BASSE RAT 211 year, and at the same time new shoots are produced ; as soon, as the fruit is gathered the old canes are cut out, and the new ones, which will fruit the following year, are cared for, all surplus shoots being removed. All the for- eign varieties in the northern states (and they do not succeed in the southern) need to be covered in winter. RASSE. See CIVET. RASTADT, a fortified town of Baden, on the Murg, 14 m. S. W. of Carlsruhe ; pop. in 1871, 11,559. It has a fine palace, a Protestant and several Catholic churches, a Catholic normal school, a lyceum, and a museum. A congress met here in November, 1713, and a treaty of peace was signed March 6, 1714, ending the Spanish war of succession. The treaty of peace of Campo Formio and the secret Ras- tadt convention of Dec. 1, 1797, gave to France all German fortresses on the Rhine. At the second congress of Rastadt for peace between France and Germany, which opened Dec. 9, 1797, the extravagant demands of the French were granted ; but war being renewed, the congress broke up in April, 1799, and the French ambassadors, on leaving, were mur- dered near the town by Austrian hussars (April 28). By the treaty of Vienna of 1815 Rastadt became a fortress of the Germanic confederation. The Baden revolution of 1849 began here May 11, with a mutiny of the Ba- denese troops, which was followed by a rising in Carlsruhe. A few days later the Austrian garrison abandoned the fortress, which was occupied in June by the insurgent troops un- der Mieroslawski, a provisional government having replaced that of the grand duke. The rising extended to the Rhenish Palatinate, but was suppressed by Prussian intervention under the command of the crown prince (the present emperor William). Rastadt was blockaded at the end of June, and bombarded on July 6 and 7, and surrendered on July 23. It was occu- pied by the Prussians from that time till 1866. RAT, a well known rodent, the type of the subfamily murince. In the murine tribe of this Norway Eat (Mus decumanus). subfamily, confined originally to the old world, belong the common house rats. The brown or Norway rat (mua decumctnus, Pall.) has a body 8 to 10 in. long, and the tail 6 to 8 in., scantily covered with hair and with about 200 rings ; the color above is grayish brown mixed with rusty, grayer on the sides, and ashy white below ; the upper surface of the feet dirty white. This species, originally from India and Persia, entered Europe through Russia, appear- ing in the central countries about the middle of the 18th century ; it was brought to Amer- ica about 1775, and has since greatly increased in numbers, driving out here as in Europe the black rat which had been previously introduced ; it is now generally distributed over the world, having been transported in ships, and most abundantly near the seacoasts. Its haunts are cellars, sewers, canal docks, and similar dirty places, wherever it can make a burrow or find abundant food ; it is a great household pest, and so prolific that its devastations are some- times very great ; it breeds from three to five Black Eat (Mus rattus). times a year, having 12 to 15 at a birth, the males always being the most numerous. Not only the black rat, but other species indi- genous to the old world, are driven off or de- stroyed by it ; the dead and even living per- sons are attacked by it when hard pressed ; it is not only pursued by man, dogs, and cats, but the stronger will kill and devour the weaker of its own species. The black rat (M. rattua, Linn.) is 7 or 8 in. long, with a tail of 8-J- in. ; the color is very dark, often nearly black, with numerous long hairs projecting from the short and soft fur, plumbeous beneath, and the feet brown ; it has a slighter form than the brown rat, with the upper jaw more pro- jecting, the ears larger, and the tail much longer in proportion. It is not very strong, but exceedingly active; being rather timid, it is exterminated by the larger and fiercer brown rat ; the habits of the two species are much the same, but the black rat is less a burrowing animal, and prefers the upper parts of houses to cellars and low dirty places. It used to be the common house rat in Europe and warm countries, until driven off by its congener ; it appears to have been brought to the new world about the middle of the 16th century ; it came originally from central
