WANTED-A PIED PIPER
WANTED--A PIED PIPER Rats Pester Farmers and Merchants. They spread Diseases, Eat and Destroy Foods. Their Yearly Board Bill Estimated at $100,000,000. Can We Get Rid of Them? THE rat is...
...The rat's bill of fare includes almost everything eaten by man, and a considerable number of things not included in human dietaries, as, for instance, carrion, mice, kid gloves, ivory, and horses' hoofs...
...Weasels, minks, and skunks are also rat destroyers...
...The infection is spread from rat to rat and from rat to man solely by means of the rat flea...
...There are several species of rats, but the common house or barn rat, the so-called "Norway rat," is the most widespread and by far the most destructive...
...If we suppose the number of rats in the United States to be equal to the number of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, it would cost more than $100,000,000 a year to board them on grain...
...THE rat is believed to be the worst mammalian pest known to man...
...The females give birth to large litters of young, and the intervals between the litters are short...
...It has been calculated that a single pair of rats and their progeny breeding without interruption and suffering no losses would in three years increase to more than 20,000,000...
...They kill young poultry and squabs...
...The results of that work have appeared in a bulletin on The Brown Rat...
...He recommends the persistent use of traps and poisons...
...In North America it is found from Panama to the Yukon Valley and to Greenland...
...But the damage done by rats is not to be measured by what they eat...
...Besides they do great damage by digging under buildings and embankments, by gnawing woodwork, by cutting holes in sacks, and by cutting up goods and papers to make nests...
...They have been known to gnaw holes in lead pipes, and they cause fires by gnawing the insulating covering from electric wires where they pass under the floors or inside partitions...
...Among the most common foods of rats are corn and other grain...
...But he thinks the most promising lines of effort lie in (1) rat-proof construction of buildings, especially the use of concrete in foundations...
...The rapidity with which rats multiply is the main reason why man appears to make so little headway in their destruction...
...Through pollution of food products they do as much damage as by eating them...
...An attempt has been made to secure from the business men of Washington, D. C, estimates of the annual losses due to rats and mice...
...They also cause fires by carrying and gnawing matches...
...Not only does it destroy property worth millions of dollars every year, but it is now known to be the principal agent in disseminating bubonic plague...
...The data secured indicate losses exceeding $200,000...
...The author of this bulletin says hawks and owls, especially the latter, destroy great numbers of rats, a good work which man should encourage...
...More than 20 young rats have been found in a single nest, and it is safe to estimate the average litter at more than 10...
...By means of ships it has been carried to almost every part of the world, and wherever landed it has proceeded to make itself at home...
...This is not a contagious disease in the ordinary sense...
...and (2) reducing the food supply of rats by the disposal of garbage, and the protection of food supplies...
...They steal eggs...
...The species has wonderful adaptability to climatic and other conditions...
...Though a serious pest on farms, rats commit their greatest depredations in cities...
...The United States Department of Agriculture, through its Biological Survey, has recently given the rat problem serious attention...
...If fed on grain alone, it is estimated that one rat will eat 60 cents worth in a year, while of oatmeal, it will consume $1.80 worth...
...They frequently destroy the nests of wild birds...
Vol. 1 • June 1909 • No. 23
