
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  Speaker 1: removed and cleaned every day, even Sundays. The house should
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  Speaker 1: stand on legs about a foot high. Each compartment should
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  Speaker 1: have a separate lid, and the little entrance holes through
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  Speaker 1: the divisions should have a slide to shut them, so
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  Speaker 1: that any one division can be opened without all the
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  Speaker 1: ferrets rushing out. The bed should be changed once a week.
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  Speaker 1: Such a box, as I have shown, is large enough
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  Speaker 1: for ten ferrets. For a mother with a family, a
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  Speaker 1: much smaller box will suffice, but it should be made
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  Speaker 1: on the same plan. For bedding. Use only wheat straw,
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  Speaker 1: either barley straw or hay will give ferrets mange in
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  Speaker 1: a few days. After housing the ferrets, they will require feeding.
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  Speaker 1: I have always given my ferrets bread and milk once
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  Speaker 1: or twice a week, which was placed in flat tins
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  Speaker 1: in the middle compartment. But care should be taken to
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  Speaker 1: clean out the tins each time, as any old sour
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  Speaker 1: milk in them will turn the fresh milk and make
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  Speaker 1: the ferrets ill. The natural food of ferrets is flesh,
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  Speaker 1: the flesh of small animals, and therefore it should be
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  Speaker 1: the chief food given. Small birds, rats and mice are
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  Speaker 1: to them dainty morsels, but the ferrets will be sure
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  Speaker 1: to drag these into their beds to eat, and will
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  Speaker 1: leave the skins untouched. These should be removed each day.
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  Speaker 1: When my ferrets are not in regular work, they are
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  Speaker 1: fed just before sunset. If the effed in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: they are no good for work all day, and one
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  Speaker 1: can never tell except on Sundays that one of the
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  Speaker 1: dogs may not find and a rat that wants killing
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  Speaker 1: the day before real work. I give the ferrets bread
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  Speaker 1: and milk in the morning, and nothing on the day
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  Speaker 1: they go out until their work is over. This makes
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  Speaker 1: them keen. Remember, ferrets work hard in a big day's rating,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore should be well nourished and strong. A ferret
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  Speaker 1: that is not will not have the courage to face
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  Speaker 1: a rat. I have listened to all sorts of theories
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  Speaker 1: from old hands about feeding ferrets, and have followed the
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  Speaker 1: advice of few. For instance, I have been told that
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  Speaker 1: if you give flesh such as rats and birds, and
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  Speaker 1: to a ferret that has young ones, it will drag
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  Speaker 1: it into the straw among the little ones, who will
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  Speaker 1: get the blood on them, and then the mother will
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  Speaker 1: eat them by mistake. All I can say is I
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  Speaker 1: have reared hundreds of young ferrets and have always given
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  Speaker 1: the mother's flesh. It is true that ferrets will eat
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  Speaker 1: their young, and the way to bring this about is
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  Speaker 1: to disturb the babies in the nest. If you leave
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  Speaker 1: them quite alone till they begin to c I believe
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  Speaker 1: there is no danger. Then many old rat catchers never
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  Speaker 1: give a ferret a rat with its tail on, as
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  Speaker 1: they believe there is poison in it. I remember one
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  Speaker 1: old fellow saying to me, as he cut off the
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  Speaker 1: tail before putting the rat into the ferret's box, bar
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  Speaker 1: the tail. I all us bar the tail. There's one
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  Speaker 1: a minute tail. There may be one a minute, but
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  Speaker 1: if there is, it won't hurt the ferrets, for they
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  Speaker 1: never eat it or the skin. If ferrets are properly
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  Speaker 1: cared for, they are rarely ill. The only trouble I
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  Speaker 1: have ever had is with mange, which, as I have
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  Speaker 1: said before, attacks the tail and feet. Most rat catchers
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  Speaker 1: keep a bottle of spirits of tar with which they
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  Speaker 1: dress the affected parts. It cures the mange, but by
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  Speaker 1: the way the poor little beasts hop about after being dressed,
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  Speaker 1: I fear it stings dreadfully. I have always used sulfur
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  Speaker 1: and lard, and after rubbing it well in a few times,
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  Speaker 1: I've always found it work to cure. The objection to
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  Speaker 1: sulfur and lard is that it does not hurt, For
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  Speaker 1: I have noticed that sort of man generally prefers using
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  Speaker 1: a remedy that hurts a lot. That is, where the
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  Speaker 1: patient is not himself but an animal. No big day's
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  Speaker 1: ratting ever takes place without a ferret getting badly bitten.
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  Speaker 1: When this is so, the ferret should never be used
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  Speaker 1: again until it is quite well. It should be sent
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  Speaker 1: home and put in a quiet box apart from the others,
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  Speaker 1: and the bites gently touched with a little sweet oil
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  Speaker 1: from time to time, or if it festers much, it
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  Speaker 1: should be sponged with warm water. I have often had
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  Speaker 1: ferrets dye of their wounds, and these have usually been
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  Speaker 1: the best I had. Again with wounds, the old rat
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  Speaker 1: catcher uses a tar bottle, chiefly, I think, because it
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  Speaker 1: hurts the ferret, and therefore must have a power of virtue.
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  Speaker 1: Before going further, I should point out to all students
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  Speaker 1: of this ennobling profession that the very first thing they
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  Speaker 1: have to learn is to pick up a ferret. Don't
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  Speaker 1: grab it by its tail. I'll hold it by its head,
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  Speaker 1: as you would a mad bulldog. But take hold of
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  Speaker 1: it lightly around the shoulders, with its front legs falling
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  Speaker 1: gracefully out below from between your fingers. Then, when you
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  Speaker 1: go to the box of your ferrets and they come
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  Speaker 1: clambering up the sides like a pack of hungry wolves,
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  Speaker 1: put your hands straight in among them without a glove,
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  Speaker 1: and pick up which one you require. Don't hesitate a moment,
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  Speaker 1: don't dangle your hand over their heads till you can
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  Speaker 1: make a dash and catch one. The ferrets will only
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  Speaker 1: think your hand is their supper coming and will grab
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  Speaker 1: it with no will intent. But if you put it
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  Speaker 1: down steadily and slowly, they will soon learn you only
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  Speaker 1: do so to take them out, and your hand will
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  Speaker 1: become as welcome to them as flowers in spring. True,
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  Speaker 1: at first, with strange ferrets, you may be bitten, but
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  Speaker 1: it is not a very serious thing if you are
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  Speaker 1: as ferret bites are never venomous as the rat bites off.
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  Speaker 1: I have in my time been bitten by ferrets many
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  Speaker 1: dozens of times, and have never suffered any ill effects. There.
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  Speaker 1: I think that is enough for your first lesson, so
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  Speaker 1: I will send it off at once and get it
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  Speaker 1: printed for you. End of Chapter one