44 INSECT PESTS 



wheat, and when the ear ripens and falls to the ground 

 the larvae within escape into the damp soil where they 

 live on until a fresh crop appears. They are able to 

 live on grasses as an alternative. Various poisons have 

 been tried, but without success, and the best remedy for 

 a serious attack is to burn the straw, lime the soil, and 

 follow with potatoes. (See Plate 9.) 



We have now given a short account of most of the 

 pests of Wheat, both on the field and in the barn, but 

 it is more than likely some one will be saying that the 

 chief enemy has, after all, been left out, viz. the rat. 

 We are only dealing with insects here, but nevertheless 

 the rat question is one of considerable gravity which 

 we ought to just glance at. Numberless have been the 

 suggestions for deahng with it, from the first Booby- 

 trap which the artful rodents used to walk round and 

 wink atj to the latest grandiose scheme of the American 

 who wanted to start a ranch of a million cats, to absorb 

 the rat population en masse, afterwards selling off the 

 cats' skins in the shape of furs and muffs for the ladies ! 



As mentioned in our first chapter, the present rat 

 in this country is the grey or brown variety {Mms decu- 

 manus), a heavy-built animal measuring 8 or 9 inches 

 in length of body. The native English variety is Mus 

 rattus, a smaller and shmmer creature, bluey-black 

 above and of lighter colour underneath, and has recently 

 been on the increase. Shipping is of course the means by 

 which rats have been introduced from one country to 

 another. Both species convey the bubonic plague. 



With regard to the various schemes for rat reduction, 

 whether they be in the shape of traps, poisons, viruses 

 and professional catchers, these to my mind do not strike 

 at the root of the problem, for I am a beHever in natural 

 laws and natural remedies. It seems to me that the rat 

 question will be solved by keeping the natural balance 

 under better control for one thing, and by making high-class 

 rat food uncommonly scarce for another. We must not 



