No. 32. [/"> ire, April 6, 1911, Vol. i.xxxvi. />. 177.] 



THE DAINTINESS OF THE RAT 



ONE of the principal M^hts in Bordighera is the garden of 

 the Villa "Charles Gamier." It is called after its late o\\ 

 the famous designer of the Grand Opera at Paris and the 

 no at Monte Carlo. It was probably when he was engaged 

 in building the Casino that he acquired the large and valuable 

 property which bears his name. 



The garden covers more than five acres, and is a mass of 

 tropical and subtropical vegetation. The banana trees bear 

 fruit which ripens every year. The gardener, a very civil and 

 intelligent man, speaks English, and he told me he had worked 

 for more than a year in Kew Gardens, which he much a. In 



endeavours to imitate when his means permit. He was 

 especially proud of his ticketing the plants after the K-\v model. 



being a botanist, I \\a^ unable to appreciate a' 

 tt ntion in showing me the treasures of his garden, and it 

 was perhaps owing to his perceiving tin- that h< directed my 

 :ition to an allied circumstance which interested me mu* h. 

 He informed me that th trouble which he had was 



with rats, i\\c forest rats he called them. They spend the wr 

 in the garden, and, \vhil< ranging a good deal of general damage, 

 they evince a remarkable selectivenes^ in their taste 1 

 It appears that they have a great preferen* e t<>i the lemon and 

 the mandarin, which are abundant in th< uaidm. A numb- 

 the trees carried zinc gu r t Minks to prc\ 



ascent of th< nt in a t. -raced gar i steep slope 



nv \vhi h rannnt be protected in this way, because 

 a rat easily jumps fr>m . i ' i<> th- uppn IT. inches 



of a tree gr< i.ice below. By ins they 



had boarded and plundered quite a number of trees. 1 

 touched only the lemon and daiin trees, disregai 



the common orange Hut uli.it seemed to be most remark- 

 able wa^ t wav in whii h 



e two trees. Of ' n they eat the i ug it 



