438 Yearbook of the department of Ayi'iculturc, 1920. 



operating against those posts arc by means of poisoning and 

 trapping and the rat-proof construction of buildings. An 

 extended educational campaign has been conducted during 

 the past four years iu order to acquaint the public with the 

 serious drain on the Nation's food resources through depre- 

 dations of house rats. Demonstrations have been given of 

 methods of poisoning and trapping the animals, and plans 

 for community organization against them have been pre- 

 sented and put into operation at many points. As a result, 

 many State officials, municipal organizations, and public- 

 spirited citizens have taken up the work of organizing cam- 

 paigns, and great numbers of the rodents have been de- 

 stroyed. A campaign recently waged against rats in a small 

 town in Virginia resulted in 30,000 tails being turned in as 

 evidence of its success. Substantial progress has also been 

 made throughout the country in rat-proofing existing build- 

 ings wdiere food and feed products are stored and in intro- 

 ducing rat-proof features into buildings now being planned 

 and constructed. The enormous movement required for an 

 effective fight against these pests, which are both a source of 

 economic loss and a menace to health, appears to be grad- 

 ually taking shape and steadily but surely getting under way. 



Financial Support. 



The most convincing evidence that campaigns against 

 rodent pests are getting the desired results lies in the fact 

 that wdien the Biological Survey began the Avork no funds 

 were being supplied by the States to help, except for an ap- 

 propriation of $3,500 in North Dakota. During the fiscal 

 year 1920 funds expended by cooperating State and county 

 organizations and by individuals amounted to $849,000. 

 Present prospects indicate that this will be materially in- 

 creased from year to year, and the operations are, being 

 pressed with unabated vigor and enthusiasm. Most of the 

 States where campaigns are in progress have already en- 

 acted legislation making provision for financing and organ- 

 izing the work in cooperation with the Biological Survey. 



WASHINGTON . i;oVEHNMKM' I'HINTI.M; "KKICE ; 1921 



