ABSTRACT
The leading technological aims are the discovery and development of new poisons and other devices. The proposals that follow concern pests of agriculture. They are to some extent relevant to the management of rodents in cities; but the control of urban rodents is, to a much larger extent than in fields and villages, a matter of hygiene, proofing buildings, and similar measures. In planning large-scale field research, a first step is to ensure the help of farmers and others. Some members of the research team should belong to the local community. Each human group presents its own problems. Scepticism and disinclination to change traditional ways may be widespread, but can be overcome by matter-of-fact statements on the benefits of protecting food from pests. The difficulties of estimating rodent populations suggest that control operations should be assessed by some measure of food saved; but estimates of crop yields may be equally difficult to make or, if made, to interpret.
