' cunning, these scoundrels

EYEMBER 6. 1155.7

{HT

T"? (HARE-WE. TQWN

‘r CONSER v.4 TION

A WEEKLY COLUMN OI? PRACTICAL OPIN] VITAL ISSUES AFFECTING TIE USE;

Naruasr. ansouadris uarrsnrrsm.

0N8 0N TH! AND ABUSIS OI’ BY III. LUDDOW JENKINS,

IIII UIDW A! A "VILL_AIN”' By ILLSWORTH D. LUMLEY

ups-fated with permission of Na- ture Magazine

The crow has been so widely publicised during the past three W“; that the mere mention of the bird brings to the mind of many listeners a. picture of a black demon, a destroyer of all song and gum; birds, a very devil who has increased so prodigiously during me past few years that he not only blights his former territory, but has invaded ‘and ruined the vast breeding grounds in the far north.

Before 1833. relatively littie was aaid or written about the crow. He was shot whenever the opportunity was given. but most ‘men would not waste shells on him. The bird was looked upon as a nuisance but not as a. menace. Few if any major articles appeared in maga- zines citing the cow as a cause for the decline in our wildlife. An investigation of the crow and its habits, made the Biological Survey in 1920, indicated that the bird was of neutral economic value, for it did about as much good as harm. When, in April 193i, leading sportsmen and compervaticnists from all over the nation testified on Migratory Waterfowl Shortage before Committee on Conservation of Wild Life Resouces oi the United States senate, the crow was scarcely mentioned. All sportsmen and sporting organizations were agreed that the shortage of water- fowl resulted from drought, drain- age, and the advancement of civilization. In fact, no predators were emphasized as a cause for the shortage oi waterfowl.

Yet on December 29, i932. just nine months after the hearing in Washington, D. C», there was is- sued a form letter from the of- fices of Field and Stream stating in . "If you have been fol- lo g the reports from Canada you know that practically everyone competent to Judge is convinced that the greatest destroyer of North American wildfowl is the crow. Canadian authorities are emphatic in their opinion that our duck shortage of the present day is clue more to crows than to droights and drainage put fo- gether." This letter causes one to ask: Who were the Canadairi au- thorities who made this startling discovery? When did they first notice this great damage being done by the crow? Why had they riot hinted at their findings at the Senate Hearing just nine months before? Why were these facts not presented to and acted upon by the Cansdain and United States Gov- ernments? The answer to these questions is not hard to find. Dur- ing 1930-31-32. seasons has been shortened and bag limits reduced. Fewer men had gone into the field to shoot and those who did hunt shot less. Consequently less ammunition was sold and less ad- vertising was done in sporting magazines. It was necessary for ammunition companies and sport- ing magazines to get men into the field to shoot at all seasons of the

'2. Margaret Craswell; Younker.

mlMPlted bl’ the originators oi this form of conservation is in- dicated by more recent articles ap- Pwlfle in sporting magazines. Dynamiting the crows by the thousands and indiscriminate poisoning were not IDfSeen. Such killing,- were not only rapid but done with little expense. The ob- ljezttive of selling ammunition was os .

Two methods to put crow kifl- Ing 119°“ 9- shwtillii basis are now being used. One method Ls in make 570W shooting a sport. 5o we read:

I shoot crows, plenty 0f them; but I shoot crows for sport; -—I think a good day's crow shooting is just about as much fun as a 800d day's duck-shooting; "Be- cau-_e why? Well. first because it's And second because it's good con- Ml sport; 800d Whig-shooting. servation; "To anyone who hunts Same birds, crow hunting offers a challenge to his sportsmanship as well as to his skill with gun and call." And more. and more,

The second method is to con- vince people that the crow is an edible bird. And so we hear of crow dinners being served in Tulsa. De- catur, Wichita, and other cities. Certainly the sportsmen won't dynamite or poison the crows they serve on their own tables.

While it is admitted by all that crows do damage to song and game birds. many people object to the widespread crow propaganda that today is flooding the country- Such propaganda is reminiscent of the war days, when as a nation we aided the ammunition companies in amassing vast fortunes by be- lieving the many reports of enemy atrocities.

The. Biological Survey has re- ceived rather sharp criticism from t-he sporting fraternity for not ‘giv- ing financial and moral aid to crow hunts. 'I'.hese Federal of- ficers have refused to believe the reports on crow damage and, with the aid of their field men, have attempted to get a. trug and ac- curate picture of the relationship between crows and waterfowl. While these reports indicate that damagQ is done by crows, the gov- eminent field men have not found such excessive damage as would warrant nationwide wholesale skiughter of the birds.

If the time. money and energy expended in crow killing cam- paigns were spent in projcts based upon the findings of science and research. real conservation would be accomplished. It will be neces- sary for men to think, reason and abide by the findingsof wildlife authorities, rather than to accept as true the propaganda spread by selfish concerns lf wildlife’ con- servation is to advance.

