426 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



moisture, and the bait is ready for use. Any citizen of the state 

 is entitled to a copy of the formula according to which this 

 syrup is manufactured and may make it for himself if he so de- 

 sires. The station sells the prepared poison for $1.10 per quart, 

 delivered to the express or freight agent at Manhattan. 



Whatever sort of bait may be used, success depends upon in- 

 troducing it into fresh runways. Choose fresh-looking mounds 

 and prod on the line between them with a wagon rod or sharp- 

 ened broom handle to locate the runway; or, failing there, prod 

 about the freshest mounds. The sudden giving of the soil and 

 the apparent looseness of the stick in it is sufficient to show that 

 the runway has been located. Remove the prod and drop a tea- 

 spoonful of the poisoned bait into the burrow, leaving the hole 

 open. Level the mounds with some sort of a drag, and as fast 

 as new ones appear locate the burrows and put poison into them. 

 In case the area to be treated is large some sort of a special 

 instrument for locating the runways is desirable. A very good 

 one can be made from a spade handle by covering the pointed 

 end with iron and fastening a foot-rest about fifteen inches above 

 the point. 



By the use of the means just described the enterprising farmer 

 can rid his land of gophers and keep them out of it. Once the 

 farm is freed, the vigilance and prompt treatment necessary to 

 keep it so will require but little time and effort. 



No other creatures now attack the underground parts of alfalfa 

 with sufficient vigor to demand attention, althought moles and 

 spermophiles, particularly the latter, may become injurious later. 



Grasshoppers. Several species of grasshoppers 

 feed on alfalfa and do it at times notable injury. Fall 

 disking is recommended to destroy the egg masses 

 of the hoppers and this will perhaps be pretty effi- 

 cient so far as it goes, though no doubt millions of 

 eggs may be deposited along the margin of the fields 

 and along roadsides. For the hoppers that come in 

 spite 'of this disking the hopper-dozer is recom- 

 mended. Essentially a dozer consists of a shallow, 

 high-backed pan mounted on runners high enough 

 so that its bottom will scrape the tops of the alfalfa 



