466 



FOKEST AND STREAM. 



WT^ 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



DBVOTSD TO B'IKIJ) ANDAqCATICSFOHTS.PKACTICAL NATPKALHIHTOKY , 



FiairCTiyrCRrt, Tins Pkoteutiun op Game, Pkfbsrvation of Forests, 



4KDTUK INCULCATION It! MEN AND \V0MBN OF A JKji ( ,THY lNTKHKST 

 IN OOT-DnoK KK0KEAT1ON AND STUDY: 



PUBLISHED BY 



Rarest and ^(reatn §nblishing f$Ptnpaiw. 



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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 0, 1S"!9. 



To Correspondents. 



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

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

 and be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 

 N-uuea will not be published if objection be made. Noanouymous com- 

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

 notes or their movements and transactions. 



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 ant lip read with propriety in the home circle. 



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 re'tiiif,«d to oats lost. 



tr Trade supplied by American News Company. 



The National Entrant Cltjb.— The views expressed by 

 out Kennel Editor in his special department are endorsed by 

 toe management of this paper. Experience has taught us 

 that, permanent success holds lo no enterprise which is not 

 Stiiimately constituted. As soon as the self-styled "National" 

 Kennel Club thinks it wise to reorganize in a parliamentary 

 will recognize it and give it our unqualified support ; 

 >0) not until then; and so, undoubtedly will the Btate Ken- 

 nel Clubs. If it had originnlly been organized by a duly called 

 ovu'-eiHion. then ils jurisdiction would be undoubted, aud 

 I that reason undisputed aud and accepted- We shall take 

 maintain issue on this point until the principle for which 

 we contend triumphs. It must prevail, or the so-called 

 National Kennel Club will first make a spurt, then linger for 

 awhile, and finally peter out. 



The Sbokt-Range Tournament.— The announcement of 

 the second annual contest between the off-hand clubs of this 

 city and vicinity for the short-range championship is made in 

 our Title columns. The great success of the meeting of the 

 teams at the close of the winter season of 1877-8 was en- 

 couraging to all connected with the affair. Excellent scores 

 were made on all sides, and the nine teams participating, at 

 the close of the contest, were satisfied that the first medal had 

 pone to the then chfiwpiors. A few minor changes will be 

 observed in the manner of carrying out the match, the object 

 being to have the match, as far as possible in the hands of the 

 several captains. There will be no lack of prizes, as a num- 

 ber of friends of shoulder-shooting have requested opportunity 

 of offering trophies in this tournament. Those teams enter- 

 ing on or before Feb. 22 will have a voice in the final arrange- 

 ments, while those entering after that date, if the captains 

 shall provide for such entrieB, will have to accept such pro- 

 visions as may he determined upon. The Pobest and 

 Stkeam aot Ron and Gun will keep its readers informed 

 as to the progress of the match, and will be glad to give any 

 information respecting it. The date of shooting will doubt- 

 less be parly in March, and at least twenty teams should come 

 to the firing point in so interesting a contest. 

 ■ — .♦. — . 



GbbjW Chabaotbhb ot Distort.— Dr. John Lord, who has 

 long been known as a lecturer of great power, will give a 

 course of historical lectures, which are intended to present a 

 continuous view of the progress of society from the time of 

 the Roman Empire to our own day. Dr. Lord's lectures arc 

 Characterized by breadtn of thought and a philosophical treat- 

 ment of the themes. The tickets may be obtained of Randolph 

 or Brentano, 



FEED THE SUFFERING GAME. 



Ax Appeal for Food akd Sttki.ter. 



THE New York Bun is not trespassing upon our preroga- 

 tives when it spreads such facts as the following before 

 the public. "We arc gratified to have such an influential co- 

 wonu'.r in the interest of game protection. We wish the great 

 daily journals would oftener lend us valuable assistance of 

 this sort. 



