FOR BROADCAST USE OITLY 



AITITOUIICSIjENT t Now for another trip into the v/oods ^7ith Uncle Sam' s 

 naturalists of the United States Department of Agriculture. Our 

 ITildsman vrill lead us into the v/oods to ^et us out of the woods in some 

 of our thinking aliout the woods -"ITell, Mr. TTildsman? 



i(ii(ii4ii|iitc)ti 



Dr» 17. B. Bell, of the United States Biological Survey, lias "been 

 telling me a'Dout the plans for finding out ;aore about how one kind of 

 wild life affects another, or other, kinds. Hov/ plant life ai'fects animal 

 life, and how animal life affects plant growth. 



Of course, you laiow that rhat we call the woods — ncaaing the trees, 

 and the grass, and the leaves, and the insects, and the birds, and the 

 animals, and all the other forms of forest life — make a mighty complicated 

 suhject. Most of us go to the forest, the field, or other haunts of wild 

 life looking for one thing, noticing maybe a few others, and forming some 

 vague general idea of it all* For instance, if we are hunting quail or 

 rabbits, we are interested in finding out about their haunts and habits, 

 but we are not apt to be so observant of other wild life. You Iciow, you 

 see what you look for. 



Ho one man can Iciow all of nature in all its relationships. Naturalist! 

 liave been forced to specialize, \71ien they have found their forest pet, as 

 it were, being endangered by an overabundance of some other form of animal 

 or plant life, they have thought of ways to control the de spoilers. But 

 the matter is not so simple as that. 



For inst;\nce. Dr. Bell v^as telling me about the case of ruffed 

 grouse, or pheasants. Grouse mal-ce mighty good eating. They are one of 

 our best game birds, but, as you may know, they have proved to be quite 

 a puzzle. Protected from hunters, they sometimes flourish like the 

 proverbial green bay tree; they increase in numbers. Then suddenly they 

 are gone ■ ■ ■■ almost coirpletely swept away over vast areas. Bacterial 

 and parasitic diseases Iiave been blamed for killing them off by the 

 thousand. This raises many questions regarding the effect of weather 

 conditions on life cycles and on rabbits or other animals that may harbor 

 the agencies that cause the diseases in ^rouae» 



Chipraunlcs and squirrels ".iarvest seed crops from trees.. TT.iat 

 effect does this habit have? Is it good or bad? Some of the seed they 

 put in the groTind may sprout, but if they eat all the crop what is the 

 forest to do for trees? Our foresters often find it necessary to seek out 

 the seed stores of rodents in order to gat seed to plant. 



