The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-12-02
COUNTY BUREAU
PEST CAMPAIGN
Results of Cooperative
Effort in Poison
ing Squirrels
SAVES $117,975


The ground squirrel eradication
campaign which was carried on in
Bingham county this year saved the
wheat growers $1l7,975 according to
County Agent Monroe, who has just
completed the compilation of the
signed reports of the members of the
farm bureau who co-operated in the
campaign.
The squirrel eradication work of
1919 was carried on under the lead
ership of James Christensen of
Goshen, who is head of the depart
ment of pests of the county farm
bureau. Strychnine alkaloid was
purchased thru the bureau of biologi-
cal survey of the United States de-
partment of agriculture and was sold
to the members of the farm bureau
at cost, the board Of county commits
sioners bearing one-half of the cost.
Poison mixing demonstrations were
staged by County Agent Monroe in
various portions of the dry farm
region at which the farmers were
shown how to prepare the bait. At
the close of the campaign the farm
ers cooperating in the campaign,
--.- >. a.I, were asked to make, O.
record OF the work showing the Value
Of the Same Iii order that the results
might Be fep6rtea to, the bureau Of
biological survey and the board Of
county commissioners. This report
of the years work is also utilized Id
preparing for the campaign of the
coming year. The local farm bureau
proposes to eliminate the ground
squirrel pest from the dry farm Sec
tions of the county and according
to the information gained at the
county agents office special atten-
tion will be given next year to the
range lands owned by the state.
The summary of the results of the
1919 campaign is as follows:
Number of cO-operators..-. 148
Number ounces strychnine
used ...................-.-...... 1900
Number acres land covered 1923
Estimated loss from squir-
rels after poisoning.......$1 11,070
Estimating saving resulting
from campaign --.--....-...- 117,975
Regarding the item of $11,070,
which represents the loss or damage
done by the ground squirrels after
poisoning, County Agent Monroe
stated that this figure was probably
too low and the reason for the low
estimate was due to the fact that
many of the farmers experienced diff
ficulty in determining whether their
loss this year was due to the squir-
rels or to the drought.
c. H. Southworth, engineer of the
government canal, reported that his
office had poisoned thirty miles of
canal banks and that this work of de-
stroying the squirrels along the ditch
banks had been the means of stop
ping one break in the main canal, a
break which If it had taken place
would have caused a damage of prob
ably $4,000 to the farmers of that
Craig Watts of Chesterfield in a
letter to County Agent Monroe made
the following statement:
Did it pay?' l should say so. I
put out five ounces of strychnine on
the meadows and surrounding dry
land and had all the squirrels killed
off but the dry season drove the
SQUIRRELS out of the surrounding hills
down to the streams and we had to
put out more poison. In the summer
Of 1918 the squirrels were so thick
that they would choke the mower
and the damage to the wheat was
very little or no damage. If plenty
Of poison could have been put out
along all streams in July there
would be no squirrels in 1920"