16 



Commission, presented to the British ParHament in 1881, it 

 was stated that a plague of rats infested the Southern Deccan 

 and Mahratta Districts, that rewards were paid for the destruc- 

 tion of the vermin, and that over 12,000,000 were killed.^ In 

 all these cases the number of rats killed may be regarded merely 

 as an indication of the number in existence. Xo one knows 

 how many escaped. 



Enough has been recorded here to give some idea of the 

 enormous numbers of rats that infest the world, and we may 

 next turn to a consideration of their destructiveness. 



Farmers assert that when rats become numerous the injury 

 to crops passes all bounds. They sometimes swarm in grain 

 fields. Corn fields are absolutely ruined by them. They climb 

 the stalks and strip the cobs clear of grain. I have seen much 

 corn destroyed by them in this manner, and Professor Lantz 

 avers that he has seen whole fields thus ruined. A writer in 

 the "American Agriculturist" says that rats destroyed three- 

 fourths of the corn on thirteen acres of land.^ Rats usually 

 eat only the softer part of the kernel, wasting most of it. 

 Sweet corn is a favorite grain. 



It may not be commonly known that rats often dig up seeds 

 which have been planted, and in this way they may become 

 more destructive than crows, squirrels, pheasants or marmots. 

 On Thompson's Island the corn on more than two acres was 

 destroyed in this way in the spring of 1913. There are no 

 squirrels, no pheasants and no woodchucks on the island and 

 crows do not breed there. Ordinarily rats do not trouble peas 

 or beans, but they have been known to dig up quantities of the 

 planted seed and to attack peas and beans, both stacked on 

 farms and stored in Boston warehouses. Large portions of the 

 crops of wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc., are taken by rats and 

 mice in the fields, and when unthreshed grain is stored in barns 

 or ricks rats swarm to it, and if left to themselves they destroy 

 most of the grain. They take large toll from the rice planter 

 and the sugar planter. Enormous quantities of corn and feed 

 stuffs are eaten by rats, a little at a time, in granaries, feed 

 stores, stables, barns and poultry houses. They are fond of 

 malt, and cause the brewers great loss. Great quantities of 



1 British Med. Jour., Sept. 16, 1905, p. 623. ' Amer. Agriculturist, Vol. 33, 1874, p. 300. 



