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FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WfcliKLY JOU.tftAL, 



kv0ted to flelij and aquatic srokts, practical natural history, 

 Fish Cultdrb, thk Protection of Gams, preservation of Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a Healthy Interest 

 in Out-Door Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



potest mi ^tresttf ^nbUshittg (feomgatiji.. 



NO. Ill (old No. 103) FULTON STREET, NBW YORK, 

 [Post Office Box 888?.] 



TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 



Twenty-Hve per cent, off lor Clubs of Two or more, 

 Advertising Rates. 



Inside pages, nonpareil type, 25 cents per line ; outside page, 40 cents. 

 Bpecial rates for three, six and twelve months. Notices in editorial 

 columns, 60 cents per line— eight words to the line, and twelve lines to 

 one inch. 



Advertisements should bs sent In by Saturday of each week, if pos- 

 Blble. 



All transient advertisements must be accompanied with the money 

 or they will not be inserted. 



No advertisement or business notice of an Immoral character will be 

 received on any terms. 



*.* Any publisher inserting onr prospectus as above one time, with 

 brief editorial notice calling attention thereto, and sending marked copy 

 to us, will receive the Forest and Stream for one year. 



NEW TORE, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1878. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, Intended for publication, must be ac- 

 companied with real name of the writer as a guaranty of good faith 

 Bud be addressed to the Forest aud Stream Publishing Company. 

 Names will not be published if obj ectlon be made. No anonymouB com- 

 munications will be regarded. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brie 

 notes of their movements and transactions. 



Nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that may. 

 not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for dereliction of the mail service if money 

 remitted to ub is lost. No person whatever 1b authorized to collect 

 money for us unless he can show authentic credentials from one of the 

 undersigned. We have no Philadelphia agent. 



W Trade supplied by American News Company. 



CHARLES JIAI.I.Ol'K, Editor. 

 T. 0. BANKS, S. H. TORRILL, Chicago, 



Business Manager. Western Manager. 



Dootobs in the Field. — A busy, hard-working class of 

 men are our physicians. But no one knows better than they 

 do the hygienic value of a respite from the routine of duties 

 and from the cares and anxieties which are the most weary- 

 ing part of the profession. They fully appreciate the good 

 that comes from a tramp after the birds and the fishes, or a 

 simple jaunt to the pure air of the mountains and prairies. 

 Many of our most charming sketches of sporting travel and 

 adventure are contributed by the doctors. They know how 

 to bag a good amount of game, to return with pleasing evi- 

 dences of angling skill, and not infrequently their names 

 appear at the head of the rifle and shot-gu scoresn. If more 

 men and women followed their example, instead of draw- 

 ing the cork of the medicine bottles, the doctors would have 

 more time to play. 



To ah Editor Turned Showman. — Dear Sir: In your issue 



of Sunday, September 8, you have a " Menagerie " column, in 



which the antics of sundry strange and curious beasts make 



up a great moral show, which you claim is harmless to the 



gaping multitude. You will pardon us for intimating that 



Beveral of the most wonderful creatures were once our own. 



"We claim the credit of having introduced them to the public. 



This credit you deny us. Put the tags on the cages, Mr. 



Showman ; the people want to know where the specimens 



are from. 



— *- — — 



U. S. Ship Saratoga.— We had the pleasure of a visit 

 from Capl. W. D. Evans, commanding TJ. S. ship Saratoga, 

 which arrived at this port on Thursday last. Captain Evans 

 was aDxious to learn about the fate of the Carolina rail, which 

 had been caught by him some 350 miles at sea, and which our 

 readers may remember had been confided to our care. We 

 were happy to inform Captain Evans that the bird was doing 

 quite well. This officer is anxious that the navy should stand 

 in iine w.th tl e army and the citizen soldiers at thecoming In- 

 ternational Military Match to be held this fall. We trust to be 

 able to arrange this business, and are hopeful that ' ' the boys 

 n blue " will soon make theix first j appearance at Oreedmoor 



FOR THE FEVER STRICKEN CITIES 

 OF THE SOUTH. 



OUR appeal for funds has been so far most generously re- 

 plied to. On Sept. 6th we turned over to Mayor Ely $172, 

 and on September 7th, $143. This last contribution was 

 made up as follows : 



R.B.Eooaevelt $100 Kimball, Qaullleur & Co So 



Amateur BiOe Club 25 J. B, Crook 3 



Centennial Rifle Club 10 



This with the former amount made a total of $315. We 

 have to-day sent to His Honor, Mayor Ely, the following 

 amounts : 

 A Lady (through Messrs. Abbey J. E. Broadway 15 



■fclnibrfe) $10 T. Williamson, Leesburg, Va,... 1 



Conroy, Bissett & Malleson 10 H. O. W 1 



Basil, Bound Brook, N. J 5 



Total amount sent by sportsmen's contribution is, to-day, 

 $347. 



