10 Yearbook of the Department of A gmcultyrc. 



JACK RABBITS DESTROYED BY THOUSANDS. 



Satisfactory progress was made also in the campaigns 

 undertaken against jack rabbits in California, Oregon, Ne- 

 vada, Idaho, and Utah. These animals at certain seasons 

 congregate in large numbers upon wheat, oats, rye, barley, 

 and alfalfa fields, often completely devastating them, besides 

 destroying great quantities of alfalfa hay in the stack. A 

 farmer in Oregon writes, "Jack rabbits are so bad they de- 

 stroy all our grain. If we can not obtain some help to get 

 rid of these pests, we will have to do as other settlers are 

 compelled to do, leave." This statement is characteristic of 

 expressions from farmers throughout the regions where 

 these animals occur in destructive abundance. The farmers' 

 clubs organized for systematic poisoning of these pests in 

 Crook County, Oreg., succeeded in destroying 59,000 during 

 the winter of 1916-17, making a total of at least 134,000 jack 

 rabbits killed in this county alone since the campaigns there 

 were first undertaken. Many thousands of these animals 

 have been destroyed in campaigns at a cost of less than one- 

 tenth of a cent each. To the effectiveness of this work the 

 saving of succeeding crops is largely attributed. 



AN INSTANCE OF SUCCESS AGAINST GROUND SQUIRRELS. 



The following statement is typical of the great number 

 of expressions of approval received from farmers and 

 orchardists who have used the Government poisoning 

 methods in organized campaigns: 



A hill near my house lias been infested by these "ground diggers" 

 since the year one, I should judge, aud for the last three years they 

 have carried off most of the fruit from my orchard adjoining, in spite 

 of all the poisoning and smoking I could do. To-day I don't believe 

 there is a live squirrel in the hill, and this with only two applications 

 of the poisoned grain recommended by the Department of Agriculture. 

 A large percentage of them must have died in the holes, as I found 

 comparatively few on the surface. By thorough cooperation and per- 

 severance I believe this pest can be practically exterminated and at 

 small cost. Let this good work go on. If there is anything else in 

 the making that is only half as good, let the farmer have the benefit 

 of it at the earliest possible moment ; he needs it, and our country 

 needs it. 



