The Rat - A World Menace (Vermin and Pest Control Series)

A. Moore Hogarth

• Publisher: Read Country Book
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781846640100, 9781846640117
• eBook ISBN: 9781528769471
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Environmental Management
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Originally published in the early 1900s, this extremely rare early work on the Rat is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. READ COUNTRY BOOKS have now republished it, using the original text and illustrations. The author was an acknowledged expert upon pests and their extinction. He was also a member of the London College of Pestology and was instrumental with others in placing a "Bill for Rat Destruction" before Parliament in 1908. This important book on Rats and their control, consists of one hundred and seventeen pages containing seventeen Detailed chapters and a number of vintage illustrations: History of the Rat. Species of Rats, Voles and Mice. Description of Same. The Domestic Mouse and How to Deal with It. Habits of the Rat, and its Fecundity. Waste of Food, and Damage Caused by Rats. The Rat as a Carrier of Disease and a Menace to Health. Natural Enemies of the Rat. The Rodier System. How to Kill Rats. Stopping. Flooding and Smoking. Ferreting. Trapping. Poisons. Bacterial Cultures. Rats on the Estate, Farm, and in Outbuildings. Rats in Shops, Factories, Warehouses and Dwellings. Rats in Sewers. Rats on Board Ships. Suggested Measures. Deratisation. Also retained are numerous original adverts for Traps, Poisons, Rat Lime and Rat Varnish, Baits and other requisites for the destruction of the rat. This is a fascinating read for any pest control enthusiast or naturalist historian, with much of the information remaining practical and useful today. Many of the earlier Natural History and Rural books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. READ COUNTRY BOOKS are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

THE RAT: A WORLD MENACE.

_______

CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF THE RAT.

THERE is no period in history, however remote, in which the rat has not been found to exist as an everpresent menace to human welfare; and long before the Christian era (as Boelter reminds us) the cat was worshipped as a natural protector of grain against the depredations of rats and mice. The religious respect, indeed, which the Egyptians felt towards these benefactors is well illustrated in the case where a Roman citizen accidentally killed a cat in the time of Ptolemy, when that ruler was doing all he could to make himself agreeable to the Roman power. Yet, notwithstanding the terror which the name of Rome inspired, Diodorus Siculus, who was an eye-witness of the occurrence, tells us that nothing could save the unlucky citizen from punishment.

It is, however, a far cry from the time of the Pharaohs to the present day; and during this great period many plagues and pestilences have punctuated the history of the human race, a majority of them being due, in a large measure, to the cunning rodent, which is armed by nature with the most resourceful qualities and equipment for its destructive work, including delicate and dexterous paws, teeth like blades of tempered steel, and very remarkable powers of endurance and persistence. With such powers, backed up with an extreme fecundity, vast hordes of these destroyers now exist and bid fair to challenge the actual ownership of the earth with man himself.

The following are the different species of rats found in this country:—

(1) The Brown or Hanoverian Rat (Rattus norvegicus) originating in Central Asia, while allied forms are still to be found in India. Owing probably to their huge increase in numbers and the failure of their food supply, due to famine, in 1727 they swam the Volga and emigrated in huge swarms into Russia, whence they gradually overran Europe, Paris having been reached in 1750, are now diffused over America, Australia, Africa and Pacific Isles, and are slowly spreading over Canada. They were brought to England by ship about 1730 and soon spread all over the British Isles.

(2) The Black Rat (Rattus rattus) was the earliest species in this country and came over from West or Central Asia in much the same way as the Brown Rat, via Russia and Germany, some say at the Norman Conquest, others put the date considerably earlier.

On the advent of the Brown Rat fierce battles took place between them and the Black Rats which resulted in the almost total extermination of the latter, so that they are not now very numerous in this country, except in one or two seaport towns, the Brown Rat being heavier and fiercer than his opponent. The average weight of a Brown Rat is 9 to 14 oz., but anything over this up to 1 lb. is not uncommon.

In The Field of November 12, 1904, one of 20 oz. is recorded, and the Editor remarks that this is not unprecedented.

John Jarvis, a London rat-catcher, has stated that he once killed a rat that attacked him in the Old Gaiety Theatre which turned the scale at 1 lb. 9 oz.

The average length of a Brown Rat exclusive of tail is 9 to 11 in., the length of the tail being 6 to 9 in.

The Black Rat is a somewhat smaller and lighter animal.

(3) The Alexandrine Rat (Rattus alexandrinus), common in the Mediterranean regions, sometimes appears in our ports. The fur of these is longer and of a lightish brown colour.

In addition to these there are also the voles, some of which are sometimes mistakenly called rats and which are:—

(1) The Water Vole (Microtus amphibius).

(2) The Bank Vole (Evotomys glareolus).

Apart from some damage to banks these two appear to do little harm, though where they are in considerable numbers, in banks of reservoirs, etc., they may require drastic thinning out.