The generous heart of the country has responded so far 

 nobly, but alas ! the demands made are still very great. Much 

 more money is wanted. It must be borne in mind that when 

 the heads of families arc stricken by death it is the survivors 

 who suffer. The misery and privation in the South is inde- 

 scribable. Will not all our friends contribute ? We do not 

 care how or where they send their money, so that it is devoted 

 to the cause of suffering humanity. 



INTERNATIONAL MATCH OF 1878. 



SOME of the members of the old team are of opinion that 

 the riflemen of this country are "spoiling for a 

 match," when it is proposed to carry out the programme 

 laid down and shoot over the ranges for the " Palma," 

 even in the absence of any competing team. One 

 of our contemporaries thinks that no thoughtful American, 

 with the welfare of rifle shooting and of true sportsman- 

 ship at heart, would countenance the idea of a team 

 claiming the International trophy without obtaining it 

 in a manly way in an honorable contest. Very true all that 

 is, but when it is pointed out that a " walk-over" or contest 

 without the presence of a competing team is such a claim we 

 take issue on behalf of the National Rifle Association and 

 the real interests of rifle practice. It may be, first of all, 

 admitted that the winning of the match by a team of 1878 

 will put the team of 1877 out of the way and take from it 

 any actual control, and it may be this half-dozen honored 

 experts are referred to by our esteemed contemporary when 

 it says that it " echoes the sentiments of that body of marks- 

 men who have labored and contributed in and out of season 

 and have secured a supremacy as men and marksmen that 

 may well be emulated." Their supremacy as men we leave 

 to the general public to decide; but as marksmen there are 

 many who emulate their supremacy, and, judging from the 

 competition scores recently published in our pages, it cer- 

 tainly looks as though their present supremacy was to be 

 swept away very effectively. It is both ungenerous and un- 

 just to throw down a sweeping slur against the competi- 

 tions for places because no official scorers were provided, 

 and to speak of the record as of no value. It is often 

 bandied about at Crccdmoor that So-and-Sos big record 

 was doubtful, because he kept his own score; but in 

 an experience of five years on the National Rifle Asso- 

 ciation range we can say that no direct attempt to mislead 

 by false entries has ever been detected among the long- 

 range men. If every man is to be judged a rogue until be 

 proves to be honest, suchau accusation might have ageneral 

 ground, but the very motive the long-range men have for 

 participating in their sport, and the foolishness of attempt- 

 ing to get a reputation as a shot on false scores, would ef- 

 fectually sweep away any such notion, even were the perso- 

 nal characters of the men visiting Creedmoor a sufficient 

 guarantee of the scores turned in. Certain it is that thOBe 

 who will by hint and nod try to discredit another's score 

 never come forward and make their charges openly, where 

 effective punishment would follow their proof. But enough 

 of that. There is no evidence, not even the shadow of a 

 doubt, against the scores credited to the team of 1878, and for 

 the high average shown, those gentlemen deserve only praise 

 and commendation. If they take no further step, they have 

 shown that America is ready to answer with a long-range 

 team at any time. 



It now remains to consider the policy of having a match, 

 or rather a shoot, when no competitor appears. It is non- 

 sense to apply the maxim that, "You cannot win where 

 you cannot lose." To bet on a sure thing is dishonest ; b ut 

 the principle of walk-overs to establish claims is as old as 

 the hills, and no one should know this better than a born 

 and bred horse man. 



The fact of a walk-over match in 1878 in nowise affects 

 future contests; or, if it has any effect, it helps by estab- 

 lishing a precedent, as our cbfcnces for keeping the " Palma" 

 on this side the ocean is much stronger if we can put a team 

 through the paces on the off years, when foreign-teams find 

 it either impolitic or inexpedient to appear on our ranges; 

 and then to the body of riflemen here the International score 

 record is a guide to what is doing in the best long-range 

 shooting circles. 



If these men are willing to give their time and effort to fill 

 the gap of an empty year, and to give an impetus to home 

 practice by their example, it is an ill-nf.tured critic indeed 

 who would Bay them nay, and it is aa far as can be from the 



truth, besides presumptuous to a high degree to say that 

 " the cordiality, fairness, manliness and digni'y which have 

 characterized all previous International rifle contests will 

 not be sustained in the estimation of foreign competitors, or 

 by our own more thoughtful countrymen, by any such im- 

 aginary walkover match and claim of victory." 



Suppose that the Elcho Shield contest should for any 

 reason be left to a single country, would not the team of 

 that, section go over the course aud claim the record and the 

 trophy for the year ? There is something to lose by a 

 neglect to coutest for the "Palma." There is the owner- 

 ship of the trophy, there is the record, and there is as well 

 the succession. If the team men of 1877 were desirous of 

 keeping themselves in the posts as custodians of the trophy 

 and possible controllers of the next match, the competitions 

 for places were open, and they could have perpetuated them- 

 selves as the champion riflemen by earning and holding the 

 title, and, losing it, nothing befits them in their " supremacy 

 as men and marksmen " than a quiet retirement. 



