14 



FARMERS BULLETIN 820. 



PRACTICABILITY OF GRUBBING. 



Judged alone, the average cost of $10.10 per acre for eradication 

 on the Stanislaus National Forest, or even the $3.65 per acre for 

 eradication on the Durango National Forest, seems too high to be 

 good business. Whether eradication is good business, however, de- 

 pends upon other things besides the cost; it depends upon the rela- 

 tion between the acreage of larkspur and the cost of eradicating it, 

 the number of cattle the whole range will carry if freed from lark- 

 spur, the average money value of the cattle annually lost from lark- 

 spur poisoning before eradication, and the reduction in cost of han- 

 dling the cattle as a result of eliminating the larkspur. 



In the Stanislaus Forest, for example, the eradication of approxi- 

 mately 68 acres of larkspur at a total cost for the first and second 

 grubbings of $844.31 saved an annual loss in cattle of 34 head, valued 

 at from $1,200 to $2,000. 



On the Sevier National Forest the grubbing of 5 acres of lark- 

 spur at a cost of $21.50 cleared an area upon which 15 head of cattle 

 died of larkspur poisoning in 1915, and 9 head prior to the work of 

 grubbing in July, 1916. There was no loss after the grubbing was 

 done. The saving in cattle during 1916, after grubbing in July, 



FIG. 6. Two-year-old heifer poisoned by tall larkspur. The poison was secured from 

 the small patch at the upper left-hand side of the photograph. The animal had 

 traveled about 50 yards from the larkspur patch. 



