Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1908-02-19
THE PEST OF RATS.
They Destroy Annually Millions OF
Dollars Worth of Food, Etc.

The rats sins are manifold. The
damage which he does in a year to
crops, cargoes, stores, granaries
poultry and game, diaries and out
houses, foundations, walls, and
drainage can not be calculated ex-
| actly, but it must be enormous. He
is ubiquitous; he swarms in fields,
hedges, overts, farmyards, cellars,
sewers, docks and ships; he is clever
in getting out Of difficulties, ex-
| tremely courageous, able to exist on
almost any kind of food. and hor-
ribly prolific 1t is impossible to
check, though many people would
accept the calculation made by Herr
Zuschlag, a Danish engineer, that
there are more rats in Great Britain
than there are men, women and
children, and that each rat costs the
community a farthing a day for
board and lodging. Forty million
rats costing a farthing a day works
out at the pretty figure of s4l,666
a day, or over 100000 pounds
per annum.
Perhaps those figures may seem
excessive, or even ridiculous: but
now and then it is possible to es-
innate the damage done in small
area of ground, and the amount may
be prodigious. For instance, when
the London county council pulled
down the buildings north of the
Strand by Kingsway and Aldwych,
it was found that Catherine street,
Drury lane and the neighboring
streets were infested by great troops
Of rats, which had done damage to
the extent of $4,000. One of their
achievements was TO gnaw to pieces
over 100 napkins behind the VAIN
scot of the bandstand of the Gaiety
restaurant, and another to remove
and stack thirty or forty wine and
beer bottles TO make comfortable
sleeping places. Those are merely
instances Of measurable pieces of de-
struction, or examples of cleverness
and strength.
Further, the numbers Of rats in
these islands are almost certainly
fast increasing, as is often the case
with animals who are not natives
Of the countries which they infest.
For. Of course. the common brown
rat which We all know Is not Eng
lish- Nor is he, for that matter.
HanOyerian. though he has borne
that name. lie is possibly Mongoli-
an In origin: but wherever he comes
from. he did not cross into Europe
until the beginning OF the eighteenth
century. when he invaded Russia
aud the continent. and so came TO
these islands. And, like other in
vaders, his vitality is prodigious.
when he came TO England he killed
ont the old English" black rat.
which only survives now in small
numbers in ports and docks. recruit
ed by fresh arrivals from incoming
ships. only 10 be killed down as fast
as the brown rat pleases. II may be
that the killing OF Of the black rat
has been benefit to the community.
for II has been proved beyond cues
ton that the BLACK rat causes, every !
year. in India thousands Of deaths
Is a carrier Of bubonic plague. /
which be disseminates By means OF
the feas which desert his dead car
cas- and propagate the plague bs-
CiIus in rhe blood Of human beings. {
But On the other hand. the ma
terial damage caused By the broua /
rat is inuontes-abIe. aud he is not
exempt from the charge Of CARVING
other diseases such as typhoid
fever Lss-lg- his fertility i an
railing The female brown rss
hears a litter o. eleven TO tWeutv
yOung ever SIX weeks and a young
doe can hav= = family at three
mo1ths. The figures suggest
pleasing problem IN zeouetriczI pro-
grsssion- Rats 60 not. fortauateTr. 4
IS q fact increase AZ that formias-
be rate. hut they might DO 30 n TIE
EFFORT mste % DESTROY them wers
not psTpstgsL-Lozdoa Spectator.