The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-09-09
THE GOPHER.
An Unmitigated Nuisance That Canno
Be Easily Eradicated.

An Unmitigated Nuisance That Cannot
Be Easily Eradicatsd.
St. Louis Globe Democrat
Quite an interesting animal is the CO.
pher. He is interesting in one way as an
unmitigated pest in a farmers domains,
against whom the 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
big land tortoise is called gopher" while
in other directions about the continent the
name is attached to the hamster, the prai-
RE dog, the prairie squirrel, the chipmunk
and several III ore similar varieties OF ro-
dent life.
The genuine dyed-in-the-wool gopher be-
longs to the genus Typermophilus, the
name gopher" coming from the French
gaufre honeycomb, and was given to those
little borrowers which honeycombed the
prairies. Its common name in the West
ern States is the prairie squirrel, coming
under Brandt's sub-genus, o tospermoph-
illus.
Rafinesque's prairie dog (Cynomys Ludo-
victanus) IS intermediate between the mar
mot and the prairie squirrel. 1t is about
thirteen inches long, and most abundant
on the plains west of the Missouri river,
extending as far north as the limits of the
United States, and south as far as latitude
30 N. 1t is confined to the prairies, and
feeds on plants and insects: of course il
bears no external resemblance to the dog,
but was so named from the sharp tone of
its chatter somewhat resembling the yelp
of q small dog. 1t is the petit CHEN of the
French Canadians, and the WISCONSIN of
the Western Indians. Burrowing owls and
rattlesnakes have shares in the prairie
dogs quarters.
The largest of the gopher species is the
California gopher Ct. Bullivorous). 1t has
proved such destructive pest to farmers
and horticulturists that il is baited, trapped
and poisoned on all possible occasions.
Phosphorus ana strychine have proved the
most successful.
The pouched gopher is, of all, the FARM
ers' worst neighbor where the soil is of a
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 vegeta-
ton 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 providential fellow the gopher takes
a front place. while the sun is shining
make hay is indelibly traced on the
palimpsest of its instructive brains. August
and September are its harvest months, and
innumerabe are its quick and stealthy trips
to the cornfield. So provident is the prairie
gopher that it is nothing unusual to find
from one to three pints of grain in store
houses in May-more than enough to last
till the following August.
One cause that will lead him to commit
widespread devastation is drouth. He
needs water early and often, and when I'M
able to procure moistened grasses it will