HOME SUPPLIES. 205 



this gopher seeks a place where the sand is dry and loose ; 

 here it scratches quite a large, shallo'w hole, and depositing 

 some forty or fifty eggs therein, covers them and leaves 

 them to hatch out at their pleasure ; it has done its duty 

 by them, and has no further concern in the rearing of the 

 ''large family of small children" those eggs may produce. 

 When they creep out to view the world, they find it all 

 before them to choose whither they will go, with no mater- 

 nal whispers to check the downward course they at once 

 enter upon even thus early in their young lives. 



In other words, the little gopher makes for itself a little 

 tunnel on the higher ground. It is never found in places 

 subject to overflow ; and, by the way, this quality makes 

 the gopher a good indicator of the best lands for orange 

 culture ; wherever their holes are found, it is dry enough 

 to set out a grove, no matter even if it be in the midst of 

 the "dry season" that the selection is made. So, as we 

 have said, the little gopher, issuing from the pigeon-like 

 egg— pigeon-like in shape and size, but not in shell, since 

 the gopher-egg is covered by a soft, tough membrane — 

 makes unto itself a little cave with a tuuncl-like tail to it, 

 and as it slowly grows larger so does the cave lengthen out 

 into a longer and deeper tunnel with an entrance at the 

 surface that corresponds with the size of the inmate. 



We have said that usually between the hours of ten and 

 two the gopher comes forth for its daily promenade ; if it 

 were not for this habit, it would be an extremely difficult 

 thing ever to capture one. As it is, if one chooses to 

 saunter around among their dwellings during this period, 

 keeping a sharp look-out, he will often be rewarded by 

 picking up one or more without any trouble, except that 

 of carrying them home, and that, as we know from sad 

 experience, is sometimes a heavy task if one is not very 

 Strong. Once we picked up a fifteen-pound gopher about 



