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                     National Audubon Society 
                         1000 Fifth Avenue 
                      New York 29, New York 
 TO: MR. R&M 
 FRlKt: RICHARtD K. P(O)H                 March 191948 
 Subject-U Se Of Weed.uoisps b railroads 
          I had an interesting talk with Mr. Everett Gilbert of the 
 erAnral Chemical Dveion of the Allied Chmical & Dye Cor tion, 4202 
 55th Drive, Laurel Hill, Log Island. 11 tells me that there has been a 
 tremndous Ox~sio   In the last tun year. in tile mse of ehlimcal agents
for 
 weedeontro1. Periodic con! Gr.1ces are now Iheig h~eld on this subect, 1hre
 was one a we  or so ago at the Hotel       . For ometije I have been   
 just as utuh afraid of these new weed peons as I have been of DDT,. 
          In someAs I think they are amn a      more serious threat to 
 wildlife. In all mildlife answmation wrk the basic probl   m is ouservnti.
 of habitat# 43ich is thev ery t hing there chazczils threaten. They make
it 
 pessible to eontrol or eliminate ,'l nt Ides, which rIthough not desired
by 
 man, provides In same eases cr'itically needed wildlife habitats. Xr. Gilbert
 was partictalarly well info)rmd on the us. of these chmcals by railroads
 along their rigt-of-ways. But I fear equal dagers in connection with their
 use t- state hig~way departrents rlong road -i.ie! vnd by firmrs in their
 efforts to eliminate unda.red ft eid4bord-r gro#Jis. 
          The rail.roads, apparently, object to aiq growths on t heir right-
of-wavy, including grass, within 16 feet of the center l4ne of the outside
set of tracks. Thoy cliit trbccelerates the 
decay of their tiis. Kow'ing was once widely used by thr railroran to d is-
courage these growths, but t his has bcoe  imractical, due to high labor
coast. Some experimenting has been4one wth flcns throwers, but they have
the serious disadvantage of oftu settA4 fir*es 
          To date, cont          bsed o the use of hoimoneB such as 
24D have not been ve  satifacoy, beause the railroads are just a 
anxi    to get rid of grass as anything else ad they seen ineffective 
against this type of groth. 
          m       , the mot widely used chifl~oals are sodium chlorate, 
petrl         oils a  sdu msrsmite. The latter is aeadly poon to all 
animals and maywell kil mm   birds directly,, besides destroying a 
sepm~t of habitato 
          One serious aspect of this that occurs to m  is the dage it 
may do to * eol ealy 'valuable rmeants of orignal groth Aidh are, I 
understand,, beet preserved ini many areas along the railroad rights-of-wayo
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