None will deny that for comparative uses with the figures* 

 of other years the scores made by a team shooting without 

 any rivalry on adjoining targets is as good as could be. To- 

 be sure there is a loss of the notoriety, the crowds andl 

 general confusion which attends the spectacle of two or more 

 teams fighting side by side for the supremacy. But boats 

 go over courses to beat time. Courses are walked over. 

 Horses compete, aud why not riflemen exert themselves to> 

 distance anything ever before put down on the cards. Such. 

 is the feat which the team of 1878 have set before themselves. 

 It is to show the world that, do as they may, foreign rifle- 

 men will always find in America a squad able to go a little 

 belter. If this be " jockeying," then have Messrs. Jackson, 

 j Rathbone and their fellows set themselves to a wicked piece 

 of business; but as there is no petty trifle of money to be 

 picked up as last year, and but little newspaper notoriety, 

 it becomes, if there ever was such a match, one for pure 

 glory and honor. The men are amateurs in the sense which 

 no American team has yet been. In shooting over the 

 ranges without the accompaniment of a visiting team the 

 men will be doing nothing out of the common, nothing that 

 it is not perfectly proper should be done, and if they make 

 (.as everything leads us to suppose they will) a rattling high 

 score, they will have legitimately earned the right to inscribe 

 "America" on the wreath of 1878. 



THE RIGHT IN FISH PONDS. 



THE case of Edward H. Seaman against Luther B. Lee and 

 Geo. W. Leo is one of particular interest, and which 

 came to our notice some years ago. We may say, at that 

 time, in 1873-74, when the matter was brought before us by 

 Mr. Seaman for advice, trout culture was commencing to take 

 a definite form, though the laws protecting fish ponds were 

 not yet well determined. The plaintiff, Mr. E. H, Seaman 

 had built in 1873, at considerable expense, trout ponds, situ- 

 ated near the town of Hempstead, in Queens County, New 

 York, for the purpose of raising fish. These ponds were fed 

 by a brook and natural springs, the latter being in the ponds 

 themselves. In 1874 Luther B. Lee and Geo. W. Lee dug a 

 ditch from their house, on their lands adjoining the lands of 

 Mr. Seaman, flowing through some ground owned by William 

 S. Hicks, so that it entered upon the land of the plaintiff. 

 This ditch, so the complaint stated, "carried the water and- 

 drainage of the Lee house and other deleterious, noxious, un- 

 wholesome and pernicious substances and fluids, with refuse 

 matter, resulting from the washing of oil barrels and from 

 the manufacture of varnishes, into the fish ponds owned by 

 Mr. Seaman, from whence arose the destruction of his trout. 

 The suit was brought on the 13th of July, 1874 ; the trial 

 commenced in September, 1875, H. W. Onderdonk, Esq., 

 being attorney for the plaintiff, Messrs. Morris and Pearsall 

 for the defendants, the referee being R. Ingraham, Esq. 

 The suit was concluded in July, 1876, in favor of the plain- 

 tiff. From this decision an appeal was taken to the General 

 Term of the second department, when the judgment of the 

 referee was unanimously confirmed. From this decision, 

 owing to lapse of time, no appeal can now be taken. 



Some very interesting points were brought up as evidence 

 by the plaintiff. The appearance of a greasy scum on the 

 surface of the pond seems to have had almost an immediate 

 effect upon the flsh. The growth of oonfervia seemed 

 checked, and it disappeared. In fact, it becomes quite appa- 

 rent by readiog the testimony, that no sooner had the drain 

 been run into the ponds by the Messrs. Lee than the fish com- 

 menced to suffer. Mr. Seaman having secured the services 

 of Mr. James Hyatt, a practical chemist, samples of the 

 water from the pond were taken, and with proper tests the 

 presence of impurities in abnormal quantity was found in the 

 ponds. Some experiments were made by Mr. Hyatt, to de- 

 termine the quantity of soap in water which would kill fish. 

 The evidence given by Mr. W. H. FurmaD, the well known 

 fishculturist, is quite noticeable, in regard to impurities In 

 fish ponds. In his deposition Mr. Furman states ; " Impuri- 

 ties affect fish, but it depends on the kind. They will live in 

 impure water, but can't grow. Could not tell what an oily 

 scum in the water would do, unless I knew what it was. 

 Soap will kill fish. If the surface was covered with oil or 

 grease from soap it would kill the fish. I think any kind of 

 soap will kill fish ; soda and oil would either of them kill 

 trout. Am acquainted with the plant confervia; it resembles 

 cotton, only it is green. It ia what ia called frog spittle, that 



