The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-01-31

pests will be checked depends up
on the outcome of an extermina
tion campaign now being carried
on there by the United States bi.
illogical survey with the coopera-
zion of city and county officials
and business men.
e. c.. Gates, junior biologist of
the federal bureau stationed at
Montana State college, is in
charge of the rat campaign. In
4 week of intensive effort early
in January poison bait made up
of crushed oats and a newly dis
covered poison known as red
squill, which is poisonous to rats
only, was placed in 325 buildings
in and around Lewistown. A thor
ough survey of the city and sur
rounding territory was made and
areas of infestation located before
the poisonous campaign started.
A check up on the results of
the campaign will be made in the
next few weeks and a campaign
launched to get rid of those es-
Gaping the first drive. That it
nay require some careful and
well planned work to get the last
rat is indicated by the fact that
rats have already been reported
on farms as far as As miles from
Lewistown, according to Mr.. Gates.
The biologist believes that the
rodents, commonly known as
house or brown rats, were intro
duced with shipments of goods
from other states, and being of a
hardy strain they have been able
to withstand the rigorous condi-
lions which in the past have
made Montana practically a rat
free state. He believes that it is
OF great Importance that the ro-
dents be controlled before they
have spread over too great an
area making it impossible to ex-
terminate them. The rat, he says,
is the most dangerous and most
destructive of all animals in that
it spreads disease and causes
economic losses running into enor-
nous sums.
Short Course Starts
If registration for the agricul-
tural short courses, which started
recently at the Montana State col
lege, is an indication, the young
men of the farms of the state
show a decided preference for
large scale, tractor wheat farm
ing over other farming %enterpris-
es open to them. Of the Al at the
State college for the 12-weeks
work in agriculture, IS are regist-
in the tractor grain farming,
and the rest are divided fairly
evenly among dairy manufacture
ing, livestock production, diversi-
fled farming and wheat market
ing and elevator management.
The total number registered for
the short courses is slightly less
than in 1929, when 48 were reg
istered, but it is higher than the
five-year average, according to j.
Tretsven, principal of this de-
partment of instruction at Mon
State college.
The short course students are:
Steven Dornbus, Manhattan; Ber-
,ha Bergstrom, Kalispell; Glenn
Link, Havre; Frank E. Barber,
3ozeman; Elias Bergstrom, Kalis-
oell; Edward L. Shultz, Hamilton;
Paul Stafford, Harlem; Vilroy
)verhuls, Columbus; Stanley K.
Smith, Bozeman; Alien P. Harris,
3ozeman; Arthur J.. Rasmussen.
Iarlem; Alfred Anderson, Hall;
emil Kewalk, Lloyd; Raymond L.
Lewistown; George L.
IcKamey, Great Falls; Albert l.
Bozeman; Warren F. Reg
torff, Enum Claw; Robert j.
;heldon, Chinook; Vern F. Boldly,
Big Timber; Harold F. McHose,
)elphia; Raymond H. McQuade,
Falls; LaVerne Fairbanks,
.alispell; Percy Peelman, Poplar;
Iillard E. Harrington, Joplin;
ohm Paul Olson, Kremlin; James
:. Roberts, Riedel; James H.
undby, Kelvin; Gordon w. Bor-
herding, Moore; Dale Phillips,