..._..__.________ NORTH WINSLOE SCHOOL

The following is the report of North Winsloe School for the month of October; - Grade IX-l. Laurette. smith; 3. Alton

Grade VIII-l. Marlon Ford; 2. Veda Roberts; 3. Eunice Cudmore. Grade V-i. Vera Nunn; 2. Rena.

year if profits were to be made. 32%;: 3' c“th°““° Mu‘ Th’ m" W“ pkked “s ' mm“ Grade l m sin-i. Charlotte

villian upon which to wage year- round war. With the beginning of 1833, major articles began to ap- ilos-r in sporting magazines and up to the present time there has been a let-down. As in the case of all wars, facts are distorted and pro- psganda in ruthlessly spread a- gainst the enemy. who in his right senses can believe such statements as the following? "Our duck shortage of the present day is due more to crows than to drought and drainage put to- gether; "The crow is the duckfls worst enemy; "Wise. crafty and (crows) hlVg taken a far greater toll of our same birds than all the guns in the land; "The crow destroys more ducks than the combined hunters of Canada and the United States; "They (crows) flock into the nesting areas of the North like great black clouds, seek out nests of the Wildfowl, and fatten Drodigiously on duck eggs.

That such propaganda has achieved its purpose is shown by the many crow hunts and crow contests .ield throughout the country Every killing device that would get the crow has been used. Types of decoys. blinds. calls guns, and am- linmunition best suited to get crows have been given wide pub- licity. Pictures, both motion and "Ill. of crow hunters and their kill have been spread over the na- tion. To oppose these killing "miiaigns almost has been trea- lon and such a person is regarded ls a traitor of the cause of con- iervatlon.

That the sportsmen took this "conservation war" too seriously

Robert Murphy; 8. Lennan.

Adams, Graham. Allison Mclennan. Vera

Adams,

Moreside; 2. Heath Craswell. Grade III Jr.—1. Lois Oraswell;

2. Lea Roberts.

Grade II 5r.—l. Ralph Shaw.

Grade II Jr.—1. Grant Isis-d; 2. Donald MacNaughton.

Those hav‘ ,, perfect attendance are: Marion Ford. Laurette. Smith and Vera Nunn.

ESTHER C. HARPER, Teacher- (Pstriot Please Copy)

s/na vinw scuoon

Honor roll of Bea View School: Grade X-l. Arnold iiiltz. Grade IX-l. Henry Meek; 2. Florena Adams; 3. Evelyn Don- ald- Grade VIII-i. Doris Blakeney; 2. Stewart Adams. Grade VII-l. Violet Bassett; 2. Ruby Adams. Grade VI—1. Velda Duggan; 2. Orville Adams; 3. John Adams. Perfect attendance: Ruby Adams. Velda Duggan. JAMES It. MURPHY. Teacher. PRIMARY Clh V-—l. Lea. Stewart; 2. mer Adams; 3. (Sterling MurPhY- Grade IV—l- Elaine Graham; 3- Allison Mc-

Grade III—l. Audrey Adams: 1’- Wallace Murphy 3. Vera Stewart. Perfect attendance: Louis Elmer Adams. Elaine

Walter

soewart, Audrey Adams. Clarence

June Burt};

Adams, Charles Murp y.

MARJORIE BRYENTON. Teacher.

"id resorted I0 killing methods not

LIME

Liming land in the Fall means better ifr-‘lin trope the following season-

ORDER

NOW

Brookville Manufacturing to. lili-

' BROOKVILLE. sr.

JOHN C0,, N.B.

l-I. o. s. scans. Maw-s"

NEWSY NOTES

BY AGBIOOI-A

REMINISCENCES UF LONDON (5)

These recollections have stray- ed from London to some degree, but before taking up the thread again I must say a final word on the English taverns. In "good King Chariess golden days" our an- cestors appolnted "ale-tasters," just as we appoint pound-keepers. These officals were obliged to visit the traverns and sample the qual- ity and strength of the ale, for the protection of His Majesty's loyal subjects. When the taverns fell in- to the hands of the brewers and distflers, the office of ale-taster fell into disuse, (though a few of these gentry are still to be found playing a traditional role) and in- ipectors under tire adulteration acts took their place. A customer would enter the tavern and ask, say, for a pint of beer; on being 51113131196. the inspector-for such he was —woul'i prouuce three small phials which he filled from his pint- He sealed them. and put on a label inscribed with number, date, and place. Then turning to the barman he said as he handed over one of the phials, "Keep this safely till you hear from me again; one of these goes to the Public Analyst, the other I keep myself, as a check." And the analysis was so strict that if too much water had been added. (harmless though it was) the landlord or manager would be fined.

