Io6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



abandoned in favour of that mode of destruction. The 

 procedure was to set ordinary steel rabbit traps in the bottom 

 of the underground runs, bhnding the traps with chopped grass, 

 and covering over with a sod the hole made in the roof of the 

 run to admit the trap. This served the double purpose of 

 excluding the light and marking the positions of the traps. Up 

 to August about forty voles were trapped, about half of them 

 being gravid females. In addition to these, the forester's 

 spaniel has killed several. 



The infested area, where the damage was detected, is a small 

 piece of haugh land lying between the burn on one side and a 

 steep brae with a terrace on the top. At first the catches were at 

 the rate of two or three each day ; gradually this rate decreased, 

 and at the date of writing (August), while there are still voles 

 in the plantation, they have been driven from their original 

 haunt in the haugh to the higher ground, and are not now easily 

 trapped. No damage to the plants has been done since the 

 end of May, Next year, should we experience a recurrence of 

 the attack, I intend trying bait treated with " Danysz Virus " 

 and set in their underground runs, in addition to harrying 

 them with traps. What I particularly wish to emphasise, 

 however, is not the trifling amount of damage done, but the 

 prompt and successful action of my colleague, which has 

 prevented what might have been a serious attack by these 

 destructive rodents. Fred Moon. 



An Irish Forestry Committee. 



The Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Technical Instruction for Ireland has appointed a committee to 

 inquire into and report upon certain matters relating to the im- 

 provement of forestry in Ireland. The committee consists of the 

 following members : — Mr Thomas Patrick Gill, secretary of the 

 Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ire- 

 land (chairman); Lord Castletown; Mr William Redmond, M.P.; 

 the Most Rev. Dennis Kelly, Lord Bishop of Ross, member of 

 the Agricultural Board ; Mr Hugh de Fellenburg Montgomery, 

 member of the Agricultural Board ; Mr William Frederick 

 Bailey, one of the Estates Commissioners ; Mr William Rogers 

 Fisher, M.A., delegate for instruction in forestry at the Univer- 



