350 ANNUAL RKPORTS OF DEPART.MKXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



both by injuring the stuiul and by piling- up mounds of cHrt over 

 considerable i)ortions of the crop; these mounds interfere Avitli cut- 

 tin<x the hay and freciuently dama<re the harvestin*; machinery. 



In Kansas and Nebraska, where the pocket jjopher is the most 

 serious rodent pest affecting the producers, the efforts of the bureau 

 representatives are concentrated particuhirly upon the organization 

 of effective community camjiaigns for its ei'acbcation from farming 

 districts. ExceUent progress lias been made and a foiuidation laid 

 for more extensive operations during the coming year. In Arizona 

 pocket gophers caused ver}^ serious losses in orange and grapefruit 

 orchards by gnawing the roots of trees and thus killing them. 



The bunows of pocket gophers in the banks of irrigation ditches 

 have resulted in great damage in parts of Arizona, Idaho, and other 

 irrigation States by causing breaks, which were followed by serious 

 loss of Avater at critical periods, by the inundation and destruction 

 of crops, and by large expenditures for repair of the ditch banks. 

 Extensive poisoning operations were organized with a view to de- 

 stroying the pests in such situations and preventing damage of this 

 character. In Arizona chambers of commerce, associations of orange 

 and grapefruit growers, water users' associations, and others joined 

 actively with bureau representatives in conducting these campaigns. 

 The Office of Indian Affairs cooperated by poisoning these anirnals 

 on considerable areas of the Moqui and Parker Indian Reservations 

 in Arizona. The Forest Service also has given active cooperation in 

 Nebraska. Oregon, and other States. 



The same general lines of procedure are followed in initiating and 

 organizing campaigns for the destruction of pocket gophers as in 

 the case of other rodents, and, wath a like cordial response by the 

 people interested, important results Avere attained in protecting crops 

 and property from damage by these animals. 



JACK KABBITS AND COTTONTAILS. 



Jack rabbits are seriously destructive in many of the Western 

 States. They frequently concentrate in enormous numbers in grain 

 fields, orchards, vineyards, and other cultivated areas by moving in 

 from surrounding sagebrush or range. In such instances they com- 

 pletely devastate large fields of growing grain, eat off the crowns of 

 the young alfalfa, and entirely destroy valuable orchards and vine- 

 yards that have been built up only after large expenditures and years 

 of unremitting toil. Pathetic instances have occurred where orchards 

 representing the work and savings of a lifetime and constituting the 

 sole reliance of the owners for future support, have been brought to 

 a bearing age only to be destroyed in a single night by jack rabbits. 

 During the Avinter these animals also congregate about stacks of hay 

 and grain provided for winter stock feed, and frequently eat around 

 and undermine them to such an extent that the stacks topple over 

 and become practically a complete loss. The rabbits also make heavy 

 inroads on the crop of long staple cotton, an important and rapidly 

 developing feature of production under irrigation in Arizona. Last 

 vear one producer near Chandler. Ariz., lost from this source his en- 

 tire cotton crop valued at $2,500. This year a campaign was organ- 

 ized in this vicinity to destroy the rabbits, and in it many thousands 



