[NJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



147 



crops such as potatoes, carrots, etc., and kill young fruit trees and 

 vines by gnawing the roots of the same, but their numerous 

 mounds in a meadow destroy, by covering, large patches of grass 

 or clover, and are especially annoying to the farmer in dulling and 

 injuring the knives of the mower. 



Fig. 141. — Focket Gopher, Thomomys talpoides, Rich. After Merriam. 



Professor Bailey suggests one good thing, probably the only 

 one, accomplished by the pocket gopher. He estimates from ob- 

 servations in Minnesota, that about 500 square feet of soil is cov- 

 ered with subsoil in a season of seven months, and says that by 

 this unique plowing and draining they may do much good, cover- 

 ing a burnt over prairie with a soil which will encourage the 

 growth of vegetation. He has referred, however, to a time when 

 the prairies of this state were frequently fire-swept and not thickly 

 settled as they are now, and, further, it must be remembered that 

 the subsoil brought to the surface may be of very poor quality. 



Referring once more to the pockets which characterize this 

 family, an erroneous opinion prevails that these animals use the 

 same for carrying earth from their burrows. Many observations 

 on our own part, indorsed by those of others, lead us to state that this 

 is not the case, but that they carry food in these pockets to be 

 stored in their burrows when not wanted for immediate use. 



