taking bad ways," the ferret
dying in probably a week or so.

You must understand that if you put a Rat and a ferret together in a tub
the ferret would kill the Rat in nine cases out of ten, the nature of the
Rat being to get away from the ferret if possible; but if it cannot it
will fight, and I think a Rat, for its size, is of a very vicious nature,
for I have often seen when trying a puppy at killing a Rat in a pit, that
a game Rat will run the puppy all round the pit. The best way to try a
pup to kill a Rat is to draw the teeth of the first Rat it secures for
sometimes if a pup gets a severe bite from a Rat it will never look at
another. It is a very bad plan to let a pup play with a Rat too much,
for this causes the pup never to put a hard mouth on the Rat. When this
latter occurs it is the best plan not to allow the same pup to see
another Rat until it is a month or two older. If you will take care and
trouble with a pup you can bring it up to your own liking, and to do
anything you want. I have worked seven years with a curly-coated
retriever bitch, and when ferreting a brook she would stand in the water
and catch the Rats that escaped from the nets into the brook and bring
them to me alive in her mouth. I have sold hundreds of Rats she has
caught in this manner, and to show you how the dogs can be brought up
with the ferrets I need only mention that this bitch would lie down and
let two ferrets kill a Rat on the curly coat of her back.

Farmers know too well of the many restless nights the cows and horses
experience through Rats. I have seen when trapping all night at a farm
the Rats running over the cows and horses whilst sleeping: and when
horses have been working in the field all day they want better rest in
the night. I have known when farmers would not let the Rat-catcher
ferret their buildings gratis, simply because they have a few hens
sitting. They don't consider that when the hens have hatched the eggs
the Rats will take the chickens. Whenever a farmer has refused to let me
ferret at his farm I have passed that farm ever afterwards. To show you
the different dispositions of farmers I have met, I may mention that when
once ferreting at a farm, we caught nine rats and lost the ferret, and
two days afterwards the ferret was found on the farm, and I sent for it,
but the farmer demanded two shillings of me for the ferret's keep. This
same man I may add farmed about two hundred acres.

Of course