THE GLADIOLUS 21 



tainly not less than a thousand dollars year after 

 year. 



Xot alone with the gladiolus but with other 

 bulbs it seemed that the animals took special de- 

 light in attacking the choicest plants. And the 

 question of their destruction became finally a 

 very urgent one. 



Numerous methods of combating the pests 

 were tested. A double box trap set in gopher 

 holes was cumbersome and not very effective. 

 An awkward iron trap was supposed to catch the 

 gopher when he poked his nose against the trig- 

 ger, but missed fire or failed to score a hit of tener 

 than otherwise. One form of trap after another 

 w^as tried and given up. Attempts to smoke out 

 the animals proved ineffective, as the gopher in- 

 stantly builds a wall to shut out the smoke. 



Bisulphid of carbon, which gives off a poison- 

 ous, heavy gas, was tested with equal lack of 

 success. About the only resource was the use of 

 poison, commonly called strychnin, placed on a 

 piece of apple, potato, or carrot, combined with 

 the use of a wire trap, in the hope that if one 

 failed the other might prove effective. But in 

 spite of all these methods the gophers multiplied, 

 mostly from neighboring fields, where their dam- 

 age to ordinary farm crops was not so marked. 

 A few years ago, however, a gopher gun was 



