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.

The reason the pit is built circular is so that the Rats will keep
running round, for if it were square they would all run in a corner, one
on the other, and then the dog would have no difficulty in killing them.
It is better to have the pit fairly deep; if not, the rats might escape.

I think the best dog, within my recollection, that I have seen was a bull
and fox terrier, which killed 40 good Rats in three minutes and 21
seconds. I have read and heard of dogs doing better feats, but I am only
writing of what I have myself seen. I may say that the records for Rat-
killing in Rat-pits are held by a dog called Jacko, which killed 200 Rats