Forest and Stream 
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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1910. 
i VOL. LXXV.— No. 4. 
No. 127 Franklin St. New York- 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1909, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer, 
127 Franklin Street. New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
ENEMIES TO THE TREES. 
The lamentations recently published from cor¬ 
respondents, whose growing orchards of young 
white pine trees have been injured by pine mice, 
voice complaints which are general among tree 
growers. 
Of the enemies of the forest found among 
mammals, no group can approach the rodents in 
destructiveness. On one of the forest reserves 
in Colorado there is just now great complaint 
of the porcupines which are destroying hundreds 
of trees. There is nothing particularly new 
about this. Porcupines have been feeding on 
the bark of pine, spruce and other trees ever 
since there have been porcupines. They are great 
tree climbers, and whenever the ground is cov¬ 
ered by heavy snows they take to the timber 
and eat the tender bark of the trees, often kill¬ 
ing them. The Biological Survey is said to have 
sent experts out to Colorado to see what can 
be done to destroy the porcupines. 
The problem should not be a difficult one. 
The porcupine can neither run nor fight nor 
hide. Reasonably well protected against natural 
enemies, he is at the mercy of a man with a 
club. Formerly porcupines were very abundant 
in the Yellowstone Park, but of late years, prob¬ 
ably owing to the great numbers of people there, 
they have become very scarce. 
Field mice, chipmunks and other rodents are 
interfering with the work of the Forest Service 
in other ways—by devouring the seeds of coni¬ 
ferous trees sown broadcast in the effort to re¬ 
forest barren areas. The rodents find and de¬ 
vour the seeds faster than they can be planted, 
and efforts to protect the pine seed by soaking 
it in poisoned fluid seem useless, because the 
covering of the seed to which the poison adheres 
is removed by the mice and squirrels before they 
eat the kernels. 
It is suggested that an area might be sowed 
with poisoned grain and the rodents thus killed 
off over that area, but an objection to this 
method is that much of this grain might be 
eaten by useful birds, which thus would be de¬ 
stroyed. Something of this sort has already 
happened, we are told, in the effort to poison 
prairie dogs in that same region. We should be 
inclined to recommend an importation of weasels. 
THE MARY DUTCHER FUND. 
It was a kindly thought that led some friends 
of William Dutcher, President of the National 
Association of Audubon Societies, to set on foot 
the establishment of a subscription fund, which 
should furnish additional means for the carrying 
forward of those activities which for twenty- 
five years have been so close to Mr. Dutcher’s 
heart. It was a tender tribute of their affection 
for the man which led them to name this me¬ 
morial fund for Mr. Dutcher’s beloved daughter. 
If the work of the Audubon Societies was 
first begun in part for sentimental reasons, it 
has at last come to be recognized as possessing 
the highest economic value. Whatever has been 
accomplished by these societies in the way of 
educating the public and teaching it to realize 
the importance of conserving native birds and 
mammals, and whatever has been done to secure 
legislation in behalf of such preservation, is 
chiefly due to the efforts of Mr. Dutcher. 
For many years, early and late, he has worked 
for this object. In the face of every discour¬ 
agement he has struggled forward, constantly 
communicating to others his own enthusiasm, 
constantly gaining new adherents for his cause. 
Obstacles put in his way, indifference of law 
makers, rebuffs and defeats have never caused 
him to relax his efforts. With the steadfast 
dogged determination of a man who knew he 
was right, he has pressed forward to do his 
work. If others have done what they could, yet 
William Dutcher has been the guiding force, the 
man who directed the battle. 
It is the men who possess this staying power 
that push forward the world toward better 
things. 
POISON IVY IN ENGLAND. 
No better illustration of the grave danger in¬ 
herent in the importation of noxious animals 
and plants could be found than the one told of 
the introduction into England of the American 
poison ivy. It is believed that it was originally 
introduced there by landscape architects because 
of the beautiful colors its leaves take on in 
autumn, but it has also obtained a foothold there 
through the ignorance or dishonesty of dealers, 
and by accident. 
Because the poison does not act at once, the 
source of the infection may not be suspected. 
Then, too, some persons are wholly or partly 
immune to ivy poisoning, while others are in¬ 
fected by it without actually coming in con¬ 
tact with the plant. In this way the source of 
the malady may not be suspected. In some cases 
the result has proved costly as well as trouble¬ 
some, and without relief. Drains have been torn 
up and plumbing renewed. Physicians have 
treated patients for various maladies, but not the 
real one, the victims meanwhile exposing them¬ 
selves again and again to the influence of the 
plant, and other members of their families de¬ 
veloping symptoms similar to their own as the 
poison developed. As a rule with us ivy poison¬ 
ing is merely an unpleasant and irritating malady 
that yields in the course of a few days to local 
treatment with various remedies. Yet as the 
poison affects different individuals differently, it 
sometimes proves a very serious annoyance, if 
not a real danger. 
It is a plant to be avoided at all seasons, and es¬ 
pecially in spring and summer. Persons suscepti¬ 
ble to its influence are often badly poisoned while 
making camp in a place strange to them and 
after nightfall, when the plant is likely to be 
handled in clearing a space for the tent, and at 
a time when haste is made and the body is moist 
and the pores open. 
Poison sumac is not so common as poison ivy 
in places most frequented by camping parties, 
and is if anything less to be feared, though it 
should be avoided at all times. Because of its 
similarity to the harmless species it is not so 
easy to identify it, hence its presence may not 
be noticed until too late. It is well, in any event, 
to bathe the face and hands immediately after 
pitching camp amid new surroundings at night, 
and to avoid at all times, when it is convenient 
to do so, the immediate vicinity of poison sumac 
or ivy. 
The drouth which has prevailed over much of 
the Western country since last spring has been 
followed by tremendous fires, which are even 
now raging in Michigan, Alberta, Montana and 
probably in many other portions of the Rocky 
Mountains. It is not long since the Canadian 
Government set aside great reservations in the 
Rocky Mountains for the special purpose of 
guarding against the forest fires, but the organi¬ 
zation of an efficient forestry force is slow and 
expensive, and as yet fires, which get started in 
the wild country, are likely to run their course 
and burn themselves out. Millions of dollars are 
lost by such fires which, under present condi¬ 
tions, seem impossible to control. The absolute im¬ 
portance of preventing all fires or of stopping 
them if they start grows more and more obvious 
as time goes on, and as lumber grows scarcer 
and more expensive. Certainly a day will come 
when these object lessons will have an effect, and 
the public will insist that legislators provide the 
money and officials provide and carry out plans 
which will result in the effective prevention of 
forest fires. 
* 
An important conference between representa¬ 
tives of the Colonial office and the British Mus¬ 
eum will be held during the present summer in 
London. Its purpose will be to promote con¬ 
certed action by European nations in the better 
protection of song and insectivorous birds, with 
special reference to rare species. 
