Juiiiorial lYoles. 313 



wiW, v>c bL'iieve, pvuve elVectual ; but avc fail to sa; why lUc Act 

 should stop at the expected iiivasion of the Colorado Lcetle, when 

 our crops are already being devoured by iuscct pests which are quite 

 as injurious in their own way, probably even to a greater extent 

 than ever the Colorado pest will be in this country, and for which we 

 have no legal power to enforce their destruction if our neighbour 

 chooses to harbour them, either through ignorance, neglect, or some 

 ])erverse, nonsensical wdiim of his own. Against all such noxious 

 insects the law should declare a war of extermination, and enforce it 

 by every practicable and lawful means available. The amount of the 

 earth's produce which would thus be saved from destruction for the 

 use of the nation A\'ould far more than cover the cost attending the 

 supervision of the destructive insects of the country by a properly 

 equipped staff of officials. Until some such powerful means are 

 taken under proper legal authority to rid the country of insect pests, 

 the crops of the careful and industrious members of the community 

 must suffer seriously from the injury inflicted upon them by the 

 insects which are permitted to exist and multiply on those of their 

 careless or ignorant neighbours. Education of the masses will in 

 time give the people more correct notions upon this matter, as well 

 as upon many other common affairs of every-day life, but it is not so 

 much for the ignorant as for the wilfully perverse and careless that 

 laws require to be made. 



The seventeenth annual report of Mr. Juland Danvers, Government 

 director of the Indian Eailway Companies, has just been presented 

 to Parliament, and we gather from it some points of interest for 

 arboriculturists. lie points out very forcibly the great danger in a 

 national aspect arising from the consumption of wood as fuel for the 

 different lines, and the shameful waste thereby entailed, as well as 

 the serious consequences Avhich may befall our whole Indian Empire 

 if, with the future extension of the various networks of railways in 

 the East, the present system of using wood for fuel should become 

 more widespread, which, Avith such a contingency, is most likely to 

 occur. It is hoped that some arrangement may be made by which 

 the cost of bringing the coal by sea from Calcutta to Madras may be 

 reduced. The difficulty of procuring wood is becoming greater every 

 year, and the use of it is open to many objections. The frequently re- 

 curring famines which Nve are so sadly accustomed to hear of in India, 

 and the scarcity which is now threatening with starvation the millions 

 of the Madras Presidency, are due to a drought which is in great 

 nueasure attributable to the diminution of the forests which once 

 covered the country. When we hear of the vast plains stretching as 



