Studies In The Art Of Rat Catching

Excerpt from Studies in the Art of Rat-Catching The stories came to an end at bed-time, and I was then pressed by my hearers to write from foreign lands some more of my old reminiscences, and I readily gave a promise to do so. In this way most of the following stories were written and in writing them, I endeavoured to carry out the idea that they were exercises to be used in schools. I don't anticipate that head-masters will very generally adopt the book in their schools; but I hope it may, in some few instances, give boys a taste for a wholesome country pastime. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Studies in the Art of Rat-Catching. By H. C. Barkley. Story of a professional rat catcher. I had a struggle at first. Rats, full-grown ones, only fetched twopence each, and the system adopted by farmers of letting their[Pg 5] rat-killing, for, say, three pounds a year for a farm of 400 acres, almost broke me; but I stuck to my profession, and do not regret having done so. In those days, and during all my active life, I have had to work to live, owing to the constant scarcity of rats; but if I managed to make a living then, what might not be done now, when Nature has sent the rat to our homesteads by thousands, and farmers and others are being eaten off the face of the earth by them? With the modest capital of five shillings given me by my father, and a mongrel terrier, given me by a poacher who had to go into retirement for killing a pheasant and half killing a keeper, I began my career as a-but I had better give you one of my professional cards. Here it is- Bob Joy,

C. Barkley's little manual on rat catching (and rabbit catching) is from a past era when life was much simpler and our propensity to call a pest a pest was not diminished by the selective fads and niceties of modernity. Most important of all, it was an era when the Aristotelian idea of ends - the proper conduct of a life towards a desired conclusion - was of importance not just for humans, but for all living things. It was proper and ordained for rats to live rat-centred lives, doing the things rats do, just as it was proper for ferrets to do the things that come natural to them. And, as Barkley himself indicates in his Introduction, it was ordained in the great scheme of things that dogs should come to their human masters and not the other way round, for this, too, represents a natural order in the hierarchy of being. It was proper also, that each human occupation should be regarded as having an intrinsic worth and the value of the trade of rat-catching should be seen in no less a light than that of any other profession. Indeed, as Barkley hints in the book, the value of a rat-catcher might well be regarded in a higher light than that of your average politician who, as Barkley reminds us, is prone to giving speeches when Parliament is not sitting or, indeed, at every possible opportunity! And this, as Barkley tells us, is why he decided on a school text book for prospective rat catchers.

"Studies in the Art of Rat-catching" by Henry C. Barkley. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

This fascinating book was first published in London 1911, with the writer relating his experiences as a professional rat and rabbit exterminator during the late 1800s. The book was written primarily as a guide to the rural art of vermin control for pupils of English public schools such as Eton, Harrow and Rugby, but still holds much information that modern readers will find of practical and relevant use today. Despite the books title, as much of the content is devoted to ferrets and rabbit control as it is to rat catching. 196 pages contain 10 chapters detailing such varied subjects as: Ratting Tools. - Ferrets and Ferreting. - Learning Dog Language. - Rabbit Catching. - Long Netting. - Ratting Days. - Ratting Dogs etc. Although almost a century has passed since its first publication this excellent title is recommended for inclusion in the library of all true countrymen. Many of the earliest sporting books, particularly those dating back to the 1800s, are now extremely scarce and very expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.