The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1919-01-03
4 STATE WIDE
WAR ON RATS
Food Administration and College
of Agriculture Urge Public
to,Fight the Pests.
THEY COST STATE
$4,000, 900 A YEAR
Agricultural College Issues 6ulietln
az Guide for LEGAL Rat
Campaigns.

A campaign to rid Minnesota Of rats
has been begun by the federal food
administration for MINNESOTA and the
division of entomology and economic
sociology OF the Minnesota College OF
Agriculture.
Rats eat about $3,eee. zee worth Of
Minnesota foodstuffs every year. This
means an annual tax on every resi-
dent OF Minnesota of 81, for which
there Is, absolutely no return. Be-
sides, rats are carriers of disease and
there is no telling to what extent they
Increase the burdens OF the people In
this respect.
What Rats Cost the v. s.
The figures for the whole United
States are still more striking. Rats
cost the United States annually not
less than $500 ,0oo, 900, to say nothing
Of disease spread by them.
Rats eat valuable foodstuffs; they
cause disastrous fires; they spread
bubonic plague, trichinosis, and other
maladies; they eat grain in the fields
and in warehouses; they take unpro-
tected food from stock; they eat eggs
and young chickens; and the eggs OF
many birds which are exterminators
Of insect pests; they destroy fruits
and vegetables, and they multiply with
tremendous rapidity, increasing the
annual toll of food and life.
These are the reasons behind the
action of the food administration and
the Minnesota College of Agriculture.
Campaigns Must Be Cooperative.
A campaign must be widespread to
be effective. One farmer or one mer'
chant cannot rid his premises OF rats
II his neighbor harbors rats. A war
against rats must be cooperative. Fol-
this reason, local campaigns are to be
encouraged and it is suggested that
county agents and county chairmen OF
the Council of Defense. Boy scout d.
rectors, school authorities, CONNER
cial clubs, school clubs, and similar
organizations organize to exterminats
the pest.
Bulletin as a Guide.
The College of Agriculture has just
issued bulletin as q guide to those
PkOluoI1A6 lOOdl OdhPdA6ho. HE buA
letin is by f. L. Washburn. 1t urges
that prevention is the best method
Prevention can be effected by cover
ing basement windows Of building,
with one-fourth inch galvanized
screens and the bottom Of outside
doors, particularly of stables and o.
markets, groceries, and food ware
xu,ffb o.; Svir
Stills of such buildings may be made
rat proof. Corn cribs may be protect
cd by raising them at least three fee
from the ground on POSTS with project
ing metal guards over which the rati
cannot climb. Rat-holes may be closed
with cement containing bits Of broker
glass. Breeding places may be broker
up or destroyed by the removal o
rubbish and litter Of all sorts. These
and other methods are recommended
by the bulletin, copies Of which ma!
be had by addressing Office of Publ
cations, University Farm, st. Paul.
Traps and Poisons.
Where rats are already we'll estab
lished and doing their vicious thievini
and germspreading, rats may b
trapped or poisoned.
What il known as the guillotin'
trap, made entirely Of metal, Is re
garded as the best. A large numbe
of traps should be used at once, no
Just one or two as is commonly tn,
practice. BY using considerable
number at the outset big catch Il
more likely than after the rats lear
to be suspicious Of anything like
trap.
Barium carbonate lbarytes) is rec