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 
