Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-07-28

Guiding the tail, Is often fifteen inches
long. 1t burrows underground, Is very
prolific, but does not customarily hoard
food; while the kok, on the other hand,
accumulates large quantities of grain.
| The mettade is really a species of
mouse; but IL is very large mouse,
sometimes nine or ten inches long. 1t
is said to live exclusively in cultivated
fields, within the deep assures found In
the black soil during the hot months.
This rat climbs the stalks of the crops
and gnaws off the heads generally few
days before they ripen. Great numbers
of the rats inhabiting the black soil are
said TO be killed every year by the first
heavy rain of the monsoon. The black
soil swells when the drenching rain falls
on it, and the broad, deep cracks found
in the hot season, closing, suffocate the
rats caught within them. IL was in No
yember, 1873, in the district of Shola-
pore, that the rats first began TO attract
notice; but il was not till June and July
of the following year that they became
an actual plague. Grain was scratched
up and eaten as soon as sown, cotton
plants were destroyed, and the cultivat-
ing classes, depressed by the drouths
and scarcity of previous years, were
driven to state little short of despera-
ton. In July, 1879, the Governments
adopted energetic measures for the de-
struction Of the vermin. A reward OF
one rupee was offered for every hundred
killed, and district officers were reused
to do their utmost toward exterminat-
ing the animals, 1t was required
that the rats killed should be
produced at the Government treasu-
ries, where the tails were cut off and
the bodies returned, to the claimants,
who usually carried them home for food.
As long as the plague was at its height
this system of rewards remained In
force. In all over sixteen million rats
were killed; and by March, 1880, they
were reduced to tolerable numbers. As
regards the origin of the plague, no al
together satisfactory explanation has
been afforded. From the fact Of their
appearing in greatest numbers In the
famine-stricken districts, IL has been
conjectured that the large amount Of
land lying untitled, owing to the death or
absence of the occupants, served as fav-
orable and unmolested breeding grounds
for the vermin that, by the absence Of
heaey rain, the suffocation of numbers
by the monsoon rains did not take place;
and that the exhaustion of the usual un-
derground stores of grain which no
doubt ordinarily feed much vermin,
drove unusual numbers to the surface.
The plague, however 1t arose, was
fostered by the religious prejudices and
apathy of the peasants. The cultivators
as body did little; but some tribes did
take to rat-catching and rendered good
service. Various means were resorted
to. Phosphorus-pasteb balls, fumigation,
asphyxiators, sulphur squibs were all
tried, but with only partial success. Dig
ging up the burrows, though tedious,
was found after all to be the better
method. As clumsy, characteristic at
tempt was made in one collectorate TO
obtain rewards q second time for the
same rats by fastening the amputated
tails on with babul thorns; and in the
same district it was discovered that rats
were being imported at twelve annas the
hundred from the territory of the Nizam,
with tine view of making four annas, or
sixpence, on every hundred by the trans
action. Energetic as the Government
measures were, IL Is not supposed that
the cessation of the plague was due TO
the number of rats killed for the sake of
reward. The heavy rain that fell later
in the season and the frosts and cold
which set In before the close of the year
are believed to have done much moro In
the way of extermination.-St. James
(London) Gazette. ..f tI.. "a i..