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THE EAT. 
the grain was put into barns and stacks, should amount to 
as many more ?" These added to the above, would make 
1,260. But he is quite certain that if all those which were 
in holes in the hedge-rows at a distance from the buildings 
and other parts of the farm, living in the open weather on 
field produce, poultry, game, &c., were also added, the number 
would be doubled. But let us put them down at 1,260 rats 
to be provided for out of the produce of a farm of 280 acres, 
and we shall be quite satisfied of the enormous losses yearly 
sustained by the farmers of the country. 
We are told of another farm of 400 acres, not two miles 
distant from the one just spoken of, where, when the ricks 
were taken in for thrashing at Christmas, and the barn was 
finally emptied, the number of rats killed was over 1,400. 
Numbers escaped up the drains, and into the rat and rabbit 
holes in the adjoining hedges and. covers. If the quantity 
of those which so escaped and those that were on other parts 
of the farm be added to the above number, can they be 
fairly reckoned at much less than 2,000 rats'? And this 
number the farmer himself declared they far exceeded. 
At another property, on a farm of about 180 acres, and 
of stiff and imfavourable land, where there were very few 
rabbits, the quantity of rats was truly frightful. The 
squeaking and gibbering at nights, as they crossed the roads 
and scampered about in search of food, were quite incredible. 
The hedge-banks were beaten quite bare with tracks to the 
rat-holes, and the holes themselves were perfectly countless. 
Here the fixrmer employed a boy with six or eight traps, 
who caught five or six of a night during the winter months. 
But at the emptying of one barn, the farmer himself stated 
that they killed 800 more, which together made 1,340 rats ; 
and the numbers that escaped were so great, that the 
total seemed scarcely diminished by what had been killed. 
On a farm of 330 acres, the farmer, who said he looked 
sharply after the rats, admitted that, upon an average, he 
caught three rats every night the year through, which made 
1,095 per year. And yet how many still remained uncaught 
the ricks too plainly showed. 
In a great many places the potato, turnip, and other fields, 
after harvest, swarmed with them to an incredible extent. 
The writer then states that he could detail almost endless 
