THE GROUND SQUIRRELS OP CALIFORNIA. 



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settlers had pushed westward with the coming of the railroad from 

 the plains area where species different from ours were indigenous; or 

 from eastern states where rodents of the ground squirrel and pocket 

 gopher type were Unknown. It was an entirely new problem for them ; 

 hence, it could well be expected that information was eagerly sought 

 and in many cases advice was profusely given though often not of an 

 altogether reliable nature. Startling statements were made as to the 

 fecundity of the ground squirrels. Many were quite certain that more 

 were being killed each year as a result of vigorous attacks of the 

 husbandmen than existed at any one time. Litters were born, accord- 

 ing to several observers, at least two or three times annually, for in 

 no other way could the great horde present at all times be accounted 

 for. That "squirrels bred like rats" was not at all an uncommon 

 expression, and it persisted until well into the twentieth century. An 

 early means of combatting the pest was to rely upon the efficacy of 

 merely plowing the land, presuming for the most part that the dis- 

 turbance of the soil surface would at least rid cultivated fields and 

 thereby preclude the possibility of damage to annual crops or to culti- 

 vated orchards. This proved to be no deliverance, for the stockgrower 

 whose acreages were beginning to be encroached upon by intensively 

 farmed tracts and whose herds met fences springing up on all sides 

 realized less feed for his stock, consequently the squirrel who knew 

 no fence did not hesitate to move. While the damage done to forage 

 crops of the range was perhaps not excessive, nevertheless the presence 

 of ground squirrels evoked comment as to the possibility of their 

 reducing range value. 



POSSIBLE VALUE OF SQUIRRELS. 



Then, as now, there were those who assured themselves that ground 

 squirrels could not be wholly without value; there must be something 

 for which they might be utilized. They were placed upon this earth 

 for a purpose. Why not as food — some of the more enterprising 

 asked, or could not the hides be turned into a useful commodity of 

 some sort or other? A period of a few months during 1873, as well 

 as later, brought a number of recipes for squirrel fricassee. Surely 

 the San Francisco market could furnish them to boarding and eating 

 houses at a more reasonable rate than rabbits could be supplied for. 

 The squirrels were vegetarians, ate seeds of the best type, namely, 

 wheat,- barley, oats, the forage plant and weed seeds, and from all 

 outward appearances led a cleanly existence. One farmer had em- 

 ployed Chinamen among whose duties during part of the season was 

 trapping ground squirrels, or drowning them, with the assistance of 

 a dog. The Chinaman tried the squirrel as a "piece de resistance " 

 with the astounding yet gratifying result, as far as the rancher was 

 concerned, that the spare hours of the Chinese boys were spent in 

 digging or trapping squirrels to appease the newly-created appetite. 

 They did not skin the beasts, but scalded them rather after the fashion 

 of a hog, ending the operating by scraping the hair off. An idea, a 

 grain-fed hog was palatable, why not a grain-fed squirrel? Roasted 

 young squirrel came to be quite a delicacy among the Chinese of San 



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