Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-09-27
THE GOPHER.
An Unmitigated Nuisance and Pest in the
Farmers Fields.

Quite an Interesting animal is the GO
pher He is interesting in one way as an
| unmitigated nest in the farmers domains,
against whom war of determination has
long been carried on without avail, and in
another as being something else besides
his own true self in different parts of the
country. In some sections of the South a
big land tortoise is called gopher"
while in other directions about the CONT
nent the name is attached to the hamster,
the prairie dog, the prairie squirrel, the
chipmunk and several more similar vari-
cites of rodent life.
The genuine, dyed-in-the wool gopher
belongs to the genus Typermephitas, the
name gopher coming from the French
gdutre (honeycomb), and was given to those
little borrowers which honeycombed the
prairies. Its common name in the Western
States is the prairie squirrel, coming un-
der Brandts sub-genus OtOspermophilus.
Rafnesque's prairie dog (Cynomys Ludo-
cictdnus) is the intermediate between the
marmot and the prairie squirrel 1t is
about thirteen inches long, and most
abundant on the plains west of the Mis-
souri, river, extending as far north as the
limits of the United States, and south as
far as latitude 80 north 1t is confined to
the prairies, and feeds on plants and in
sects; of course it bears no external re-
semblance to the dog, but was so named
from the sharp tone of its chatter, some
what resembling the yelp of a small dog.
1t is the petit CHEN of the French Cana
dams, and the wishtonwish of the West
ern Indians Burrowing owls and rattle
snakes have shares in the prairie dogs
quarters.
The largest of the gopher species is the
California gopher (T. Builigorus). 1t has
proved such a destructive pest to farmers
and horticulturists that it is baited, poi
soned and trapped on all possible occasions.
Phosphorus and strychnine have proved
the most successful.
The pouched gopher is, OF all, the farm
ers' worst neighbor where the soil is of
sandy nature The little fellows throw up
the earth in little mounds by means of the
back and shoulders, feeding on grasses,
roots, etc, which they carry to their holes
IN their pouches. Like other members Of
the tribe, they are most injurious to vege-
taIion by eating the roots of trees, shrubs,
grasses and vegetables. The young are
born in May, from FIVE to eight at birth
The striped gopher is also well known
by farmers 1t resembles to great extent
the chipmunk.
As a providential fellow the gopher
takes a front place. "While the sun is
shining make hay" is indelibly stamped
on the palimpset Of its instructive braius.
August and September are its harvest
months, and innumerable are its quick and
stealthy trips to the corn field. So provi-
dent is the prairie gopher that it is moth
ing unusual to find from one to three
pints of grain in storehouses in May
more than enough to last till the following
August.
One cause that will lead him to commit
widespread devastation is drought He
needs water early and often, and when I'M
able to procure moistenened grasses it will
| travel several miles to attack green fields
of wheat The base of the stalk is nib
bled and sucked, and in this manner
| thousands of acres Of promising fields are
destroyed by the destructive pests. Young
potatoes. too, are prime favorites with the
genus Spermophiius They are tidbits
| during dry July. A Canadian farmer
relates that during the early part of this
summers dry spell he has stood in his
barn door at daybreak and counted over
| fifty burrowing in the hills of his growing
potatoes, eating the young and tender roots.
And by walking through the garden scores
would break away and run for their holes
elsewhere.
When vegetables, grains, fruits, etc, can
not be had the gopher will devour kitchen
scraps, insects, feathers, snail b;1Is and