COMMON MAMMALS OF WESTERN MONTANA. 



37 



INJURY TO CROPS. 



Gophers on a ranch are certain to be a more or less serious nuisance, 

 for they injure irrigation systems, kill fruit trees, damage lnvyfields, 

 and attack potatoes and other garden truck. 



In many localities their most serious depredations are in young 

 orchards, where they eat ofi the roots of trees just below the surface 



Fig. 29. — Pocket gopher with pouches turned inside out. 



of the ground. (Fig. 31.) This damage is done mainly during the 

 winter months, when green food is scarce, and often the first indica- 

 tion of the gophers' work is the toppling of the trees when the 

 ground thaws in the spring. Apple, pear, and cherry trees are all 

 attacked. A rancher on Lo Lo Creek, where pocket gophers are 

 abundant, reports that in one. winter they killed GO out of 80 three- 



Pig. 30. Double line of gopher hills. The dotted lines indicate position of main tunnel. 



year-old pear and cherry trees planted the previous spring, and that 

 they have since destroyed most of the remaining trees. 



Although the gophers in hayfields live on roots of plants, the 

 greatest damage is usually caused by the mounds which they throw up. 

 (Fig. 32.) Single mounds sometimes cover a square yard or more of 

 surface, and often whole fields are dotted with them. "When the hay 

 is being cut these mounds constantly interfere with the mower and 

 by prevent ing close mowing cause the loss of much hay. 



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