Man and Nature 393 



But the protection of the farmer's friends is only one of 

 the Bureau's manifold activities. Many a wild creature is 

 the farmer's inveterate enemy and does untold damage to 

 his cattle or his crops. With the drain on the world's re- 

 sources caused by the great war and its aftermath of an- 

 archy and ruin, and the ever-mounting cost of existence, it 

 behooves us to close up every leak where natural wealth is 

 wasted. Within the borders of our country today, we are 

 harboring a host of parasites, who are "eating us out of house 

 and home." On our western ranges we are feeding our 

 wolves and coyotes $20,000,000 worth of stock every year; 

 to ground squirrels, mice and other rodents we contribute 

 $150,000,000 worth of fcod crops, while the brown rat levies 

 an additional toll of $200,000,000. These figures perchance 

 sound excessive. Let us analyze them a little closer. 



"As an indication of the losses due to predatory animals 

 it may be stated that the chairman of the State Live Stock 

 Board of Utah estimates an annual loss in that region amount- 

 ing to 500,000 sheep and 4,000,000 pounds of wool. The presi- 

 dent of the New Mexico College of Agriciilture, as a result of a 

 survey of conditions in that state, estimates an annual loss 

 there of 3 per cent of the cattle, or 34,000 head, and 165,000 

 sheep. A single wolf killed by one of the Bureau hunters in 

 southern New Mexico was reported by stock owners of that 

 vicinity to have killed during the preceding six months 150 

 head of cattle valued at not less than $5,000. In July, 1917, 

 two male wolves were killed in Wyoming which in May had 

 destroyed 150 sheep and 7 colts. Another pair of wolves 

 killed near Opal, Wyoming, were reported to have killed about 

 $4,000 worth of stock a year. Another Wyoming wolf, 

 trapped in June, 1918, had killed 30 cattle during the 

 spring. ' ' 3 



"In the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plains, Mass., during 

 the winter of 1903-4, meadow mice destroyed thousands of 

 trees and shrubs, including apple, maple, sumac, barberry, 

 buckthorn, dwarf cherry, snowball, bush honeysuckle, juniper, 

 blueberry, dogwood, beech, and larch. Plants in nursery beds 

 and acorns and cuttings in boxes especially were harmed. . . . 

 During the winter of 1905-6 a small orchard of apple and 

 pear trees near Washington, D. C., was under observation 

 from October to April. Attacks by meadow mice began in 

 the early fall, possibly in August. They were continued dur- 

 ing every succeeding month, being greatest during two short 

 periods of snow. . . . Adjoining the orchard was a tangled 

 thicket on low, moist ground, in which meadow mice were 

 abundant. 



3 Report of Chief of Bureau of Biological Survey, 1918, p. 3. 