(3) The Smaller Field Vole (Microtus agrestis). These sometimes swarm in great numbers, particularly in the autumn, and the damage they then do is very considerable. They have been known to destroy whole plantations of young birch and other trees by gnawing the bark, and it has been reported from Scotland that whole flocks of sheep were starving owing to the field voles having eaten up all the grass. The numbers in these swarms are almost incredible; but by a concerted attack, with men and dogs, an immense quantity can be killed in a fairly short time. There is, I believe, a record from Germany of over a million being killed in one of these attacks in just over a fortnight.

With regard to mice we have the following:—

(1) The Harvest Mouse (Mus minutus).

(2) The Wood Mouse (Mus sylvaticus).

(3) The Common or Domestic Mouse (Mus musculus). The two former give very little trouble, but the latter is one of our worst pests. It was known to the ancients of Judah, Greece and Italy, for its tale is told by the Jews, the Romans and the Greeks in their writings. The mouse shares with the rat the questionable distinction of being marked down under a special Act of Parliament (Rats and Mice Destruction Act, 1919); the College of Pestology (then the Society for the Destruction of Vermin) pioneered the destruction of rats in Britain, as will be seen from the Bill it drew up and had presented to Parliament, and, as a matter of fact, although they are placed after rats they should undoubtedly be placed in the primary position, for of all animal pests known to man the mouse, by its ubiquity, keen intelligence and size, is the most to be feared as a carrier of disease. As a contaminator of foodstuffs his only rival is the fly. The mouse spreads mange and is under grave suspicion of spreading cancer. The possibility of its being a carrier of foot-and-mouth disease cannot be overlooked.

The mouse is extremely prolific, polygamous, and breeds all the year round. The average litter is five. The waste and damage caused by mice will be dealt with in Chapter III, but as, owing to the short space at my disposal, I have to confine my remarks in this book almost entirely to rats, a few words as to the various methods that have been devised from time to time to repress these small foes of the human race may not here be out of place.

Undoubtedly the most efficient are the best types of bactericides, the break-back traps, various compounds containing red squill, barium carbonate in its various compounds, phosphorus preparations, the domestic cat and, if used under proper safeguards, the mongoose.

However, to return to the rat. In the very earliest days of the anti-rat movement, initiated for the first time nationally by the Daily Mail in 1907, it soon became abundantly apparent that no real progress against the rat could be made unless backed by legislation. Early in 1908, helped by W. R. Boelter, Sir Lauder Brunton, Lord Aberconway, Sir James Crichton-Browne, and others, I got together a body of investigators, and the result was a Bill for Rat Destruction which was “laughed out” in the House of Commons later in 1908. We persevered, notwithstanding, and in 1919 we made a further effort as follows:—

RAT DESTRUCTION BILL (H.L.).

MEMORANDUM.

This Bill is supported by the Society for the Destruction of Agricultural and other Pests, and is founded on similar lines to the Orders in Council under the Defence of the Realm Act now in force, and to legislation now in force in Denmark, Hong Kong, Bermuda and other States, which has for its object to save the vast destruction of foodstuffs and other property caused by rats, which amounts to many millions of pounds sterling in every year.

Private efforts have failed to reduce the number of rats, owing to the lack of proper organization and adequate resources. This Bill is intended to arm public authorities with powers to cope with the evil, while protecting private interests from any resultant damage.

[9 & 10 GEO. 5.]

A

BILL

INTITULED

An Act to Provide for the Destruction of Rats.

A.D. 1919

BE it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Measures for the destruction of rats.

1. Where a local authority are of opinion that rats are causing preventable damage or destruction to foodstuffs or crops within their district, they may take such measures as they shall think proper for the destruction of such rats.

Directions by a local authority.

A.D. 1919

2.—(a). Where a local authority are of opinion that the owner or occupier of any land or building has neglected to take reasonable and proper precautions to prevent such land or building becoming infested by rats, or has neglected to remove from such land or building any rubbish...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Errata
• Preface
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Chapter I. History of the Rat. Its Geographical Distribution. Species of Rats, Voles and Mice. Description of Same. The Domestic Mouse a d How to Deal with it
• Chapter II. Habits of the Rat, and its Fecundity
• Chapter III. Waste of Food, and Damage caused by Rat
• Chapter IV. The Rat as a Carrier of Disease and a Menace to Health
• Chapter V. Natural Enemies of the Rat. The Rodier System
• Chapter VI. How to Kill Rats.—Stopping
• Chapter VII. Flooding and Smoking
• Chapter VIII. Ferreting
• Chapter IX. Trapping
• Chapter X. Poisons
• Chapter XI. Bacterial Cultures
• Chapter XII. Rats on the Estate, Farm, and in Outbuildings
• Chapter XIII. Rats in Shops, Factories, Warehouses and Dwellings
• Chapter XIV. Rats in Sewers
• Chapter XV. Rats on Board Ships
• Chapter XVI. Suggested Measures
• Chapter XVII. Deratisation