No. 4.] RATS AND RAT RIDDANCE. 201 



Concrete barn cellars will help to prevent rats from harboring 

 in barns. Horse manure might be kept in a concrete pit with 

 a cellar wire screen or a close cover over the top. Cow manure 

 will not interest rats unless grain, straw or some similar food is 

 mixed with it. All wells, water tanks, etc., should be rat- 

 proofed, for rats must have water. 



Rat Starvation. 

 Separating rats from their food will drive them away if no 

 other method is resorted to. Where food is plentiful and easily 

 obtained it is difficult to trap or poison rats. Starvation, then, 

 increases the effectiveness of trapping and poisoning. 



Disposal of Edible Garbage and Refuse. 

 All garbage should be placed in covered rat-proof cans and 

 kept covered. It should be burned or disposed of where rats 

 cannot get it. If manufacturing concerns and business houses 

 allow their employees to lunch in the buildings, all remains of 

 lunches should be carefully disposed of. When thrown into 

 waste baskets, on floors or even outside the building, such 

 crumbs and pieces will feed many rats and mice daily, and 

 perhaps neutralize w^ell-directed attempts to rid the premises 

 of the vermin. 



Rat-proofing Food Receptacles. 



All rooms in which food is kept should be rat-proofed with 

 concrete, sheet metal or cellar wire netting, or all food should 

 be kept in receptacles made of or lined with these or similar 

 materials. 



If horse mangers were built 18 to 24 inches deep, to prevent 

 horses from wasting and scattering grain, and were set at least 

 2 feet away from the walls and entirely unconnected with them, 

 a favorite food supply of the rat would be cut off. The ordi- 

 nary shallow manger built against the wall seems designed for 

 the express purpose of feeding rats and wasting grain. Hog 

 troughs should be deep. Care should be taken not to spill and 

 scatter grain in feeding. 



Closely covered concrete vaults will keep rats out of privies. 



If the rules above given were followed universally, rats would 



