September i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



207 



pest of rats and vermin, and to become a more intolerable 

 scourge tban all the otber plaguea put together." * 



It appeared, however, that both the Raffle ant and 

 the Agua toad had had then- day, for up to 1872 

 the rat pest continued as gi-eat as ever. In some of 

 the moister pai'ishes of the island depredations by rats 

 were estimated to cause the loss of nearly one-fifth the 

 produce of a large estate, while the cost of rate catching, 

 poison, &e., amounted to more than £200 per annum. 

 It would be almost impossible to estimate, with any 

 degree of certainty, the annual loss caused by rats on 

 sugar estates ; for, although planters iu nearly all cases 

 could give the number of cartloads of rat-eaten canes 

 ground for the still house, the fact that these canes 

 give a return in rum somewhat lessens the loss. 



It is, I know cm-rently reported that some estates 

 in the Swift River Valley (Portland), such as Paradise, 

 Eden, Elysium, and Shi-ewsbury were actually abandoned, 

 owing to the destructive depredations, of rats. This 

 may not have actually been the case. It is a fact, 

 however, that portions of estates and cane pieces border- 

 ing on woods and near rocks, affording shelter to rats, 

 have been finally abandoned on account of their depred- 

 ations ; and even iu the case of whole estates, ' ' the 

 damage caused by rats has no doubt been one of those 

 large leaks that has helped to sink them." 



From a careful series of returns received from planters 

 in all parts of the island, I am led to believe that 

 the loss caused by rats m rat-eaten caues, up to a 

 receut date, could not be less than £50,000 per annum; 

 while the expenses incmTed in rat-catching, rebuOdiug 

 walls pulled down to catch rats, poison baits, and rat- 

 traps, would reach nearly £5,000 per annum. This, 

 however, only applies to sugar estates. Cane pieces 

 cultivated by settlers, coffee, cacao, coconuts, corn, 

 sweet potatoes, an-owroot, fruits, peas, vegetables, and 

 numerous other crops, appear to have suffered equally 

 from depredations by rats, so that the total loss caused 

 by rats in Jamaica, apart from the discouragement 

 which they have caused to many minor industries, 

 might vei7 safely be estimated at not less than £100,000 

 per annum. 



As examples of the distribution of rats and the 

 destraction caused by them in the island, the iiroprietor 

 of an estate in Trelawny informs me that "the annual 

 number of rats destroyed and paid for on one estate 

 was over 20,000 at the rate of one penny per head, 

 exclusive of what was destroyed by poison and dogs." 

 Another in Portland -writes: "I lost fuUy 20 to 25 

 per cent of the entire sugar crop by tha ravages of 

 rats, and could never gi-ow corn, sweet potatoes, or 

 peas. The cost of catching rats was over £200 per 

 annum." A large proprietor in St. James's reports 

 that he paid in a district not remarkable for the 

 depredations of rats, on an average £70 per annum 

 for rat-catching, and the destraction of canes by rats 

 may be moderately estimated at £200 per annum." 

 Another reports : "On this estate we lost frightfully by 

 rats; fully one-thu-d of the crops were often destroyed." 

 With these facts before us, it w-iU not be a matter 

 of sm-prise to learn that the rat question has continually 

 cropped up and pressed itself with more or less vigoiu- 

 upon the proprietors of all estates and especially in 

 the moister districts. The "Tom Raffle ant" had either 

 lost its initial vigour, or had gi-adually disappeared from 

 districts in which, it had proved of service, t The 

 * The '■ Bull frogs" (as they are callid by the negroes) 

 are said lo commit depredations on ducldiugs in pouds, 

 and to be terrible enemies to beehives. I can well undcr- 

 Btand that to a contirmed insectivore like a toa d, our 

 stingless and easible accessible bee must be a veritable 

 hmme bouche. 



+ On I his pomt a correspondent remarks: "Foi-merly 

 this estate (Swanswicli) was swarming with ants commonly 

 called " Tom RatHes, and they kept the cane fields quite 

 clean of rats; but within the last ten years or .so, these 

 useful little creatures have aljngst disappeared." 



