The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-07-22
THE PRAIRIE DOG.
He Is the Steel Spring of the Animal
Kingdom.
New York Sun.

is the title given by the legislature OF
Kansas to D. F. Lantz. OF Manhat-
tan, Kan. Mr. Lanoz's duties are to
devise means of killing off the mil
lions OF praire dogs that inteSt the
western part OF the state.
Ever since western Kansas was
settled the prairie dog has been
picturesque pest. He has devastated
millions of acres of land and has been
he Indirect n,*a:,> OF killing hundreds
of head of valuable live stock.
He has been hunted and sca'ded.
poisoned and conjured; but he has
lived merrily through it all. aid mul-
tiplied at a rate that even the prollhc
Belgian hare cannot equal. Finally.
after two years OF experiment. the
State Agricultural college hit OH
poison which when properly and tact
fully used-for the prairie dog is a
keen rascal and not easily deceived
is warranted to lay low the hardest
dog that ever barked defiance to his
foes.
This poison is thoroughly mixed
grain, but the same kind must never
be used twice, else the dogs that es-
capped the first bait will ignore the
second. A spoonful of it is put at the
entrance of every hole The unsus-
pecting dog. coming out to feed.
finds his meal awaiting him. After
guiielessly partaking of it. he hurried
ly retreats to his burrow, to die alone.
A dead prairie dog is never found
on top of the ground.
Mr.. Lantz reports that during the
past two years the state has consum-
ed about 1900 pounds of strychnine
and over half a ton of potassium
cyanide in manufacturing the poison.
From 100000 to 100000 acres OF land
formerly infested with the prairie
dogs have been entirely reclaimed,
while partial destruction of them
has been accomplished over much
larger area. including some OF the
best alfalfa ranches in the state.
Only since alfalfa growing reached
its present proportions in western
Kansas has the prairie dog problem
been such grave one Prior to that
the land was hardly worth the trou-
bic of driving out the invaders.
1t is impossible even to estimate ac-
curatelv the vast number OF dogs that
form a single town On a ranch in
Scott county owned by c. S. Gilbert,
of Wichita. there is a single town
which covers $50 acres. The houses
average 700 to the acre. and each
house is known to contain not less
than five dogs. This would bring the
total population of this single town
up TO something like 1.le5.ooo dogs.
to say nothing OF a full complement
OF owls and rattlesnakes.
That prairie dogs. rattlesnakeS and
owls live together in the same holes.
J., we'll known. The assertion is Of
ten made that they are happy fam
lily, pursuing a peaceful live-and-let
live policy. and doing cooperative
housekeeping on an ideal basis.
This is far from being the case. The
dogs and the owls live i'll peace to-
gether. though the owl is lazy fel-
low. and the dogs have /" do all the
work. But the snakes are interlopers.
hated and feared alike by owl and
dog, getting their living from the Off
spring OF their hosts. and doing abb
Solutely nothing i'll return l"r the ia
vorS shown them.
OF ali the inhabitants ot these pop
uluus cities. the dogs come first. and
do al! tn" work. digging out the holes.
building tirm hollow comb around
the opening to serve alike as 4 pro-
tec.iun and as point ri vantage in
viewing the remainder OF the town.
and later building the mysterious
drainage system that is so complete
and amazing in its ingenuity.
Each hole connects with these lat