420 SOME FOUR-FOOTED PESTS OF THE FARM 



both pocket gophers and moles. There is some danger in handling 

 it, and it is not, therefore, recommended for general use. 



Poisoning Gophers. By far the best way to destroy pocket 

 gophers is by poisoned bait. This is used in the spring, before 

 root crops are in the ground and before an abundance of green 

 food is available, and particularly before the young are weaned. 

 As much powdered strychnine as can be held on the point of a 

 knife blade is introduced into a slit in a small piece of parsnip, 

 carrot, apple, or potato, or a large raisin. The bait is placed, 

 by means of a spoon tied to a stick, deep down in a branch burrow 

 or, better, in the main runway, reached through the branch bur- 

 row. It may be opened if necessary. This is very effective. It 

 is well to place a few drops of anise on all poisoned bait for rodents. 

 In poisoning pocket gophers or prairie dogs, mounds 

 should be levelled down after placing the poison, 

 and thus one may know, by looking for new mounds, 

 whether the animals have been killed or not. 



FIG. 405. Outline of head of 

 pocket gopher showing extent and 

 opening A of cheek pouch on left 

 side. 



FIG. 406. An effective but unsafe gopher gun made 

 with a piece of gaspipe. 



Fumigation with bisulfid of carbon is not satisfactory. 



As is generally well known, the main burrow of these animals 

 is from twelve to eighteen inches below the surface, and the mounds 

 we see upon the surface consist of the excavated earth, pushed by 

 the gopher to the openings of the lateral burrows leading from the 

 main burrow (Fig. 407). The pockets or cheek pouches are used 

 to carry food, not earth. 



The appearance of mounds of the pocket gopher in an orchard, 

 young or old, should be the signal for the owner to immediately 

 take steps to destroy the unwelcome visitor, even if no injury 

 due to its presence is evident at the time. 



Ditches for Gophers. Dig a ditch the width of a spade and 

 sixteen inches deep around the field or orchard to be protected. 



