Prosopis glandulosa, the latter Prosopis pubescens.) Both are excellent provender for horses, equally nutritious and appetizing, and it has sometimes done me good, when apparently we were stumped for forage, to see the enthusiasm with which my Indian pony would "go for" some good beany mesquit that came in our way, stretching his neck almost to giraffe length in the effort to reach the biggest and ripest clusters. J. SMEATON CHASE.

FLEET OF PLANES FRIGHTEN WILD

DUCKS

A FLEET of five airplanes is now in service in the California rice-fields to ward off the invasion of the great flocks of wild ducks that descend every fall from the Northland. As the colder weather approaches, these migratory birds leave their feeding-grounds along the flats of the Yukon, in Alaska, and make their way in a bee-line for the rice-fields of California in Glenn and Colusa counties. Here they find that a warm reception awaits them from the giant airplanes.

Like hungry hawks bent on extermination, these flying machines swoop swiftly down over the rice-fields, driving out the waterfowl that have already settled and keeping traveling flocks on their way or driving them off to other feeding-grounds. These planes operate both by day and night, and in the course of a season frighten away myriads of birds. Of course, some of these may come back, but the pilots see to it that they are kept well stirred up and their existence made as uncomfortable as possible as long as they tarry in the vicinity of the rice-fields.

In a single night, a flock of wild ducks, by knocking down the grain and eating it, can do enormous damage to a particular part of a rice-field. By the time they have taken a long flight they are hungry, and it takes amazing quantities of the rice to satisfy their appetites.

The rice industry has developed with wonderful rapidity in California. In 1918 a tract of 1200 acres was planted as an experiment. This was so successful that the following year the acreage was trebled, and in 1920 a total of 130,000 acres was planted, producing about 4,000,000 sacks of rice, with a value of more than $25,000,000. In view of the foregoing facts and figures, it is little wonder that the rice growers want the wild duck to keep on moving and not nibble at this treasure.

FREDERICK HALL.

A NEW KIND OF "AIR-PLANE"

ANY boy who has set himself the task of planing a rough pine board by hand knows that it is no inconsiderable job. But suppose you had the whole side of a ship to plane

Photograph by Ewing Galloway

THE ROTARY-BLADED PLANE DRIVEN BY
COMPRESSED AIR

off. This is what has to be done with wooden
ships of the kind that were built in such large
numbers during the war. The work had to
be done by hand because of the curved form
of the hull; and as the use of an ordinary
hand-plane would have been most tedious, a
power-driven hand-plane was invented. The
plane has a rotary blade, driven by a com-
pressed air-motor, and all the operator has to
do is to guide the tool over the surface to be
planed.
A. RUSSELL BOND.

WHEN FIELDS ARE WHITE
BY MARGARET HARLAND (AGE 15)
(Silver Badge)

WHEN to the pine woods flap the crows
To seek a shelter from the snows,
When round the house a blizzard roars,
And holds dominion out-of-doors,
Whitening fields and roofing brooks,
And piling drifts in sheltered nooks,
I shut my eyes on winter then,
And summer days come back again.
The quiet of the sunlit hills;
The chatter of the meadow rills;
The smell of fresh earth after showers,
And all the sweet, familiar flowers;
Long sunny days and moonlit nights
Of cricket-songs and firefly lights;
Cloud-vessels bound on unknown quest
From jeweled harbors in the west;

A giant pine on summit high
Tossing his plumes against the sky;
From over miles of restless sea

Strange dream-ships drifting in to me;
Scenes never painted, never bought,
Pictures no artist could have wrought-
Woods, mountains, sunset, shimmering sea
Lie hidden in my memory.

A TRUE TALE TOLD BY THE FIRESIDE
BY CHARLOTTE GUNN (AGE 13)
(Silver Badge)

DOWNIEVILLE was one of the richest gold-mining camps in California. Many years ago, during the gold rush, there were lots of miners in the town, but hardly any families.

About 1854, my great-grandfather and his family went there to live. My grandmother and a friend were the only little girls in the town at the time. One day, soon after their arrival, they slipped out of the house and wandered down to the main part of the village.

There were hundreds of miners on the street, and they had n't seen any children in such a long time that they sent up one hurrah after another! Their first impulse was to give the two girls something. But there were no candy-shops, bookstores, or toy-stores where things could be bought for children; so the men threw money at them. At first, the little girls were bewildered, but soon they were picking up the coins as if they were marbles; and they went home with their little hands filled to overflowing.

TOLD BY THE FIRESIDE

BY GWYNNE M. DRESSER (AGE 13) (Gold Badge. Silver Badge won November, 1921) My uncle owns a goat-ranch in Humboldt County, California; and he has had some interesting experiences with wild animals around there.

We were gathered by the open fire one evening, and we asked him for a story; so this is it:

"I was out walking in the woods one day, when I suddenly saw a large panther lying on the ground a few yards ahead. I knew that a live panther would not allow one to approach so near, and as this one remained motionless and limp, I thought of course he must be dead. So I advanced slowly and cautiously, and then, growing bolder, I gave the supposedly lifeless creature a kick on the nose. Up he jumped straight into the air, as though he

had been shot, his hair bristling with fright! I don't know which of us was more surprised. The panther had been asleep, and was so terrified that he did not even stop to see what had awakened him so rudely, but rushed off into the forest." THE ATNICHOLAR LEAGUE-JANUARY, Bag

"A HEADING FOR JANUARY, 1922." BY DOROTHY E. CORNELL, AGE 16. (GOLD BADGE. SILVER BADGE WON AUGUST, 1921) WHEN FIELDS ARE WHITE BY MARGARET HUMPHREY (AGE 14) (Honor Member)

THE sun is rising in the east;

From there a rosy glow

Is spreading o'er the earth, and makes
A glory of the snow.

The daily miracle of dawn

Is ne'er more lovely sight

Than when its tinted fingers touch

The fields, when they are white.

The noontide sun with bright cold glare
Transforms the fields below

Into most dazzling diamond beds,
Whose colors shift and glow.
The sky's a bowl, turned upside down,
Of blue, with that one light

The winter landscape brightening,
When woods and fields are white.