Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-09
DECLARE WAR ON
GOPHERS AS AID
TOSTATE CROPS
County Agent Estimates DAM
age Each Year by Prairie
Pests Runs Into Millions;
Planning Campaign.

Prairie pocket gophers caused a
damage of considerably more than
S2,000,000 to the crops of the state
of Nebraska alone during the last
year" according to Douglas County
Agricultural Agent Maxwell.
Throughout the state the county
agents are organizing the various
districts for a crusade against the
gophers, and now is the time to do
it. In Douglas county ! have or
ganized Union precinct for an in
tensive campaign against the goph-
ers, and with the aid of the farm
ers | am sure our efforts will be
crowned with success.
Poisoning is Advocated.
CAS- a general rule the most salts
factory method of destroying peck
ct gophers is to poison them. At
any rate, if a field of considerable
size is infested by these pests, the
exterminative measures should al
ways begin by poisoning opera
tons. While this poisoning may
be carried on with more or less sue
cess throughout the year, the best
times to do it are the early spring
or late fall. Spring poisoning
should begin just after the frost is
out of the ground, for the gophers
take the poisoned bats at that time
readily, and there are fewer of them
to kill than there will be later in
the season.
Because of its quick and certain
action, strychnine is the best pois-
on to use against the pocket goph-
ers. The department of agriculture
OF the University of Nebraska has
mixed solution of various poison
which it sells to the agents of the
various counties of the state at
cost These county agents, of
course, resell the poison solutions
at cost to the various farmers. This
solution is to be inserted in dried
fruit or vegetable bats, such as
parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots,
potatoes, sugar beets or apples, cut
in squares.
Owing to the fact that, as rule,
poisoning will not kill every gopher
in the field, it is a wise plan to
smooth down all of the mounds in
the field, especially if they are nu-
merous, by the use of harrow or
plank drag a few days after the
bait has been distributed Wherever
any mounds are rebuilt after the
distribution of poison it may safely
be assumed that living pocket
gophers are yet in the adjacent bur-
rows and reapplications are in or
der. ... ..-...
in distributing poisoned bats it
is necessary to place them in the
main burrow of the gopher, which
can easily be located by the use of
a probe of some sort. By probing
about on a line between two ada
cent mounds from which the soil
is being thrown out the main bur-
row is sure to be exposed. The
poisoned bait should then be intro
duced into the main burrow by the
hole made by the probe
While Douglas county pays
bounty of 10 cents for each gopher
killed, the farmers will not collect
very much on the poisoned gophers
as they die in the ground. Being
unable to get any green, the goph-
ers are very keen for the bait at
this time of the year.
Never before was the outlook !
for winter wheat any better than
this year. / expect at least SO per
cent of the total crop to develop. |
In the fall we will have another
'get-the-gopher' campaign, and this
campaign 1 hope to extend to a ter
ritory covering about one-half of |
the county"