PROTECTION alive 
plete. In the Isle of Pines there is an extremely 
poisonous shrub or small tree called guao (Rhus me- 
topium), which causes large ugly blisters where it 
touches the skin. The Government should aid in the 
extermination of these dangerous weeds * as it does 
in the ease of noxious animals. 
Grasses are often extremely troublesome, espe- 
cially in the tropics, where they reach the size and 
height of trees (bamboos). In many districts there 
is a struggle between prairie and forest, and if aided 
by fire or other conditions unfavorable to forest- 
growth, the grasses of the former are usually vic- 
torious. 
* The State of Colorado paid out nearly $200,000 in an at- 
tempt to exterminate the well-known loco-weed (Astragalus 
mollissimus). 