We do not know that farmers, pot-hunters, and shippers, 

 can be blamed for taking advantage of the mortality which 

 stress of weather has brought upon the feathered game of the 

 great "West, to reap pecuniary profit therefrom. Indeed, we 

 are rather inclined to congratulate ourselves that so much food 

 has been preserved and distributed at low prices among poor 

 people, to whom such delicacies as game of any kind is a 

 rarity, instead of been suffered to waste upon the prairies. 

 We cannot blame the collectors and shippers of game because 

 the elements have been pitiless, and killing cold has had a 

 wider range just now than climatic lines generally permit. 

 The thermometer at 5° to 18° above zero is a rare phenome- 

 non in the meteorology of the extreme Southern States, and 

 ten inches of snow in Texas brings an experience to the birds 

 and animals there to which even the occasional bitter " nor- 

 thers" have not accustomed them. We can omy deplore a 

 dispensation which has destroyed so niuch of what makes un- 

 inhabited and wilderness places attractive to gentlemen sports- 

 men, and (gives intrinsic value to districts which would he 

 waste and unvisited but for the game which is found within 

 their limits. The commercial value, too, of the game of our 

 country can only be appreciated when we examine the mani- 

 fests of the express companies, and see the tons which are an- 

 nually transported. The destruction of so much game, even 

 in years not exceptional, like the present, is a severe drain up- 

 on the country, which nothing but the most earnest, untiring 

 and judicious efforts can replace. It does not so much become 

 us conservators of game to sitidly and deplore destruction, be 

 it wanton or providential; or to prosecute pot-hunters and 

 common carriers; or to arrest chance sportsmen who may 

 have inadvertently dropped a bird beyond the limit of the 

 close season ; or to clamor for severe restrictions, because the 

 elements have been unpropitious ; as it does to put our wits 

 together at once to restore, and by the prompt employment 

 of scientific or common-sense means, remedy the disastrous 

 depletion. To the starving and shivering remnant of cur 

 valued game the chief of these means is food and shelter. 

 There are four millions of farmers to join in the philanthropic 

 work. In wooded localities, let them send their hardy sons 

 out with their axes to cut a few armsful of brush to scatter 

 here and there in heaps wherever the birds and animals are 

 suspected or known to frequent, or where stress of weather 

 would be likely to drive them in. The labor is slight, not half 

 what is required to set a snare for partridaes or rabbits. The 

 time can be easily spared. On the open prairies, where no 

 trees grow, nature will second the efforts of the farmers. Let 

 them build up their little brush shantie3 in the vicinity of 

 straw stacks and farm yards. Exigencies will drive the suf- 

 fering creatures to the haunts of men whom their instinct has 

 taught them to fear. By the simple processes we suggest my- 

 riads of quail, ruffed and pinnated grouse, rabbits, and other 

 small game can be wintered through. Nature, if not inter- 

 rupted, easily recuperates ; it is wonderfully prolific. It can 

 endure not only decimation, but it can survive and replenish 

 upon ten per cent, of itself. 



There are some considerations to be looked at in the pur- 

 chase and consumption of game so killed. Creatures which 

 have perished by freezing are certainly not as wholesome or 

 as palatable as those which have been killed by strangling or 

 bleeding ; no more than frozen fruit, or even malt or spiritu- 

 ous liquors, retain their best properties and qualities after- 

 having been frozen and thawed out. It is a natural law of 

 chemistry which we cannot gainsay, Still, we do not think 

 that any positive injury to health can result from eating 

 drowned, suffocated, or frozen game. Better a pot-pie of 

 such viands than hunger and starvation. So, while we la- 

 ment the devastation of the woods and fields, we rejoice that 

 so much has been added to the sustenance of a multitude of 

 impoverished people at a season when bitter cold makes in- 

 creased supply so necessary. It is the lives of brutes for lives 

 of human beings. On the score of health, the chief objection 

 to eating this questionable game lies in the fact that unwonted 

 sustenance of any kind is utilized, in place of the wholesome 

 varieties of food which are covered and sealed up by snow and 

 ice. In wouded districts, these are chiefly the berries of the 

 sumac and leaves of the laurel, which not only impart a bitter 

 taste to the flesh, but absolutely make it, unfit and dangerous 

 to eat. On the open prairies there seems no escape from death 

 unless the friendly shelter of a farm yard or hay stack is 

 within the distance of easy flight. 



