USE OF POISONS FOR DESTROYING NOXIOUS MAMMALS. 



By David E. Lantz, 

 Assistant, Biological Survey. 



WASTE IN THE USE OF POISONS. 



Poisons are so extensively used in the United States for the destruc- 

 tion of noxious animals that the commerce in them is enormous. Al- 

 most all druggists have a considerable trade in substances intended 

 to rid field, garden, orchard, or buildings of pests that destroy crops 

 or other property. These poisons are sold in three forms — proprie- 

 tary preparations, raw materials, and preparations mixed by the 

 druggist ready for use. 



AVhatever the form, the purchaser often pays an excessive price 

 for the poison, and then frequently wastes much because of lack of 

 knowledge of how best to use it. Since in the West the people of a 

 single county sometimes expend $25,000 to $30,000 a year for poisons 

 for destroying rodent pests, and since insecticides and other poisons 

 for the entire country cost many millions of dollars annually, the sav- 

 ing of waste in these items is important. At present fully half the 

 expenditure in the United States for rodent poisons is wasted. 



Probably the buyer of proprietary poisons has the greatest cause 

 for complaint. Often 1 or 2 cents' worth of material is retailed at 

 from 25 cents to a dollar. The difference between the cost of the ma- 

 terial and the selling price represents the manufacturer's profit and 

 the retailer's commission. Large returns enable proprietors to spend 

 much money in advertising or otherwise exploiting their wares, some 

 of which have no merit. But a man does not always complain of ex- 

 cessive cost if the poison proves efficacious. It is when little or no 

 results follow its use that he considers himself defrauded. In realit}^ 

 he is cheated when he pays an unreasonably large price for the manu- 

 factured product, because the raw materials are cheap, and directions 

 for their combination and use are now available. 



The formulas for the common insecticides are the result of long- 

 continued experiment by expert entomologists and orchardists. They 

 have become standard by reason of long and successful use. and well- 

 informed farmers are now comparatively safe from the impositions 

 of venders of so-called insecticides. But until recently the destruc- 

 tion of noxious mammals has received less attention from experts than 



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