158 



INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



strychnine is dusted on the grain, the latter should be .noistened 

 so that the grains of poison will adhere to the kernels. The solu- 

 bility of strychnine is slight. A teaspoonful of the crystals 

 boiled in 2 quarts of water would make a solution sufficiently 

 poisonous and is probably all that amount of water will take up. 

 This solution may well be sweetened with sugar or syrup. 



Steel traps are useful against these animals, and the writer 

 remembers that, as a boy in Minnesota, he used to place a slip- 

 noose occasionally over a hole, and when Mr, Gopher showed his 

 head, as he was quite sure to do very shortly, he was easily snared 

 by the boy at the other end of the string. A shot gun or a 22 rifle 

 would be useful in this connection. 



Gray Gophers or Ground Squirrels: The same poisoned baits 

 are used successfully against these as against the thirteen-lined 

 gopher just discussed, and field mice, but they are not generally 

 numerous enough in this state to call for special measures beyond 

 those offered by shootings or trapping. In a far western state, 

 where they are much more numerous than here, the writer used 

 to place poisoned wheat in long covered boxes (about two feet 

 long and ten inches square), the ends being closed except for a 

 space of about three inches wide at the bottom ; this allowed 

 gophers to run through but kept out poultry and anything else 

 which might eat the poisoned wheat not intended for them. These 

 boxes were placed on the ground in fence corners in infested 

 fields. 



Pocket Gophers: In order to understand fully the application 

 of various remedies and traps against these pests, it is well to have 



Fig. 14S. — Diagram of Burrow of Pocket Gopher 



an idea of their burrows. Fig. 148 illustrates somewhat crudely the 

 main burrow, about two feet below the surface of the ground, and 



