The Owl coming to the Front.

Manawatu Herald, 25 October 1898, Page 2

The Owl coming to the Front.

Chicago has; a novel tr>de jnN>wUi, i the supply coming to the commission | merchants from the farmers' .boy* in the neighbouring States, ; The first owl which came to Chicago ifl t^ls manner (says the " Chicago ■' Times and Herald ") was sent a* a venture by a farmer boy, who : had somehow man- , aged to entrap it aUve. It proved so unexpectedly successful In lidding the warehouse of rats and mice-Thaving , beert freed at night with the idea of makmg^an experiment in this, direction ; —that it was purchased by the man In whose care it was resting. The .freedom from rodeats which it trought induced other commission men to look .', out for owls, and from the cotaniissioji firms the idea gradually spread to the grocers, butchers, and market-keepers generally of the city., Now a large, percentage of these men keep an owl down in the cellar during {he daylight, and bring it up Xo the store when darkness falls. It is said that the expease and care of maintaining owls are more than repaid by.their servfeef:^ in vanquishing the rats and mice. Tm owners and janitors of the large apart-ment-houses in the city are also beginning to realise the value of possessing an owl when rats, mice, cockroaches, and vermin generally are to be exterminated.