COMMUNICATIONS 



"3. 



nut grove near Charlottesville. V^a. It 

 was applied about four years ago, just 

 after the excessively rainy spell that 

 summer. The treatment consisted : 

 first, in baring some of the roots of the 

 trees ; second, in spraying the foliage 

 with what I believe was "Bordeaux 

 Mixture;" and, third, ih heavy doses of 

 calomel, deposited in auger holes bored 

 tlirough the bark into the boles for sev- 

 eral inches. 



Last summer I observed that some of 

 the trees had died ; some were suspi- 

 ciously "stag sappino-," and some were 

 thrifty. If the slap-dash treatment 

 mentioned was helpful it probably was 

 through the mercury used. The treat- 

 ment was resorted to after the Agricul- 

 tural Department of the United States 

 had stated to me their lack of remedial 

 knowledge in the case. 



DeCourcy W. Thom. 



Baltimore, Md. 



«r' Jfe' )^ 



Cats and Birds 



Editor Conservation : 



In an article written for the maga- 

 zine. Conservation, on the subject of 

 birds, their many enemies, and the great 

 importance of their conservation as in- 

 sect destroyers, cats were mentioned as 

 being among their most active enemies. 

 This may be true in some instances, but 

 if not "cats,'" how soon would the 

 rodents multiply and make the life of 

 the birds intolerable by their maraud- 

 ing instincts? 



One person who loves the birds, who 

 has had bird houses built for them 

 among the trees of the orchard and 

 lawn and who takes pains to scatter 

 crumbs in convenient places, has no 

 fear of losing her pets by the devour- 

 ing instincts of the cat. 



When the winter months are over 

 and gone, this bird lover immediately 

 makes provision for these feline mem- 



bers of the household, keeping them in 

 partial durance while the nesting sea- 

 son is in progress. At first it was 

 rather difiicult, for there is no creature 

 less willing to be restrained than the cat, 

 and yet she submits to the inevitable 

 with a good grace if she knows that the 

 restraint is not to be continuous. 



From the laundry-room of the old- 

 fashioned house, which had several 

 sunny but low windows, the cats, two 

 in number, had been in the habit of 

 leaving their dormitory for the garden 

 in the morning hours by means of one 

 of these windows which was left open 

 for their convenience. One morning, 

 however, they found that the space 

 about the window was covered with 

 wire, and a runway leading from this 

 along the foundation of the house for 

 about ten feet was also covered, but 

 in this space was a carpet of leaves and 

 straw. At first there was the usual be- 

 moaning of their fate and vigorous 

 efiforts made to be released, but the 

 household was deaf to their entreaties 

 until a certain time in the day when they 

 could be watched in their garden gam- 

 bols and scolded if they even looked at 

 a bird with longing eyes. 



It was but a little while before 

 they grew perfectly contented with the 

 arrangement of the sun-parlor, often 

 lying asleep in one another's arms in 

 their contentment, while the birds built 

 their nests all about the garden and 

 sang in the trees without the slightest 

 molestation. 



These well-disciplined cats even 

 seemed to seek this sun-parlor after 

 awhile as a place of safety. Here they 

 could sleep unmolested and not with 

 one eye open to watch for dogs or bad 

 boys, and all the birds seemed to know 

 that here was a veritable bird paradise, 

 where no enemy would be allowed to 

 interfere with their enjoyment. 



Jeanie Oliver Smith. 



Johnstown, N. Y. 



