Troubled by Cats?

If you're fed up with the neighbours cat shitting in your flowers beds; or tired of your back yard being littered with the remains of birds killed by the local feral cats; or you have had enough of your dog devouring cat shit off your lawn only to vomit it back later; or perhaps you just dislike Mr. Mistoffelees. You may wish to consider these extreme, illegal methods of cat control from 1866:

Get some powdered valerian, which cats are extremely fond of, from a chemist, put some into a garden flower-pan, and fix it on the ground by four pegs, so that the cats cannot upset it. One of the pegs should be longer than the others, on top of which put a piece of red herring, having previously put it into a little strychnine.

Also: To collect all the cats in the neighborhood, buy sixpence worth of the herb valerian at any druggists, and, after putting as much as can be taken up betweenbetween the finger and thumb in some boiling water, throw it out anywhere - over a trap lightly covered, or half a dozen traps - and troops of cats will assemble every night around the magic herb. The best plan is to get a large slab of iron hung about two feet over the ground, which might be freed easily by a jerk of the string which tastes it. Under this put valerian, and kill five or six cats at a time - as shown in the accompanying sketch.

Cat Trap