108 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Jack rabbits are responsible for a large amount of destruction of 

 young conifer growth in the Rocky Mountains and Coast Range on 

 both sides of the line. The United States Biological Survey, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, is making strenuous efforts to reduce the pest by 

 poisoning and hunting campaigns. The same agency has an appropria- 

 tion of $125,000 for predatory animal control. The extermination of 

 seed-eating rodents on reforested areas and the conservation of bird 

 life under the Federal migratory-bird law also brings this bureau in 

 close relation to forestry. 



R. C. Hawley and S. J. Record report a new enemy to white pine, 

 namely ants, which girdle young plants, apparently to get rid of the 

 shade, especially in plantations. The phenomenon has been observed 

 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and 

 Pennsylvania. The trouble makes itself apparent by the yellowing of 

 the foliage, increasing until the tree dies and then the leaves turn 

 brown. Other species are also attacked, Scotch pine, juniper, aspen, 

 hickory, gray birch. As many as 40 trees of a group were killed in one 

 case, the damage appearing in circular areas of 10 and up to 25 feet 

 in diameter. Killing of the ants is, of course, the only remedy. 



Brush disposal has been made an integral part of logging contracts 

 on the 2,000,000 acres of Indian reserves in Ontario. In hardwood 

 forests merely lopping and scattering is practised ; in coniferous forests 

 piling and burning immediately follow logging operations. To com- 

 pensate for this expense the dues are reduced approximately 40 cents 

 per thousand feet. 



The National Lumber Manufacturers' Association publishes a pam- 

 phlet discussing the question how far the use of wood in construction 

 accounts for fire losses in the United States. An elaborate graphic 

 chart and table of statistics and arguments seem to show that the 

 apparently greater fire loss of the United States compared with 

 European fire losses is not due to wood construction but to difference 

 in valuation. By proper use of the data, it is claimed, "the ratio of the 

 number of fires to brick and stone construction was more than double 

 the ratio in the frame construction." 



An effective demonstration that goat meat is just as good eating as 

 mutton was recently made by Supervisor Bigelow, of the Tahoe 



