THE GOPHER AND HIS TRAPPER. 
By LinnagEus ROBERTS. 
How many readers of NATURE'S REALM, | 
-~wonder, are acquainted with the gopher? Not 
the little ground squirrel found in some of the 
Northwestern States, nor the land tortoise of 
the South, which both answer to the name. 
‘This fellow is the pouched rodent, whose hav- 
-ocs in Iowa, Missouri and other States along 
the Mississippi River have annoyed farmers 
more than all other nuisances combined. 
His book name is Geomys bursarias, but | 
very much doubt if the boy who traps him 
could recognize him by such a classic title, and 
it is certain that Mr. Gopher himself would 
never come at the call. At home he is just 
plain gopher. 
A full-grown gopher is about the size of a 
large rat. The body is covered with a fine 
reddish fur. It tapers from the heavy shoul- 
‘ders back to the root of the tail. The fore feet, 
‘road and spade-like, and armed with immense 
claws, seem altogether out of proportion to the 
other parts of the body. But when the amount 
of work they are expected to do is taken into 
consideration, they seem wisely adapted to 
their owner's needs. 
The two pockets, one on each side of the 
neck, are the most distinctive feature of this 
little animal. These are two inches deep and 
an inch in diameter. It is generally supposed 
that they are receptacles for food, although 
knowing ones assert that they are also used for 
carrying loose earth out of the burrow. How- 
ever authorities may disagree as to their uses, 
it is certain that no gopher was ever seen with 
his hands in his pockets. 
Unlike the mole, which makes its tunnel by 
pushing the ground up into a ridge, the gopher 
operates from six to ten inches under ground, 
and, as a matter of course, must remove every 
particle ot loosened earth to the surface to get 
it out of the way. Every few yards an opening 
is made, and the earth is deposited in mounds 
on top of the ground. 
The gopher is a rodent of the worst type. 
No matter what impediment is met in his pro- 
cess of tunnel making, he never digs around it, 
fortunate. 
if gnawing through is at all within the realm 
of the possible. There is always an unmis- 
takable connection between a dying fruit tree 
and the cluster of loose earth mounds in close 
proximity. If the line of travel happens to be 
along a hedge, the living fence tor yards to- 
gether shares the fate of the tree. 
The garden is a perfect paradise for this little 
marauder. The potato and onion patch, the 
flower bed and the well-kept walk are com- 
panions in misery. One gopher let alone in a 
potato field has been known to destroy two 
bushels of vegetables in 4 summer. 
Lawns are disfigured with the fresh earth 
heaps which mark the progress of the industri- 
“ worker; and these miniature mounds in a 
sadow become real obstacles in the path of 
the mower, clogging the machine, dulling the 
knives, and provoking the driver to profanity. 
If by chance the gopher opens his tunnel to 
the surface of the ground on the spot occupied 
by a shock of wheat or of corn, he is indeed 
Here he can work in darkness and 
have the means of subsistence athand. I have 
found many a shock of corn with the lower 
part comipletely imbedded in gopher mounds, 
and every ear within reach of the thief gnawed 
oft close to the top of the pile of loose earth. 
So troublesome did the gopher become in 
Iowa, a quarter of a century ago, that system- 
atic efforts were made to exterminate the pest. 
In most counties a bounty of fifteen cents per 
head was offered out of the public treasury, 
and the well-to-do farmers gave ten cents in 
addition for every gopher caught on their own 
premises. 
The scalp—a triangular piece of skin includ- 
ing the ears and eyes, and running down to a 
point at the nose—was produced as evidence 
that a gopher had been caught. In some parts 
of the State only the tail was shown, but this 
was sometimes unsatisfactory proof of the de- 
struction of the animal, as the followlng inci- 
dent will show. 
A certain close-fisted farmer refused to pay 
the extra pittance for the great service which 
