Further, Rat-catching is a business in which one is not called upon to allow credit.  It is all a ready-money trade, and as there is not much competition, the Rat-catcher can command a good price for his work.  He has always one resource open to him when he has finished a job according to contract (catching say 40 or 50 Rats), should there be a dispute about the price and the people decline to pay the bill, then he has the expedient of letting the Rats at liberty again in the place where he had caught them.  Most people will pay the price you send in rather than have the Rats turned loose again.

Although I am showing how the Rat-catcher can always have the advantage of stubborn payers, I may as well assure my readers that in all my experience such an occurrence as the above has never happened with me, simply because I always make my arrangements beforehand, which course I always find the best and most satisfactory all round.

Another matter I may mention.  If any one could find out a sure way of catching Rats so that he could give a guarantee to clear large buildings, my opinion is that he would make a fortune in a very short time; for I know firms in Manchester alone that would pay almost any amount to be rid of the Rats; not only because of what they consume, but more for the damage they do to their goods.

I have referred to the Rat-catcher obtaining good pay.  The reason he commands such a big price for his work at the present time is because there is not much sale for live Rats.  The trade is not what it was some years ago when Rat-pits were allowed.  I think it was one of the worst things they ever did for this country when the authorities stopped the Rat pits, for when Rat killing was allowed in pits, it was a common thing for a Rat-catcher to receive an order for 100 Rats, all to be killed at one time; then the Rat-catcher would get the Rats and wherever he got them from he was ridding that district of a nuisance.  But when the authorities stopped Rat-pits and Rat-coursing, the consequence was that the Rat-catcher left the Rats to breed in thousands.  Rats being vermin, I don’t see why they should not be killed 50 or 100 at a time in the pit, but the Humane Society maintain that it is cruelty to dogs to put them in a pit with a lot of Rats.  I don’t see where the cruelty comes in, but from what I have seen of Rat-pits during my time I approve of them, and I think if they were in existence again there would be a clearing of many thousands of Rats.  Some 15 or 20 years since, I supplied 400 Rats in one week, all to be killed in Rat-pits.

Many of my readers may not understand what a Rat-pit is, and so I will just give an outline as well as I can.

The Rat-pit is of circular construction, say ten feet diameter, and about four feet six inches deep, the sides being perfectly smooth to prevent the rats climbing up and making their escape.  A certain number of Rats are placed in the pit according to the arrangements made with the owner of the dog.  Then the dog is put in the pit with the rats to kill them, which a good dog does very quickly.