I'AKMEES' BULLETIN 896. 



Fig. 3. — Perspective of rat-proof corncrib, showing concrete foundation by dotted lines ; 



also belt of metal. 



steam, or gas pipes go through the walls, and any openings found 

 around such pipes should be closed with concrete. 



If rat-proof buildings are not available, it is possible, by the use 

 of concrete in basements and the other precautions just mentioned, to 

 make an ordinary building practically safe for food storage. 



When it is necessary to erect temporary wooden structures to hold 

 forage, grain, or food supplies for army camps, the floors of such 

 buildings should not be in contact with the ground, but elevated, the 

 sills having a foot or more of clear space below them. Smooth posts 

 rising 2 or 3 feet above the ground may be used for foundations, 

 and the floor itself may be protected below^ by wire netting or sheet 

 metal at all places where ratsi could gain a foothold. Care should be 

 taken to have the floors as tight as possible, for it is chiefly scattered 

 grain and fragments of food about a camp that attract rats. 



Rat-proofing by elevation.— The United States Public Health Serv- 

 ice reports that in its campaigns against bubonic plague in San 

 Francisco (1907) and New Orleans (1914) many plague rats were 

 found under the floors of wooden houses resting on the ground. 

 These buildings were made rat-proof by elevation, and no case of 

 either human or rodent plague occurred in any house after the 

 change. Placing them on smooth posts 18 inches above the ground, 

 with the space beneath the floor entirely open, left no hiding place 

 for rats. 



This plan is adapted to small dwellings throughout the South, and 

 to small summer homes, temporary structures, and small farm build- 

 ings everywhere. Wherever rats might obtain a foothold on the 

 top of the post they may be prevented from gnawing the adjacent 

 wood by tacking metal plates or pieces of wire netting to floor or sill. 



