428 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, W20. 



men hov to protect crops and hay from destruction by jack 

 rabbits. 



During 1016, L ,356,429 acres of Government land- were 

 given original treatment for the eradication of prairie dogs, 

 and 164,756 acres, previously poisoned, were given a second 

 treatment to complete the work: 208,950 acres were treated 

 for the destruction of ground squirrels; and 7,770 acres for 

 the extermination of pocket gophers. Some demonstration 

 work also was done to enable farmers and ranchmen to apply 

 on their own lands the methods which the Biological Survey 



BI97I2 



Results of Poison Properly Prepared and Distributed, 



Pile of 1,872 prairie dogs, picked up on 320 acres after poison was dis- 

 tributed by men working according to directions of the Biological Survey. 

 A large percentage of animals killed were not collected, as they entered the 

 burrows before the poison could act. The grass required to feed these animals 

 is sufficient for the maintenance of several he-ad of cattle or sheep. Results 

 such as this have convinced stockmen and farmers that this work is practical 

 and worth while as a means of increasing production. 



bad found most effective in eradicating rodent pests on Fed- 

 eral lands. Demonstrations were given and campaigns or- 

 ganized to combat jack rabbits in infested farming commu- 

 nities of southern Idaho, central and eastern Oregon, south- 

 western Ftah, northern Nevada, western Texas, and in 

 smaller areas in California. Extermination of rodents tbat 

 destroy seeds and nursery stock on areas being reforested 

 had been completed on the Black Hills National Forest, 

 S. Dak., and the Florida National Forest, Fla. Experiments 

 to devise eradication methods had been conducted on the 

 above planting areas and on the Converse Experiment Sta- 



