BLOOMING GROVE PARK. 225 



down to Long Island for a couple of days, and capture a 

 dozen pounds of trout at the regulation price demanded for 

 the privilege of fishing, his expenses will be found to reach 

 $12. 



This is the high tariff at present imposed upon the sports- 

 man's indulgence. The only way to cheapen his amusement 

 is to " encourage home industry," and make fish abundant 

 in all neighborhood localities. Pisciculturists have accom- 

 plished much toward re-stocking exhausted and depleted 

 waters, but their efforts have not yet been productive of im- 

 portant economic results. The work of propagation has not 

 been sufficiently diffused over the country to reduce the mar- 

 ket price of trout, or place good fishing-grounds within easy 

 and inexpensiA'e access of the public. 



The " Blooming Grove Park Association," so far as its own 

 territory is concerned, has fulfilled both of these conditions. 

 It has a domain of more than 12,000 acres within a few 

 hours' ride of New York city by the Erie Eaih'oad, where its 

 members may not only fish, but hunt, ad libitum, free of 

 charge. The sportsman may leave Xew York, or any other 

 adjacent city, and in twenty-four hours return with a saddle 

 of yenison, a bag of birds, or a basket of trout. To active 

 business men whose time is precious, this is an advantage 

 worthy of consideration. Every year, there are many gentle- 

 men of sporting proclivities, with but a week to spare, who 

 are compelled to forego their favorite pastime, because the 

 ordinary hunting resorts are so distant that they have no 

 sooner reached the ground and got fairly to work, than they are 

 compelled to pack up and return. Eecognizing these disabili- 

 ties, and appreciating the necessity of more accessible sporting- 

 grounds, two gentlemen of New York, well known to sports- 

 men and the public generally, Fayette S. Giles, Esq., and 

 Genio C. Scott, Esq., some three years ago conceived the 

 idea of providing a grand park or inclosure within a reason- 

 able distance of New York, where game might be bred and 

 protected as it is in Europe in the grand forests of Fontaine- 

 15 



