SOUTH DAKOTA CONSERVATION DIGEST 
 
VOL. 5   September, 1938  NO. 9 
South Dakota Conservation Digest 
0. H. Johnson, Editor 
Issued monthly by the South Da- 
kota Department of Game and Fish. 
Entered at Pierre, South Dakota, as 
third-ciwus matter. 
POISON BATE USE 
Much has been said and writ- 
ten during the past two or three 
years for and against the poi- 
soning campaign being conduct- 
ed  generally  throughout the 
c.ountry to eradicate grasshop- 
pers and other insect and rodent 
pests.  The   following, taken 
from the Bismarck, N. D., Cap- 
ital, contains considerable ma- 
terial for serious thought: 
"Serious thinkers are arriv- 
ing at the conclusion that North 
Dakotans are flirting with dan- 
ger through the continued use 
of poison bait for grasshoppers. 
"The question is raised wheth- 
er the dangers incurred will 
not be greater than the actual 
benefits experienced this one 
season.  That there may be 
dangers in the future arises 
from the fact that the arsenic 
trioxide, the basic ingredient of 
'hopper bait, is an insoluble, in- 
destructible substance that will 
stay with the soil indefinitely. 
"When it is considered that 
tons and tons of poison have 
literally been dumped on North 
Dakota fields, we have a ser- 
ious condition to consider. 
"A field that has been heavily 
laden  with  poison  bait may 
never be safe again for use as 
pasture   or  grazing.    Even 
though plowed up many times, 
 
there will always be a chance 
that enough of the old bait may 
come up some time to kill off a 
valuable animal. 
"Reports have been made of 
humans becoming     sick  from 
eating poultry that has fed on 
arsenic-killed and arsenic-sick 
'hoppers. Traces of the poison 
have been found in eggs laid by 
hens that run in fields handy to 
poison bait areas. 
"That there is some danger 
of stream and reservoir pollu- 
tion was indicated last year 
when tests were made of the 
Missouri river at the time the 
big  quantity  of poison  was 
washed   into the Yellowstone 
river near Billings.  At that 
time, it will be remembered, 
traces of arsenic were found in 
the samples of river water taken 
for normalcy tests. This arsenic 
was washed from     the fields 
by the rains. If rain wash can 
cause an appreciable trace to 
be found in a stream the size 
of the Missouri, what will it do 
to the smaller streams, especi- 
ally  those  that  have  dams 
thrown up for the purpose of 
water storage ? 
"There also have been numer- 
ous remarks relative to the 
scarcity of song birds in our 
farm regions this year. Wheth- 
er the song birds are missing 
because of poison cannot be 
said because there has been no 
discovery of bodies in great 
numbers. All that can be noted 
is that our country song birds 
are gone, where to, no one 
knows. 
"Senator Nye last week urged 
the importation of birds, gulls