258 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS. 



Gophers. If you find similar mounds of dirt, but find also open 

 holes from time to time, or if the mound has a central depression 

 evidently plugged up with dirt from below, or if you see the beast 

 reaching out of the hole to see which way to go to reach the next plant, 

 then you have to deal with a gopher. Gophers can be poisoned by tak- 

 ing pieces of carrot, potato or apple, >a prune or a raisin. Make an in- 

 cision in each and slip in a crystal of strychnia sulphate. Be sure to 

 get it well down into the burrow and then cover the opening with a 

 sod or a clod and dirt enough to exclude the light. If the beast sees 

 the light he is apt to push a lot of dirt ahead of him and thus cover 

 or throw out the bait. This must be watched, for the poisoned fruit 

 may attract a child or a chicken. 



There are several good gopher traps on the market and they are 

 all successful if one places them aright in a lower or permanent run- 

 way and not in one of the tunnels which the gopher makes to the sur- 

 face to get rid of the dirt, for surface feeding or for the enjoyment of 

 the landscape. These surface runs are often abandoned or are plugged 

 up with waste dirt which springs the trap in advance of his reaching 

 that point. 



Gophers are also successfully killed by the use of carbon bisulphide, 

 with a suitable pump to force the fumes into a branch of the permanent 

 lower run-way, or by quickly using a surface tunnel which shows fresh 

 dirt, thus finding a way open to the main tunnel before the beast has 

 time to close it below. Sometimes one will have to deal with a wise 

 old gopher who disdains poison or traps, and such a one we usually 

 get with a shot gun when he is prospecting from an open hole. 



