OCR Text |
Show Indestructible Mistletoe The Dame-thrower and atomic energy lethal instruments borrowed bor-rowed from modern warfare are out to kill that ancient symbol of peacemaking and love, the Christmas Christ-mas mistletoe. The unusual battle front is Australia Aus-tralia where too many valuable trees each year have been receiving receiv-ing the kiss of death from the harmless looking shrub. Despite mistletoe's popular reputation as the Yultetide promoter of romance, ' it is a public-enemy parasite in the woodlands, killing off the trees that play it host. Australian foresters have finally resorted to the flame-thrower as a quick executioner for the plant and are using' radio-active tracers, furnished by the U. S. atomic energy en-ergy commission, to study how the mistletoe saps the water and mineral min-eral salts from the trees, starving them to death. |