The sun., 1919-08-24

made by Great Britain. \ loss or cost,
call II what one will of half cent
day is said to be a conservative esti-
mate. The fact is the damage done is
probably a good deal higher, taking it
on an average, and bearing in mind
the diversified ways in which rats con-
sumo, render unfit or otherwise inJure
food stuffs and property Of one kind or
another.
An unrestrained rat will eat fifty
pounds OF grain In the course of
year, and will damage a good deal
more. a list Of articles upon which
rats prey is too long TO enumerate IN
detail. but in a general way they are:
All kinds of grain. before and after
harvesting; eggs and poultry, espc-
cially small chicks; wild birds. their
eggs and young; fruits and vegetables,
both when growing and when stored;
flowers, bulbs and shrubbery; all kinds
of staples in bags or boxes, and all
food products in pantries, groceries
meat markets, bakeries, stables and
general markets. The non edible arti-
cles destroyed include leather goods,
books, papers. clothing, fabrics, partly
for the glue. starch or paste these con-
tain and also for material for the rats
nest.
The common brown rat is said to
breed anywhere from six to ten times
year, and to produce an average of
ten young at each litter. The young
females take up maternal habits when
only three or four months old The
United States Department OF Agricul-
ture has figured out that II pair OF
rats and their progeny could carry on
uninterruptedly for three years the
multiplication OF their kind would re-
suit in 20,l55.992 individuals.
CRnnibnIism. Among Rats.
Happily this theoretical possibility
| is not probability, as many OF the
! young rats die at an early stage and
cannibalism is not unknown among
then. Even so. enough OF them sur
! vive and reach maturity to make up
an appalling total of these pests.
| While they have been computed to
number in excess of one for cRcn OF
| the human population in several
American cities, their proportion Is
greater in the country regions. That
is to say. in the rural districts of the
United States the rats on any farm or
plantation will easily average three or
four times the people on the estate,
and in the grain or cane producing
areas this ratio is larger. At least
these are the figures recently given by
| the United States Public Health Ser
| vice.
! Our rural population IS in round
numbers $4,000, 900. and If we allow an
| average of Ave rats for each one OF
these out OF town dwellers the total CT
rodents reaches 295 ,000, 900; and If We
assume only one rat for each city resi-
dent then we are harboring pretty
close onto $4,000, 900 OF these pests
| The higher the cost OF our various
commodities attacked by them, then
| the heavier the tax we pay for their
presence. There Is nothing unwar-
| ranted in the conclusion that these
vermin cause us an annual loss of
| quite $25O,000,0C0. Surely we can i'll
afford to maintain nuisances of this
kind, especially when social unrest is
| so largely the consequence of the eX-
travagant cost OF living.
| David f.. Lantz Of the United States
Department of Agriculture has given
some striking instances OF the depre-
dations committed by rats. He reports
that rats destroyed in one case three
! fcurths of the corn on thirteen acres
OF land in Arkansas; farmer com
planned that half OF his corn was
ruined by rats after 1t was placed In