112 GARDENING WITH BRAINS 



trap so arranged that when the gopher pokes 

 his nose against the trigger a charge of powder 

 explodes beneath the animal, killing him in- 

 stantly by concussion. With this device thirty- 

 five to forty gophers were destroyed on his 

 grounds daily, and finally he was able to resume 

 the cultivation of the gladiolus. 



STUDY THE ANATtfMY OF ROOTS 



If there were such a thing as a rural police 

 department it might do a lot of good by captur- 

 ing a number of gophers and wire and cut worms 

 and subjecting them to the third degree. They 

 could give us useful information about the 

 anatomy of roots. This is a branch of horti- 

 culture which has been surprisingly neglected. 

 All the garden books sing the praises of the hoe 

 and dwell on the need of working it industri- 

 ously to kill weeds, to let in fresh air which the 

 roots need almost as much as the leaves do, and 

 to create a dust mulch for keeping the moisture 

 in the ground. But seldom is the man with 

 the hoe or the plow warned that while he may 

 be doing good in these ways he is likely to do 

 more harm by destroying the roots of the 

 precious plants. 



Many a promising potato patch has been 

 ruined by being injudiciously hoed or plowed by 

 one ignorant of root anatomy. The American 

 corn crop averages only twenty-six bushels per 

 acre. This could easily be doubled and even 



