THE PRAIRIE DOG OF THE GREAT PLAINS. 
extermination of colonies of any size, and at an}^ time of A^ear when 
the animals are active. If the killing is put off until late spring or 
early summer, when food is plenty, the animals are not likely to eat 
enough of the poisoned grain to amount to anything, and bisulphide 
becomes the best remedy. The only objection to its general use is its 
cost, which is likely to be about 1 cent per hole. 
OBSTACLES AND DIFFICULTIES OF EXTERMINATION. 
The chief obstacle to the extermination of prairie dogs on the plains 
is lack of cooperation among landowners. It is of little use to kill 
off' the animals on ranches adjacent to large colonies in which the pests 
are allowed to go on multiplj'ing. Many ranchmen who have again 
and again poisoned those on their own lands have finalh^ given up in 
despair ])ecause of the rapid overflow^ from adjoining lands, new ani- 
mals continually taking the places of those killed, until the expense 
and labor of repeated poisonings were too great to be continued. Com- 
plaints from this source are common in the case of ranches adjoining 
G overnment, State, or school lands, and railroad lands, and occasionally 
arise in the case of those adjoining lands owned by nonresidents, cor- 
porations, and certain individuals. This phase of the subject requires 
local legislation. In some States drastic measures have been recom- 
mended. Thus, in Texas, during the session of 1899, a bill was intro- 
duced making it the duty of every man owning land inha])ited hy 
prairie dogs to destro}^ the animals, under penalty of a line not exceed- 
ing $100 for each section or part of a section on which the pests were 
allowed to remain. In the case of land owned by corporations or non- 
residents, the destruction of the animals w as provided for. the expense 
to be a lien on the land. While this bill failed to become a law. it had 
many supporters, and goes far to show the real extent of the prairie- 
dog scourge. 
The Kansas legislature has recently appropriated $5,000. to be 
expended under the supervision of the regents of the State agricul- 
tural college, in "experiments for the purpose of determining the 
most effective and economical method of destroying prairie dogs and 
gophers,'' and has also authorized the township auditing ])oards to 
expend $100 [or more if requested by two-thirds of the electors of 
such township] in each township each year for the destruction of those 
animals (approved February 12, 1901). 
PRAIRIE DOGS ON NANTUCKET. 
In 1890-1892, one or two pairs of prairie dogs were introduced into 
Nantucket, where, for several years, they increased slowly and were 
regarded with interest. After a few years, however, they grew so 
numerous and spread so rapidly that the inhabitants became greatly 
