The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-04-06
1S49.

! Il must be Acknowledged that the
farming Industry in yarious sections
Of the country is not aourishtng IS 1t
should. In many States farming 10
longer pays aad agriculture :aEgusshes.
Many reasons have teen assigned tor
this, such as the development Of the
country, the Introduction Of new indus
tries TIC i1nproreD' els IN tra1sporta-
!l1ns and freight e. c;::ties and conpe-
tition Of foreign countries. But above
and beyond all these causes, We be-
:ieve, :3ust Dc paced the con serVatsAD
OF the farmer, who fails to make use OF
the knowledge which the Department
Of Agriculture deals out to him by the
CARLOAD. We acknowledge the receipt
from the Department Of Agriculture of
very valuable work on ''Gophers,
handsome uncut octave, 326 pages. IL.
lustrated, from the able pen Of Profess
sor G. Hart Merriam. Now. almost
every farmer knows something, in a
general way, about gophers, but how
much it would tighten his farm labors
# he knew the subject thoroughly.
Why be content to call a gopher a 60
pher when a beneficent government
has hired dozen experts and expended
thousands Of dollars to teach the farmer
that wha: he in his ignorance has called
a gopher in reality is the geomys per-
sonatus fallax? Professor Merriam has
prepared a set of elaborate colored
maps and plates showing the construc-
ton Of the skull of the geomys. These
plates show the vomer and mesetil-
mold, the anterior palatine foramen,
incisive foramen, meatus auditorluS
internus, fioccular fossa. upper part Of
sphenoidal fisSure, alisphenoid, basioc-
cipital, basisphenoid, condyle Of exocci-
pital, frontal hamular process Of ptery-
gold, interparietal, mesethmoid plate,
maxillo-turbinal, maXilla, nasal, naso-
turbinal, lower part Of periotic capsule,
ralatine, premaxilla, presphenoid,
pterygoid, supraoccipital, squamosal,
tympanic bulla, yomrine sheath Of
n.aSilla, and first endoturbina. No
farmer who studies these plates care
fully can help but be better man.
But the body of the work is equally
valuable. In language so simple that
any farmer boy ought to understand it
the distinguishing marks and charac-
teristics Of the gopher are pointed out
and classified. If the directions Of
I'rof Merriam are followed it is very
easy to tell a gopher from a COW or
horse. The Professor explains how to
Identify the gopher unmistakably. He
says: "The single bones forming the
baSicranial axis are early ankylosed
with the adjoining paired bones of the
same seSments. Thus the presphe-
mold is inseparably united with the or
bitosphenoitts; the basisphenoid with
the alisphenoids and pterygoids; the
Easioccipital with the exoccipitals. The
union Of the lateral with the median
elements Of the sphenoidal segments
occurs before birth; that Of the occip-
ita1 segment later. The exocipitals
are always distinct in early life, but
soon become ankyloSed with the basioc-
cipital below and the supraoccipital
above. The latter, except in few
species, is inseparable from the inter
parietal. The parietals in adult life
ere commonly ankylosed with the
squamosals" We believe this ought
to prove entirely satisfactory. No
farmer can consistently ask for more
gopher knowledge than is contained in
this treatise. Henceforth If he can't
tell d gopher when he sees one it will bs
his own fault. --. Z.