THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 83 



are also a favorite article of food, and are sought with great 



eagerness." 



Among the enemies of the rat, the weasel, skunk, fox, cat, 

 hawks and owls are perhaps the most active ; but almost every 

 living creature regards it as its enemy, and if sufficiently pow- 

 erful, attempts its destruction, and contrary to the canine 

 maxim that " dog will not eat dog," the rat even preys on his 

 fellows and destroys at every opportunity the young of his own 

 species. In fact, with its innumerable enemies this animal 

 would soon be exterminated were it not for its astonishing 

 fecundity, Rodwell, in writing of this, says, in calculating the 

 increase from one pair, that " the result is 651,050 rats in three 

 years ; it appears a thing almost incredible, yet it is an arith- 

 metical fact." It is proper to observe that in this calculation 

 he averages the litters at eight in each case, — a very fair aver- 

 age, as they have been known to have twenty-three at a birth, 

 and less than eight is the exception instead of the rule. He 

 allows half of each litter to be females, while, in fact, there are 

 considerably more females than males in every litter. There- 

 fore, taking these things into consideration, the result he arrives 

 at is certainly not above the actual number that might spring 

 from one pair in three years, were it not for its many enemies, 

 which, of course, tend to keep its numbers diminished to a cer- 

 tain extent, although not, unfortunately, to the desirable limits. 



Many plans have been devised for the destruction of this pest, 

 the most successful of which have proved to be by poison. The 

 following are some of the recipes which have been found effi- 

 cacious, several of which I included in an article on our mam- 

 mals, published in the United States Report on Agriculture for 

 1863, to which I would refer for further facts regarding this 

 animal and others to be treated of in this paper. Mix two 

 ounces of carbonate of barytes with one pound of suet or tallow, 

 and place portions of the mixture within the holes and about 

 the haunts of the rats. It is greedily eaten, produces great 

 thirst, and death ensues after drinking. This is a very effectual 

 poison, because it is both odorless and tasteless. To one ounce 

 of finely powdered arsenic add one ounce of lard, mix into a 

 paste with meal and place it as above. It will be found effec- 

 tive. Make a paste of one ounce of flour, one-half gill of water, 

 one drachm of phosphorus ; or, two ounces of lard, half a 



