THE RAT PEST 



were taken at various points in a direct 

 line up to a distance of four miles. 



Rats are excellent climbers, as every 

 one appreciates who has seen them about 

 barns and other buildings. They have 

 also demonstrated their skill in this in 

 the Hawaiian Islands and elsewhere. 



In cities they have been seen to climb 

 iron pipes for the purpose of entering 

 buildings, to travel from one house to an- 

 other on telephone wires, and to perform 

 other extraordinarily ingenious feats in 

 maintaining themselves. 



THEIR DEPREDATIONS COVER WIDE RANGE 



It is impossible to ascertain with pre- 

 cision the total losses resulting from the 

 depredations of house rats. It is, how- 

 ever, practicable to secure information 

 on which to base reasonable estimates of 

 losses from this source. Rats are prac- 

 tically omnivorous and their depreda- 

 tions cover a wide range. They feed in- 

 differently upon all kinds of vegetable 

 and animal matter. 



They dig up newly planted grain, de- 

 stroy it while growing, and also when in 

 the shock, stack, crib, granary, mill, ele- 

 vator, warehouse, wharf, and ship's hold, 

 as well as in the bin and feed trough. 

 They eat fruits, vegetables, and meats in 

 the market, destroying at the same time 

 by pollution far more than is consumed. 



They destroy enormous numbers of 

 eggs and poultry, as well as the eggs and 

 young of song and game birds. In addi- 

 tion, they invade stores and warehouses 

 and destroy groceries of every descrip- 

 tion, as well as furs, laces, silks, carpets, 

 and leather goods. 



They cause many disastrous fires by 

 gnawing matches, by gnawing through 

 lead pipe near gas meters, or by cutting 

 the insulation from electric wires in order 

 to secure material for nests and by gath- 

 ering oil-soaked rags and other inflam- 

 mable material in their nests ; flood 

 houses by gnawing through lead water 

 pipes ; ruin artificial ponds and embank- 

 ments by burrowing, and damage foun- 

 dations, floors, doors, and furnishings of 

 dwellings. 



As disease carriers they also cause 

 enormous commercial losses, especially 

 through the introduction of bubonic 



plague and the resulting suspension of 

 commerce. With the introduction of 

 plague they become directly responsible 

 for business disaster as well as for an 

 appalling mortality. 



_ The extent and variety of their activi- 

 ties may be indicated by citing instances 

 of depredations by them. Much the 

 greater part of losses from these pests is 

 in foodstuffs, which, as already indi- 

 cated, are destroyed at every stage from 

 the time the seed is planted until they are 

 ready for human consumption. 



A PERSISTENT PLAGUE 



Letters_ received from different States 

 by the Biological Survey report that in 

 places the freshly planted grain has been 

 dug up so persistently by these pests that 

 it has necessitated a second and even a 

 third replanting. When the corn crop is 

 ripening, they again attack it and some- 

 times destroy the entire crop in small 

 fields, as was the case in a field on the 

 outskirts of Washington, shown on page 

 2. When corn or other grain is in the 

 shock, rats take shelter under it and do 

 great damage. 



The State Commissioner of Health, 

 writing in 1914 concerning conditions in 

 southwestern Virginia, states that rats 

 consume something like 10 per cent of 

 the grain raised in many of the counties 

 and have destroyed 75 per cent of the 

 young chickens and turkeys. The year 

 this statement was made this section of 

 Virginia marketed $70,000 worth of do- 

 mestic fowls. Similar complaints from 

 all parts of the country as to the destruc- 

 tion of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and 

 geese on farms, and of eggs, both on 

 farms and in storage, indicate an impres- 

 sive aggregate loss in these items. 



A farmer writes from Iowa that his 

 immediate section is terribly infested with 

 rats, which are very destructive to grain 

 in store. He adds that they are under- 

 mining the premises with their holes and 

 practically ruining buildings by gnawing 

 holes everywhere at will. Another farmer 

 in Iowa writes that he lost about 25 per 

 cent of 2,000 bushels of corn held in cribs. 



Grain stacks are favorite resorts for 

 these animals and hundreds of them fre- 

 quently gather there, wasting the farm- 



