Evening star., 1911-06-01
MENACE TO CROPS.
Ground Squirrels Pest to
Farmers IN California.
MILLIONS LOST EACH YEAR
Little Animals Also Feared a. Car.
riers Of Disease.
DANGEROUS TO HUMAN LIFE
Colonies Found in Every Section Of
the State, Burrowing Under
the Ground.
TO HUMAN LIFE
By WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM Z. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
MONTEREY, May 20. 1911.
| California farmers have always been
afflicted by ground squirrels. pretty little
rascals with long bushy tails. large ears
and intelligent faces which live In holes
in the ground like gophers. breed like rab-
bits and eat up wheat and other grain.
walnuts. prunes peaches and other fruits,
olives. figs. oranges and certain vegetables
and forage crops. destroy vineyards and
young orange groves and do other damage
to the amount OF about $40. 600 D year
in California alone.
They are particularly fond Of green al
monds and Of the pits Of green peaches
and apricots: they are particularly de-
structive Of apples, apd In certain places
in the foothills have been known to take
fully half the crop. They gnaw- on the
young shoots in the vineyards and kill
almond and orange trees by gnAwing at
They often raid storshouses and carry
or large quantities Of dry fruit; but the
principal money loss attributed to ground
squirrels results from their depfedAtions
on grain. They devour barley. wheat and
oats when the seed is first sown. They
dig up and carry away sprouting kernels;
they invade fields Of ripenfng grain and
feast upon them until harvest time. and
when 1t is cut and stacked they concen-
trate their forces for the attack, eating
all they can and lAboring tifelessly to
carry as much of the remainder as pos
sible to their underground storehouses for
winter use.
At a single stack OF barley at James
burg, Monterey county, 800 ground SPUR
rels were caught in traps in q few days
| and as many more poisoned. In another
place they climbed to the top OF q stack
and dragged down the grain until II
formed q windrow three feet high. While
operating in grain dlelds they work on 9
system, usually clearing OK the grain
| around the borders OF the field. cutting
| q swath forty or fifty feet In width, and
they work various parts Of the interior.
Described by Prof. Merriam.
Prof C. Hart Merriam. the famous BIZ
| ologist. who has made the ground squir-
rel the object Of thorough investigation,
has prepared a report for the Department
OF Agriculture, which is filled with star
Ting statements. He describes the dam
age they have done by burrowing into
the embankments OF irrigation .systems
in different parts OF California and says:
''The California ground squirrel because
of the extent of It's range. which covers
the greater part of the agricultural lands
Of the state. because OF the magnitude of
the losses 1t causes by eating grain, nuts,
fruit and other crops, and becatse OF It's
dangerous character as q carrier and dis.
seminator Of bubonic plague. is, Of all
species. the one Of greatest consequence
to man.
''The danger to human life by the spread
Of plague so far exceeds in Importance
crops that the duty Of checking its in
crease is no longer merely OF local In
terest, but has become q matter or ma
tional concern.
continues, "abounds along the ocean
shore from San Francisco southward; It
inhabits the open plains OF the great In
terror valleys OF California. the grassy
rocky walls OF canyons and IN places the
more open parts of the yellow pine fos-
est Of the mountains. It lives in under
ground burrows. which usually are
grouped in colonies.
.sThe colonies may be located on bare.
open plains. on the grassy slopes OF
foothills or about the roots OF trees
particularly the great valley oaks With
hollows in their trunks and limbs. The
burrows vary in number from q Few
to hundreds, and by the union OF con-
tinuous colonies sometimes reach q total
Of thousands and cover almost contin-
uously many hundreds OF acres. In places
they are SO near together as to 1atr1y
honeycomb the ground
well beaten paths. two and q half to
three inches broad. lead from burrow to
burrow and radiate to the adjacent feed
ing grounds. Many or them extend Tor
considerable distances and by intersect-
ing form a conspicuous network. The
earth brought up from each burrow is
deposited at its mouth to form q grad
ually enlarging hillock. and colonies on
the plain may be recognized at a distance
by the mounds