It is difficult to say which is do- ing the most harm now in the Old Country: as drinking declines -to the alarm of the brewers — cigarette-smoking is increasing among both men and women; so much so that on London's under- ground trains smoking is perrnlt- ted ln all carriages, except those labelled. "Non-Smoking." When I used to visit London it was the “Smoking Carriages" that were labelled.

The underground railways were nearer the surface than the newer "tubes," as they are called with Anglo-Saxon brevity. You bought your ticket at the booking-office, above-ground; then went down- stairs to the platform perhaps 20 feet below. Wherever you looked on the walls of the platform, you saw advertisements; so that it was difficult to find the name of the station! (All that is changed they tell me: every platform now bears an illuminated list o! all stations served from that gether with a supplementary sign giving the stations not stopped at by the train next due.) Soon our train came along and the system of cross compartments and side doors enabled it to empty and re- fill very quickly; I once noted that it took amlnute and a. half to change all passengers and away againl On arriving at our destina- tion, we walked upstairs again and deposited our tickets in a large glass box before passing the barrier into the station again. ‘Ihese shallow tubes were found to affect the property under they ran, by the incessant vibra- tion caused by the trains; con- sequently all the newer tubes are much farther down. some as much as-200 feet, and access to these is by lift or escalator, the latter be- ing a kind of moving staircase. In those days steam was the only mo- tive power, and although there were ventilating shafts here and there. they were not able to carry off all the smoke and steam, and as a rule the air was bad; while if you opened the window the coal- dust and grit were most unpleas- ant for the eyes. Now-a-days I suppose all the lines are electri- fled-

Some of these “tubes" came to the surface on the outskirts of London, On the occasion of our visit to "Kew Gardens"— a scene of beauty which no visitor should miss-we Wok the tube at a sta- tion near King's Cross, and so nearly as I can recollect the line

came to the surface near Pad- dington, and continued above ground, via Shepherd's B11511. t0

Kew Gardens Station. But we were exploring London proper. About half a mile from the

Houses of Parliament, on the Thames Embankment, stands "Cleopatra's Needle." It is a

granite obelisk or monument with a curious history that has noth- ing to do with that famous queen.

Originally it stood, with five of its fellows, before the Temple of the Sun at On, near Cairo in Egypt. There Moses was educated and there he must have often cast his eyes over the noble monument. It towers to a height of '10 feet, and weighs 180 tons; and graven on its sides are inscriptions record- ing the conques‘ of Thothmes III. who reigned probably 1400 years before Christ was born. The damp- ness of the Englsh climate, 1 no- ticed and the sulphur in the air- rrom the countless coal fires — were disintegrating the stone and peeling off the inscriptions which the dry climate of Egypt had so long spared-

Julius Caesar when he erected at Alexandria a temple called after himself the "Caesarium." had two of the pillars brought from On (then called Heliopolis) and erected in front of the build- ing. Many centuries passed away

bark peeled off In flakes a; large as one's palm. BXPQiIng the new bark in varying shades of yellow. most attractive in appearance. (To be Continued).

LIST or NEW rLANrs (2)

This is another instalment Professor Adamsk. list of not before recorded for the land:-

Carex d e f 1 e x a Hornemann. Northern Bedge.

of plants 15-

O. dewelyana Schwein. Dewey's Sedge. C. diandra Schrank. Lesser

Panigled sedge.

C. disperma Dewey. Two-frulted Sedge.

C. flexuosa Muhl. (Not in "Gray" nor “Brltton")

0. Foenea Willd. Hay Hedge (Summerslde and Brackley Beach)

C. gynandra Schvvein. Nodding Seclge.

C- hirta Lenn. Hairy Sedge.

0. hormathodes Fernald. Marsh Straw sedge.

C. interior L. H. Bailey. Inland Sedge.

Readers who are interested in the botany of our region, are ad- vised to preserve this and the com- ing instalments.

DOG RACING IN ENGLAND

A short article in a recent num- ber of The Guardian, was headed "Dog racing is major English Sports Event. In it. one General

A. C. Oritchley, a millionaire, is stated to have left the Army in 1926 to introduce hound racing in. to England. This means, 1 imagine, that he spent some of his millions in popularlzing the sport; for it needed no introduction. 1t was an old sport in Northern England, when I was quite a youngster, and may have come down from mediaeval times.