"Agua toad," it it ever was of service, was quite 

 unequal to the formidable task of cleaning out some 

 hun(b-eds of thousands "cane-piece rats." A new rat 

 enemy was therefore in m-gent request, and the mungoose 

 was thought of. 



Among the earliest importers of the mungoose into 

 Jamaica were the Hon. William Vickers, Westmoreland; 

 Mr. De B. Spencer Heaven, of Ramble; Mr. Wm. Biyce 

 Watson, of Loudon; Hon. J. W. Fisher, Mahogany 

 Hall; Mr. Shortridge, of Hollands Estate; and °Mr. 

 Bm'gess, of Mount Eagle. Most of the animals intro- 

 duced by these gentlemen were, however, obtained from 

 London, and having been bred in captivity they were 

 to use the words of one of the introducers, "literally 

 afraid of a rat." The fii'st unporter of the mimgoose 

 du-ect from India appears to have been Mr. Wm. 

 Bancroft Espeut, of Spiing Garden Estate, Portland, 

 who, by the interest of Government, with the aid of 

 Mr. Anderson, Agent General of Immigration in India, 

 obtained four males and five females by the cooly ship 

 "Merchantman" in March 1872. Mr. Espeut paid je9 for 

 then- expenses in transit, and at once tiurned them 

 out on tlift'erent portions of his estate. From these 

 nine animals nearly, if not quite, all the mimgooses in 

 the island at the present time have been obtained. 

 Hence, among the natives, the mungoose is beconiin<^ 

 known as "Massa Espeut ratta," just as the animals 

 supposed to have been introduced by Su- Charles Price 

 were called "Massa Price ratta." 



The negroes in the neighbourhood of Spring Garden 

 Estate appear to have caught and sold thousands of 

 mungooses to planters in other parishes. One who 

 went actively into the trade is said to have received 

 over £.300 for animals supplied to estates in other parts 

 of the island.* All these were doubtless the progeny 

 of the nine introduced by Mr Espeut in 1872. Then 

 powers of reproduction must therefore be veiy great. 

 Tney are now firmly established iu the neighbourhood 

 of Kingston and iu every parish in the island; and 

 even in the moimtains at elevations from 5,000ft. to 

 6,000ft., with a minimum temperatm-e of 45° Fahr., 

 they are becoming quite common. That they can swim 

 and dive with gi-eat facility has often been noticed 

 and thus streams and lagoons offer no hindi-ance to 

 tlieu- dispersal. After just ten years' experience with 

 the mungoose in Jamaica, it is an interesting question 

 both for the sugar planter and the natm-aUst to discuss, 

 What are the practical results of the experiment? 



The introductiou and complete uatm-alisation of an 

 animal possessing such strong predatoiy habits and 

 remarkable powers of reproduction as the mungoose 

 must have an important iufiuence on all indigenous 

 and introduced animals capable of being affected by it. 

 As is well known, the mungoose, although shaped 

 like a weasel, belongs to the civet-cat family (Viverrida;), 

 and its disposition is as sanguinary as its habits are 

 predatory. Its natural food consists of bu-ds, snakes, 

 lizards, rats, mice, and last but not least, the ccs of 

 both birds and reptiles. In India the destraction 

 which it often causes amongst poultry is well com- 

 pensated by the incessant war which it wages acainst 

 snakes and veiinin. Even the lethal cobra falls a 

 victim to the agility of the mmigoose, which, accoi-d- 

 ing to eastern tradtion, is said to possess an antidote 

 by means of which it can withstand the venom of 

 the most deaiUy reptile. This would represent a total 

 saving to the island of nearly £45,000 per annum. 



For sugar estates, the rat question appears, for 

 the present at least, to have been fully solved. 

 ^\■ith regard to other industiies, the question is not 

 so clear, nor, perhaps at first sight, so satisfactorj-. 

 ■* Numbers of animals have also been supplied to Cuba, 

 Porio Rico, Barbiid'ics, and Santa Cruz; while Mr. Espeut 

 himself has undert;il<eii tj 8hip ^♦me to Australia ami 

 .New Zealiud for the pui-pose of putting domi the rabbit 

 pest of those countries. 



