The times-herald. [volume] (Burns, Harney County, Or.) 1896-1929, 1920-08-21


OF passages under u field OF several
ecres. Here and thore along the tun-
nels he comes TO the surface to throw
out loose soil. thus making mounds
all over the. field. Othorwise they
almost never show themselves.
have many times found on rolling
up my blankets IN the morning, that
u gopher has tunneled under me
while slcpt.
Forage AZ Night
A curious little animal with long
tail aud long hind legs and known AZ
the kangaroo rat has In recent years
become scourge In the Southwest.
They dig up and eat or carry away
all kinds OF seed as fast as you can
plant them. Vegetable gardening is
quite impossible when kangaroo rats
are numerous. Burrows have beon
found with several bushels OF seed
stored away for winter use.
In this rogucs' gallery OF rodents
I mus, also reserve u place for the
Jack rabbit. Five OF these rabbits
viii eat as much as a sheep and do II
oftener. They do not burrow. but
make their nests In the grass under
weeds or low brush. They eat any
thing green or succuIcnt. including
alfalfa. grain. garden vegetnbich.
grapoylnes and young fruit trees.
The Jack rabbit ats In the shade OF
sagebrush by day and eats oil night
long. Just ~ dusk you see them be-
gin their active foraging and YOU
wonder where such an army ~ them
could have been concealed during the
day.
hut perhaps someone inquiries how
big this rodent problem IN. Well,
II you should read the annual report
OF the county agents for 1919 YOU
would conclude that u IN one Of the
biggest agricultural problems vest oi
Tooth degree l.. for u In treated In
detail IN the report on almost every
county OF the Western States. II be-
came necessary for the Bureau of
Biological Survey To make rodent .N-
one Of It's major projects.
TO this end cooperative agreements
were reached with the agricultural
reryic" In all the Western
states except Texas and Oklahoma.
In Nevada the work was assigned Ia
the state rabies commission and In
California 10 the horticultural com
but both these bodies cooper
ate with the extension service. with
the help of the state relations ser
Vice.
The work OF cxterminatIon began
nrst in the states worst affected.
Kansas Ia 1901 passed "A law provid-
ng for tie destruction OF prairie dogs
aud gophers II was estimated ai
that time that dog towns covered
2 900 900 acres in the state. 4 sim
Ilar law was placed on the statute
books OF Nebraska In 1902. The
Increasing damage from
rodents soon forced some concerted
,ction toward their extermination In !
III the states west OF Tooth degree l.. I
In this. as In all movements re- :
,uiring cooperative action. the first .
.,ep was IRON individual initiative.
farmers. In seifdefense, tried VARIOUS |,
Methods OF saving their crops from Y
They studied the habits
Il prairie dogs and Eophers TO learn
ow they might be attacked most sue
Farmers gave their young
ons q small bounty for prairie dogs
nd ground squirrels. Tho boys he
anne expert marksmen. In many
Asses the boy brought In scaips In
uch numbers as to make the farm
r wonder where the bounty money
ouid be found. Hut the pests still
ncreased in numbers. Two seemed
D spring up for each one that was
hot. Traps were tried and other
inds Of homemade contrivances.
'umigation by various methods was
tempted. In these experiments the
armers made use OF sulphur fumes.
ydrocyanic-acid gas and carbon be-
ulphide. Thousands of squirrels