Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-13
CAUSE GREAT DAMAGE.
Animals and Insects Respon-
sibIe for Losses.
FIGURES ARE ASTOUNDING
Secretary Wilson Confirms Statement
by President.
PRAIRIE DOGS EAT GRASS
Amount They Consume Annually in
Texas Would Feed a Million
and Half of Cattle.
PRAIRIE DOGS EAT GRAs
BY WILLIAM +. CT RTIS.

and a Hall OF cattle.
BY WILLIAM f.. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
| In the message of the President trans
hitting a report of the national conserva-
| ton commission, which was sent to Con-
gress last month. appears the astounding
statement that 1.-The losses to farm prod
ucts due to injurious mammals is esti-
mated at $13O, 100000 annually. and the
loss through insects is reckoned at $685.,
600 900 annually
| These statements are confirmed by the
Secretary Of Agriculture and the scien-
lists of that department who have charge
Of such matters. 1t is asserted that the
prairie dogs in the state of Texas alone
eat as much grass every year as would
feed a million ana a half of cattle. There
are estimated to be O0,OOO,OOO prairie
dogs in Texas. an average of twenty
five to the acre. and 26O dogs will eat
as much grass as a steer. Besides this.
the value of the land is very much in
| jured by the dogs because they dig up
he roots of the grass and destroy 1t,
| leaving the ground perfectly bare around
ttheir holes. Then, when they have
/
neigilborhood they migrate to another
spot and continue their work of destruc-
ton. The result is that entire town
ships of land have been made barren by
| their raVages.
| Texas Kansas Colorado and other
| western states have been working for
years to destroy the dogs by means of
poisoned wheat. The legislature of Kansas
has appropriated 100000 year for their
destruction, and that state is now prac-
tically free from the pest The forest
service of the Agricultural Department
proposes to take up the work of extermi-
nation within the forest reserves. and will
| try and encourage the neighborng ranch
men to assist 1t by demonstrating how
easily and economically the job can
| be done, until the prairie dog, which has
no useful functions, has been driven out
Of existence.
Ground Squirrels Destructive.
West of the Mississippi river, in the
states where grain is extensively cultivat-
ed, ground squirrels are exceedingly de-
structive, and cause the loss of many mill
lions of dollars annually. In California
alone every year they eat up about two
million dollars worth of wheat and 1t
has recently been discovered that their
presence threatens a danger far greater
than any pecuniary loss, because they
carry the germs of diseases, which can
be communicated to human beings
through the agencies of fleas. The beechy
ground squirrel, the only species thus
far found to be plaSue-infected, lnhabltS
practically the whole of the agricultural
and fruit lands of California, from San
| Francisco bay to San Diego land is most
| abundant in the foothills and coast
ranges. In some localities there are
| thousands of them, occupying under
ground burrows only few feet apart.
Secretary Wilson says that if they We're
confined to cultivated lands their exter-
mination would be comparatively easy. but
| they are scattered over very large area
of wild land beyond reach. The state
of Washington is troubled in a similar
manner and spends twenty-five thousand
dollars year fighting the pests.
| In Nevada the agricultural sections are
| being overrun with field mice. Although
the destruction of crops by them has
never been SO extensive as in some parts
| OF Europe. where they have devastated
whole provinces, it is estimated that they
| destroy 100000 worth of alfalfa every
! year. Secretary Wilson says that in
Humboldt valley last year the mice de-
stroyed fifteen thousand acres out of
| total of twenty thousand acres of al
| falfa so that the fields had to be replow
| ed and replanted.
How to Destroy Field Mice.
| During the past year., said Secretary
Wilson. the biological survey sent two
| assistants to Nevada for the purpose of
making experiments and showing the
ranchmen how to destroy the mice. At
ter several trials it was discovered that
sulphate of strychnine on chopped green
| alfalfa or alfalfa hay is the most eff
fective poison. Even on ranches where
| the number of field mice reached the as
| tonishing total of twenty thousand to
| the acre ,they were eXterminated by
| careful and systematic poisoning at an
| average cost of 10 cents an acre.
| The combined efforts of the farmers
| of Humboldt valley under the direction Of
| the agents of the department We're ulti-
mately so successful that they killed at
least forty-fve thousand mice Il day for
| several weeks in succession, and the
| hawks. owls. and other birds and ami
mails which are appointed by nature to
do that work were able to take care
of the remainder and prevent further
| damage.
The rat continues to cause enormous
| losses throughout the entire United
| States, Secretary Wilson says, and dur
ing the past year an attempi was made
to ascertain the approximate damage done
to property by this rodent in the cities
of Washington and Baltimore. Many
business men were interviewed, including
| dealers in various kinds of merchandise,
feeders of horses, managers of hotels and
| restaurants and manufacturers. The in
quirieS included all sections of the two
cities and both small and large dealers.
Data was obtained from some 600 firms
and Individuals, from which it is esti-
mated that the loss from rats in WASH
inston is about 100000 year and in Bal
tmore upward of 100000 year.
Great Damage by Rats.
assuming, is probable. that similar
conditions obtain in all our cities of over
10000 inhabitants, the damage by rats
lin these centers of population entails a
direct loss of $2OOOo,OOO annually. This
| enormous sum gives an idea of the still
greater total loss inflicted by this rodent
Throughout the length and breadth of
the land.
| THE rat also continues to excite appre-
lhenSion because of its agency in diStrib
|utng the dreaded bubonic plague and
lother diseases. Boards of health and the
marin hospital service in several of our
maritime cities have been prosecuting
lactive war against the rodents and large
lsums have been expended in efforts to
effect their extirpation. No one method
has proved adequate, and only by con-
certed, systematic and persistent efforts
Their numbers. The rat-prOof conStruc-
ton of buildings, the constant use of
traps and the of poisonS wherever
possible will go far toward assuring pub
lie safety. Experiments with various
| poisonS and mechanical means of deStruc-
ton have been made during the year and
a report on the subject with recommended
I will no no A