RAT 



4932 



RATEL 



The three best known varieties are the Eu- 

 ropean red raspberry, not cultivated success- 

 fully in America, and the native American 

 black and red raspberries. The black variety 

 multiplies in a curious way ; the tips of the 

 stalks when bent over and covered with soil 

 send out roots; the new plants so formed are 



THE 

 RASPBERRY 



cut from the old. The red raspberry is multi- 

 plied in two ways: by cutting and planting 

 the suckers, which appear at any time during 

 the growing season, or by dividing the roots 

 of older plants. The roots of both varieties 

 live for a number of years, but the new stalks 

 of one season bear fruit the next, then die. 



Black raspberries, though not as large, and 

 somewhat less juicy than the red, are finer 

 flavored. They are more valuable commer- 

 cially than the red berry and are dried in great 

 quantities for the market. Both varieties are 

 canned and prepared as jam. Raspberry "sun- 

 shine" is delicious. It is prepared by mixing 

 a hot white sugar syrup with fresh fruit, and 

 evaporating in the sun until very thick, which 

 requires about four days. The raspberry and 

 loganberry crop of the United States is about 

 60,000,000 quarts, worth $5,000,000. The Do- 

 minion government makes no report of the 

 relatively small crop in Canada. 



RAT, one of the larger rodents (gnawing 

 animals), belonging to the same family as the 

 mouse (which 

 see.) Rats differ 

 from mice only 

 in being larger. 

 The two most 

 common species, 

 the black and the 

 brown rats, are THE RAT 



found in nearly all parts of the world. The 

 black rat is between seven and eight inches in 

 length, exclusive of the tail, while the brown 



grows to be ten or eleven inches long. The 

 latter is the stronger, and has shorter hair, a 

 shorter tail, smaller ears and a less pointed 

 nose than its darker relative. These animals 

 infest boats, wharves, dark and neglected build- 

 ings, barns and dwelling houses. They eat food 

 of almost any kind, and frequently kill small 

 poultry. Barriers offer no discouragement to 

 them; with their sharp teeth they can gnaw 

 through wood, plaster or lead. They have a 

 remarkably keen sense of smell and readily 

 detect the approach of danger. It is possible 

 to tame and train them to become interesting 

 pets, as they have considerable intelligence. 



Rats breed several times a year, producing 

 from six to fifteen young in a litter. This 

 tendency to rapid multiplication, combined 

 with the fact that rats are carriers of the deadly 

 bubonic plague (see PLAGUE), makes necessary 

 a ruthless war against them. Western United 

 States ports, which are visited by vessels from 

 Oriental countries, where the plague has firm- 

 est foothold, are especially active in the cam- 

 paign of extermination. In this warfare hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars have been spent 

 by the United States government. 



RATCHET, rach'et, a device for preventing 

 the backward motion of a wheel. It consi-ts 

 of a piece of metal hung on a pivot at one 

 end and having the other end so shaped that 

 it will fit the space between the teeth of the 

 wheel and act as a brace. A ratchet wheel 

 is a toothed wheel rotated by a ratchet that 

 is attached to a lever having a forward and 

 backward or an up and down motion. The 

 wheel that moves the carriage of a typewriter 

 forward is a good example. With the pressing 

 down of each key the carriage is moved for- 

 ward the space of one letter. The pawl, which 

 is the same as the ratchet, prevents the spring 

 that produces the tension from pulling the 

 carriage back. 



RATEL, ra'tel, a small animal of India and 

 Africa, belonging to the badger family. It is 

 dark gray on the \. 



upper part and 

 black below; this 

 is a strange col- 

 oring in mam- 

 mals, whose 

 darker fur is usu- 

 ally on the upper THE RATEL 

 part. The African ratel has a distinct white 

 line around the body between the black and 

 gray fur, and its teeth are smaller and weaker 

 than those of the Indian animal ; otherwise the 



