26 THE BROWN RAT IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Food materials of every description are subject to attack, but the 

 destruction of dry goods, clothing, books, leather goods, and so on, 

 is equally serious. Many are gnawed to secure material for nests; 

 but books and pamphlets, especially the newly bound, furnish food 

 in the glue and paste used in the binding. Leather of certain kinds 

 is peculiarly attractive to rats. Articles made of kid leather are 

 often destroyed, gloves and shoes especially. Shoes made of ordinary 

 leather are seldom injured unless they have cloth tops. Rats often 

 gnaw old harness, attracted probably by the salt left from perspiring 

 horses. New harnesses are seldom injured, except collars and crup- 

 pers, to which rats are attracted by the straw or flaxseed in the 

 stuffing. A harness dealer in Washington reports a recent loss of 

 over a hundred new cruppers, valued at about $90. 



Lace curtains, silk handkerchiefs, linens, carpets, mattings, and 

 other dry goods in large stores are much damaged by rats ; some for 

 the starch which furnishes food, others for nesting materials. Stuffs 

 that have been soiled by rats in passing over them are often rendered 

 unsalable. 



Nearly all large dry goods and department stores have heavy 

 losses from rats, amounting in some instances to several hundred 

 dollars a year, in spite of unremitting efforts to destroy the animals. 

 Grocers, druggists, confectioners, and other merchants have similar 

 experiences. Many of them expend large sums every year fighting 

 the pests. Most of our large cities have several so-called expert rat 

 destroyers who operate with dogs, ferrets, poisons, and other means, 

 and who have a large clientage among merchants and hotel managers. 

 These pay yearly stipends of various sums, from $100 to $600, to the 

 rat catchers to keep their premises free from rats and mice. While 

 the stipulated service is not often performed in full, the clients usually 

 regard the expenditures as economical. 



FLOWERS AND BULBS. 



Rats are recognized pests of the greenhouse and the plant-propagat- 

 ing pit. They attack seeds, bulbs, leaves, stems, and flowers of growing 

 plants. Of flowering bulbs, the tulip suffers most. Hyacinths also 

 are eaten, while narcissus bulbs are apparently immune to attack. 

 Doubtless this is owing to the slightly poisonous qualities of narcissus. 



During the winters of 1904-5 and 1905-6 rats destroyed many of 

 the tulips grown on the Potomac flats near Washington. Some- 

 times several hundred bulbs were taken in a single night. Hya- 

 cinths were injured to a less extent. Traps and poisons made heavy 

 inroads upon the numbers of rats, and probably about 60 percent of 

 the tulips and 90 percent of the hyacinths were saved each season. 



Rats attack flowering plants in the greenhouse or conservatory as 

 well as house plants elsewhere. They eat pinks, carnations, and 



