Biological Pavers. 117 



various townships in the state, and the facts and figures given in 

 their replies were tabulated. In this way it was learned that the 

 total area of lands in Kansas infested by prairie dogs amounted to 

 about 2,500,000 acres. A few months of experimentation now fol- 

 lowed, as a result of which the field agent, Mr. D. E. Lanlz, at 

 present with the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, 

 adopted poisoning as the cheapest and most easily applied method 

 of ridding our western lands of their greatest pest. He at once 

 proceeded to carry the war in the prairie-dog territory in a series 

 of vigorous campaigns, which have since been followed by attacks 

 all along the line. Bulletin succeeded bulletin in organizing and 

 furthering the work, and the wholesale drug houses of the country 

 were taxed to their utmost to supply the poison. The legislative 

 act of 1901 was followed by a more stringent one in 1903. 



After four years of this campaigning, there being no further 

 special appropriations of money available, the service of a field 

 agent was dispensed with and the charge of atTairs turned over to 

 the department of zoology and entomology of the Agricultural 

 College. This department is still carrying on the work, in pursu- 

 ance of the policy of the institution to extend its usefulness along 

 HS many lines as possible to the classes of people who helped to 

 create it. 



In the eight years' war on the prairie-dog in Kansas operations 

 in the field have been largely conducted by township and county 

 officers acting under the provisions of the law. To their effo)is 

 have been added those of many private individuals whose interests 

 enlisted their cooperation. In all a little more than 16,000 quarts 

 of a specially prepared poison mixture have been sent out from the 

 laboratory at the College. In the manufacture of this poison prep- 

 aration a ton of potassium cyanide and strychnine has been ust d. 



The results of all this effort may be briefly summed up. During 

 the past summer the writer made an extended and careful survey 

 of the prairie-dog territory of western Kansas lying between the 

 Union Pacific railroad on the north and the Santa Fe line on the 

 south. Over most of this extensive scope of country the prairie- 

 dog is no longer a factor to be reckoned with by the farmer and 

 the stockman. In many townships and some counties practical 

 extermination of the pest has been secured. To such an extent 

 has the little animal become a thing of the past in many localities 

 that the occasional isolated "dog town" is now looked upon by the 

 residents as a matter of interest and old-time association rather 

 than as a nuisance. On the other hand, in several quarters of the 



