6 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



that we devote our attention in considering 

 the relation it bears to human welfare, espe- 

 cially on the farm. 



"The rat," says Lantz, succinctly, "is the 

 worst mammalian pest known to man. Its 

 depredations throughout the world result in 

 losses amounting to hundreds of millions of 

 dollars annually. But these losses, great as 

 they are, are of less importance than the fact 

 that rats carry from house to house and from 

 seaport to seaport the germs of the dreaded 

 plague." 



This enormous evil can be cured only by be- 

 ing prevented ; and it is not only to the personal 

 interest of every man, but a part of his public 

 duty, to do all in his power to stamp out a pest 

 which is not only costing the country many 

 millions of dollars in damages annually, but is 

 constantly threatening each of us with horrid 

 diseases. 



History. In order to destroy the rats we 

 have, and to guard against their increase 

 on our own premises, at least, we must become 

 acquainted with the haunts and habits of the 

 animal. 



