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Show Many Completed Traps, And Making More .... . - 'J i 1 : j h ' ' " '--.i 'LJ' 'I rv'"- - - Z ' ' ' ' -v." . . ' . r.-i .-,' - These rat box and bait traps were developed Frank Hale, of Grantsville, and have proven very effective against the mar auding rodents of this area. Photo by W. D. Bush. Rodents on the Farms, Gardens, Orchards and Open Range was. It was not a fit place to live. The speed limit on our own highways high-ways was 10 miles per hour, and in that dust and those drifts of sand it didn't require any speed cops to hold "the traffic down. All the benefit the people got from these dust storms was it cut down the cost of tooth powder. There was plenty of sand In our food to keep our teeth polished. We blamed this dust on the drouth, but most of it was caused by over-grazing from livestock and an excess of rodents at that time. We moved the livestock off easily? but believe me the fight we've had with the rodents was not so easy. The long hungry kangaroo rats hung around on top of the sand knolls and then had a foot race for the first spear of vegatation that showed up. Rodent Enemies Killed Off It's been a long hard fight to get the rodents of this rangeland under control. It has cost a lot of money. But either we had to go, or the rodents. Perhaps that is enough said a-bout a-bout our rangeland for now. Many young fruit trees within our state are killed each year by the rodents cutting the roots, enough to cut deep into the profits of the person per-son spending years to try and raise an orchard. The same it true within with-in the garden and many unsightly messes made on lawns by the gopher go-pher mounds. Why such heavy losses today? This it why. Nature lias been thrown off balance. let's just take these figures for this valley then you'll agree with my why man has got to help even things up. A few years back this valley had a-bout a-bout 200 badgers, 70 coyotes, 30 bob-cats, 1000 hawk owls and birds of prey that fea principally on rodents. ro-dents. These enemies of rodents ate about 2.000 per day or approximately approxi-mately 73,000 per year. Today practically prac-tically all these enemies of the rodent ro-dent are gone. Pair Produces 1500 " Offspring Yearly The increase from a single pair of rodents and their descendants has been known to be as high as 1500 per year; You just put a few of these figures together, then when you see the signs of any kinds of rodent see what you can do about it. On many of our alfalfa al-falfa fields the value of 500 lbs. of hay spent in control of the gopher go-pher would save several tons. How is the best way to prevent these losses? The Tooele County Rodent Board members are ready to help you. Mr. Smith, our Chairman Chair-man and County farm agent, the State and Federal Bureaus are all ready to do what they can. Let's get together and save a part of that $100,000,000 per month. how common it is to see three or four rods around the fields eaten each year. This out side, complete loss we see, but a large percentage percent-age of the center is also gone. Most of us fail to notice this. Did you ever eat corn or watermelons water-melons grown on the south side of this Valley? I have and if you have I'm sure you'll agree with me that there was never any better. Yet all farmers failed out there Why? The kangaroo rat and deer mouse know the answer. If they didn't find the seeds before the farmer got them out of his wagon they were not long getting them after they were planted. The ground squirrel and the rabbit got most of what was left before they got ripe. I'm quite sure there never were more than 10 percent of any melons left for us kids. The farmer farm-er was the first to starve out. I give the rodents 90 percent of the blame. Rodents Helped Cause Dust Bowl You all remember a few years back what a dust bowl this Valley The most common rodents of this county living outside of our dwellings dwel-lings are the deer, pine, meadow mice, pocket gophers and the kangaroo kan-garoo rat. These species of rodents are not quite so harmful to our health. I know of no diseases they have spread here except tularemia and rocky mountain -fever and these only by the rabbit. But the loss in dollars caused by the above named pests would really be hard to estimate. esti-mate. When prices of food were low government experts placed the monthly damages at $100,000,000 per month in the U. S. A. I feel sure these figures are far too low. I have this belief on actual losses within our own county. Damage to Alfalfa Heavy Our losses are really heavy, yet there are many farmers and stockmen stock-men who fail to see it or pay much attention to it. These losses were taking place wehn they were young and just continued on each year. It is a loss that in most cases is just taken for granted. The alfalfa al-falfa fields were covered with pocket gopher mounds the first time they remember seeing them I years ago. They are still covered. About the only time they give them any thought is when they raise the devil with their mowing and then the cussing they do, doesn't does-n't harm the gopher. Yet the damage dam-age the gopher does, to many of our alfalfa crops would total 25 percent per-cent of it's annual value. You may think this is a little high, I hope you do so that I can show you and others that it is not. Grain Fields Destroyed I don't think' there are many farmers in this valley but that have seen complete fields of grain destroyed des-troyed by rodents, and we all know |