5o 



Rats in France. 



[APRIL, 



being to improve forests by the diffusion of information and 

 knowledge, by rendering assistance, and by supplying seeds, &c; 

 also to exercise supervision and ensure the due observance of 

 the laws. The funds for the maintenance of these Boards are 

 provided from Customs duties collected upon the exportation of 

 timber. 



The rates of export duty will be as follows : — Round, hewn, 

 sawn or planed timber, and staves, i jd. per cubic metre (or fd. 

 if split or corded, for fuel). 



Wood pulp, dry, chemically prepared, 6f d. per ton ; mechani- 

 cally prepared, 4d. per ton. Wet wood pulp, half these rates. 



These duties will come into force on 1st January, 1905. 



The Departments of Charente, Charente-Inferieure, Vendee, 

 Deux Sevres, Vienne, Cher, Marne and Calvados, have suffered 



severely from a plague of rats, voles and 

 RatS in France, field mice, while the loss to the whole 



country from this cause has been estimated 

 at 200 million francs (£8,000,000) per annum. Local efforts 

 having proved insufficient, the French Government instituted 

 a series of experiments, with the aid of the Pasteur Institute, 

 and have now succeeded in making a poison, known by the 

 name of the discoverer, Dr. Danysz, which, it is claimed, is 

 fatal to rats and voles, but not injurious to mankind or 

 domestic animals. The ccst of application is estimated at 

 4 francs 50 centimes per hectare (about is. 6d. per acre) exclu- 

 sive of labour, which is expected to cost about 5 to 7 francs per 

 hectare (is. 8d. to 2s. 3d. per acre) more, according to the local 

 rate of pay. With the object of encouraging the use oi this 

 method of destroying the pest, the French Government have 

 voted the sum of 350,000 francs (£14,000), which is calculated 

 to be a third of the amount necessary for treating the infested 

 districts. 



