only made it my study to discover the different and the best methods of
catching Rats, but I have also taken great interest in watching their
ways and habits, and I come to the conclusion that there is no sure way
of completely exterminating the Rodents, especially in large towns. If I
have in this work referred more particularly to Rat-catching in
Manchester that is only because my experience, although extending over a
much wider area, has been chiefly in that city, but the methods I
describe are equally applicable to all large towns.

Yours truly,

IKE MATTHEWS.

PROFESSIONAL RAT-CATCHER,
PENDLETON,
MANCHESTER.




PART I. HOW TO CLEAR RATS FROM WAREHOUSES, OFFICES, STOREROOMS, ETC.


In the first place my advice is--never poison Rats in any enclosed
buildings whatever. Why? Simply because the Rats that you poison are
Drain Rats, or what you call Black Rats, and you can depend upon it that
the Rats that you poison will not get back into the drains, but die under
the floor between the laths and plaster, and the consequence is that in a
few days the stench that will arise will be most obnoxious. And there is
nothing more injurious than the smell of a decomposed Rat.