An old writer says “The pitman

t

platform, to- .

which‘

before the "needle" is again men- tioned; in 1812 it was lying prone , in the sand, while its fellow still , stood upright. The ruler of Egypt. Mahommed Ali. presented the obelisk to the British Gcvemment in 1820 but it was not moved till 1818. A big steel cylinder was con- structed round the "monster" and made watertight: and it put to sea. towed by a steamship. 1 can well l membe the flurry there W8! when the tow-line parted in I Bale in the Bay of Biscay. 8nd We Needle was lost for a day or l-Wol A row 1f trees ran up the land- ward side of the Embarkment in those days; they were mliffil. ,0! the kind called Acer preudo-

mlatanu. In Sprlflf "l9 "I"

(miner) is often more or less a sportsman. and rabbit coursing, hunting and fowling, where he dares to follow them, are amongst his favorite pursuits. The pltman and Ills dog. which is generally a rabbit dog, on which he sometimes bestows more care and tenderness than upon his family, are frequ- ently almost inseparable." Just as there are horse-races at different points in the Island, so in the counties of Northumberlnad and Durham there were great “mcets" at which all the greyhounds and their owners were gathered. A Erect deal of money changed hands at these meets, and ii; was no uncommon thing for the hu- mans to come to blows in disputes about the prowess of the hounds.

Needless to say that both the Anglican and the Dissenting Churches frowned on these as-

sembles and as a great many min- ers were converts to Methodlsm and the Salvation Army, it was interesting to see how these hard- working people split info two clas- ses each disdainful of the other.

Thus none of the “better class" was ever present at a greyhound coursing and if a “general" had turned up at one, he would pro- bably have been run off the field. A small boy, however, need not be V911‘ conspicuous at public gather- ings. and I once contrived to witness a race which was held on some moorland not far from home. The hounds were of the grey- hound tribe. "'bui‘.t for speed," long hold. 10118 body, long legs and long tail; slim-looking dogs, with deep chests. Every one had a nice rug on, like a miniature horse-rug; and it was said that no matter what privations the family suffered the hound got his guantum of beef- steak. Presently the course was formed; a. lam, about 100 yards 1on8. with a row of miners on each side..Two competing hounds were held on leash at the open end of the course. till a rabbit was rc- leased from a trap, a little ahead of them. ‘Ihcn at the crack of a pistol the leashes were slipped. A rabbit inspired by fear can easily outrun a cat, but has no chance with a greyhound. The rabbit goes up the lane at full speeci—pattcr, patter. come the hound; the men yell-the rest of the clogs, who well know what the uproar means. nearly howl their heads off. Onc of the flying hounds nears. the rab- bit-he passes —and as ho passes he turns h_i__s_ head and the long sharp jaws break the rabbits spine. Then pandemonium brenks loose, for both winners and losers swear like troopers; n forthright kind of swearing quite unlike that of the southern countries.

That was my first and last visit to a greyhound coiiising. It wasnt a nice sight to see the rabbit kil- led in such a cruel fashion, and the company was not congenial. I have heard that the newer style of racing has real hounds —-perliaps of whippet type. a kind of small greyhound —but the rabbit Is a "dummy" actuated by electricity.

Prom an old “Table of Velocities." published by the Geographical So- ciety, of Paris, in 1895. I gather unit the greyhound had boo" timed at 25.34 metres per second;

-this will be more expressive if we

think of 57 miles per hour though of course the hound could not, I think, run for an hour at tOP speed. In the same table a noted racehorse is said to have run 13-71 metres per second.

TH I FAM O U S RUIIING

LINIME N1’ Rub on —pain gone Get the new large econ- omy sire-Also avail- able in mailer. regular lire.

"JIM, I n’ n JMINARITS)

I_IN|MENT'

GUARDIAN

i. FARMERS

“D70 YOUR OWN THINKING”

Since r chasing the Dun- staffnage Creamery there has been a great boost In Butter fat prices. We are new pay- ing

34c Per Lb.

' for Bntterfst Delivered at our Factory every Tuesday. We , want your Cream.

Dunsiaffnage Cheese I 8. Butter Co.

L-1448-11-5-2I.

Botanical Notes For lfwember

(Experimental Farms Note) “The month of‘ November And the weather a subject prayer." It Is difficult for plant-lovers to understand why the poets mallgn this month. Thomas Hood is partl-

for

culurly abusive. In his opinion there is: "No warmth, no cheerfulncss, no healthful ease- No comfortable feel in any member-

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees. No-vemberi"

Nevertheless November un- cloubtiedly possesses charm. At the beginning may be expected those few glowing days -—the Indian or, St. Martin's little Summer-which come after the first fall of snow, as a gentle and sweetly-kind sug- gestion that Winter must be pre- pared for in earnest.

Botanists anticipate the first week of Winter with real pleasure, for then is the time that the cone- bearing evergreen trees and shrubs may be studied with concentra- tion --the pines, hemlocks, spruces, firs. sequoias, cypresses, cedars and junipers.

The pines and their relatives (conifers) are an ancient race; they are said to have existed before the advent of broad-ieaved trees.

Coal measures reveal the fossil remains of prehistoric conifers which had reached their prime