JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 137.30.242.61 on Thu, F EW urban communities, whether central city or suburban, are completely free from rats. In older central-city neighborhoods, where low-income families are concentrated, where dwelling-unit deficiencies are widespread, where neighborhood physical amenities are scarce, and where sidewalks, streets, yards, and alleys are often strewn with litter and garbage, the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) is ubiquitous.' Ideal breeding conditions in these environments ensure high rat densities and heavy infestations.Since i969 the Bureau of Pest and Rodent Control of Newark, New Jersey, has spent millions of dollars in creating an administrative structure, in attempting to improve neighborhood sanitation, in program planning, and in community sanitation education.2 In this paper I shall analyze the data on rat complaints received by the bureau and assess the efficacy of the control program.Numerous cities in the United States are infested with rats and are using similar rat eradication and control programs.3 Few cities are able to judge accurately the success of their agency programs because present methods of evaluation, such as rat population censuses and neighborhood resident perception studies, are expensive and time consuming. My secondary purpose here is to show that methods and techniques of geographical research can be applied in evaluating rat eradication and control programs.
RAT FIELDSRats in urban areas exist in two complementary fields. Above-ground rats thrive wherever improper food handling, improper garbage or refuse disposal, and readily available harborage are found. Below-ground rats thrive on the inexhaustible sources of food available in sanitary and combined sewers. Because subterranean and terrestrial rat fields coexist in the same * I should like to express my appreciation to the following persons for their assistance in obtaining the