174 
THE RAT. 
the matter easy of calculation, suppose we put down ten 
mice to eat as mucli as a rat. But rats, it is said, eat the 
mice. Very true ; and so do cats eat the rats, when they 
can catch 'em ! But as cats are too large to get into rat- 
holes, they don't often kill rats ; and as rats are too 
large to get into mouse-holes, the consequence is, they 
don't often eat mice. The truth is, that in a rick they 
each keep their respective apartments. The rats, for the 
convenience of water, inhabit the lower part of the rick, and 
eat upwards ; while the mice, to get out of their way, and 
also to quench their thirst with the dews and rain on the 
thatch, inhabit the upper part, and eat downwards ; and 
what with rats eating upwards, and mice eating downwards, 
they, in a few months, make a very nice rick of it. 
CHAPTER lY. 
VERMIN-KILLERS AND RAT-MATCHES. 
Suppose, for the sake of illustration, we make an aggregate 
of all the British farms, and divide the rats and mice equally 
among them, according to their number of acres, and then 
what think you would be the average number upon each 
farm of, say, three hundred acres 1 Of course those that 
have their thousand or thousands would make up for those 
that have but hundreds, and supply also the model farms, 
where they may have but few. This is independent of the 
young they might have. I will again give the Salopian 
gentleman's estimate as to the average number of rats in 
his district. He says that he could give almost endless 
accounts which he has received from various farmers, upon 
whom he could place the utmost reliance. In short, without 
multiplying instances, but taking the average quantity of 
these animals according to the numbers actually killed on 
various farms, it is impossible to estimate the numbers in 
those localities at less than from 1,000 to 1,200 rats, to be 
provided for out of the farmer's stock, with the aid of 
eggs, poultry, game, &c., upon each farm of 300 acres. 
Here we have the average number of rats in Shropshire. 
