No doubt one reason why farmers fail to co-operate properly with
gamekeepers in keeping rats down is because they do not see the damage
which rats inflict upon them. A farmer is deeply troubled if he sees
a blade of corn or grass nibbled by a rabbit; he will make frantic
efforts to secure that rabbit--which has a market value. But a rat does
little visible damage, and when dead is worth nothing. Another cause
of apathy is that the farmer knows how useless it is to deal with the
rats on his own premises when the supply is promptly renewed from his
neighbours'. In a single corn-stack he entertains cheerfully, perhaps,
500 rats. Assuming that each rat eats three pints of corn a week,
the 500 rats in three months eat fifty pounds' worth of corn, to say
nothing of the grain and straw they damage. In a day, ten rats will
consume enough food to keep a man. If anything further were needed to
impress a rat-cherishing farmer, we might point to the statement that
a female rat may be responsible, theoretically, for between twenty and
thirty thousand descendants in the course of twelve months. But it
is left to the gamekeeper to be the rat-catcher of the countryside.
The farmer goes cheerfully to bed, unaware that rats are enjoying
themselves in his stacks to the tune of two or three pounds a day.
Many keepers destroy two or three thousand rats in a year.
* * * * *