THE RAT PROBLEM 183 



and mice are coming in rapidly, as they often do in the fall, 

 keep and feed well for a while a female rat in a wire cage 

 against this opening. Now bore a hole through the side of 

 the barn close to this corner. It is well to make this hole 

 one inch in diameter and allow the rats themselves to en- 

 large it so that it will be an actual " rat hole." Fasten 

 securely a cage trap so that all rats and mice which enter 

 the barn must do so through this trap. If all doors and 

 windows are properly screened and kept closed and all holes 

 are stopped up, this will insure catching the first rat or 

 mouse that comes and thus prevent even the beginning of 

 breeding foci about the premises. 1 



Possibly enough expense is incurred annually in many 

 towns and cities and enough effort expended to effectually 

 exterminate rats and mice, but the work is not organized. 

 A may exterminate the pests from his place in October, B 

 from his in November, C from his in April, and all three of 

 their premises be infested again for the season's breeding, the 

 work of one driving the old cunning rats over to neighbors. 

 We have effective methods enough to accomplish the com- 

 plete extermination with a small part of the effort and ex- 

 pense wasted by our communities annually. What we lack is 

 effective organization. Rats and mice tend to leave buildings 

 in the spring and migrate back to them in the fall. Since our 

 experience with rats and the plague in San Francisco, and in 

 view of the fact that other cities or even towns may be called 

 upon at any time to fight the plague, every home ought to do 

 its part, and every community ought to be able to extermi- 

 nate its own rats. The disease to-day is widely distributed, 



1 An even more serviceable trap which will set itself and thus catch a 

 continuous stream of animals may be made by any ingenious boy, possibly 

 in connection with the manual-training work. If vermin are likely to gain 

 access to the building by other openings, it is well to have an entrance to 

 the trap inside the building as well. 