We hope our wealthy friends who read this article will not 

 quietly turn their toes to their warm blazing fires, but devote 

 some little energy and a very little money to sheltering aud 

 feeding the game. It will be the best pecuniary investment 

 tbey can make. A few bushels of grain and a few brush heaps 

 will save a great deal of game, as well as the cost of rust pre- 

 ventives to useless guns hung up in the idle future: 



" Trappers and hunters are gathering in a marvellous quan- 

 tity of game in the country west of the Mississippi River just 

 now, and wholesale dealers in centres like Chicago and St. 

 Louis are kept busy receiving and forwarding it. At whole- 

 sale prices, the game arriving at each of those points is esti- 

 mated to be worth something like $50,000 a week. This 



large sum of money represents vast heaps of flesh, feathers 

 and fur, at the low prices for which these procJUi 

 F&i West are now selling. Quails wholesale 



at fifty-five cents a dozen, while rabbits retail in immense 

 quantities at the astonishing price of five ceuts apiece squir- 

 rels at seven and a half cents, brant and wild xeese'at titty 

 cents apiece, ducks at forty and fifty ccnis a pair, and other 

 game at similar figure?. Venison, which is retailed at fancy 

 prices, is sold, with the hide on. to butchers and packers at 

 five cents a pound. The venison which comes from Afinne- 

 sota is considered the best, but much also comes from Indian 

 Territory, where the Cherokee nation have au inclosed game 

 preserve of fifty square miles in which deer and jack-rabbits 

 abound. Out on the plains rabbits are hardly looked upon as 

 game worth the notice of professional Nimrods who have 

 lived long enough to call themselves grown men ; when snow 

 is on the ground they are slaughtered in droves and sold at 

 the railroad stations by the cord. 



As Eastern markets are well supplied with gams, "Western 

 shippers, seeking some other outlet for their surplus, have 

 been experimenting upon London. Quails principally are 

 sent partly because of the unprecedented numbers of 'these 

 birds which have come to an untimely end this winter, and 

 partly because the expected profits on them are larger than 

 on any other kind of game. When the quails reach St. Louis 

 and Chicago they are frozen ; they are then packed iu barrels, 

 tightly wedged in by hydraulic pressure, and placed on fast 

 freight trains to New York, where they are transferred to the 

 decks of fast ocean steamers for Liverpool. The steamship 

 companies agree that the barrels shall remain era deck during 

 the voyage, and if the weather keeps cold the quails arrive in 

 London as fresh as when they Started. Quails cost the West- 

 ern shipper fifty-five cents a dozen, the freight to London is 

 about, twenty-two cents a dozen, and the price iu London 

 is from $1,511 to $2 a dozen. The Western shipper therefore 

 hopes to realize a handsome profit on the quails exported to 

 London. 



In spite of the low price at which the birds are selling, 

 however, some of our Western fellow citizens are grumbling 

 at, their quail on toast. A sportsmau on the Missouri River 

 declares that the great quantity of game brought in to market 

 since the severe cold and heavy snows set iu is pretty conclu- 

 sive proof of foul play practiced, not upon the game, but upon 

 the consumers thereof. Instead of falling an easy prey to the 

 trapper and sportsman when the ground is covered with hard 

 snow, as at present, the quails are never moie shy and unap- 

 proachable than at such seasons, since there is then no cover- 

 ing under which they can hide. This winter thev are said to 

 be wilder than fhey were ever known to be before. This 

 sportsmen is therefore positive that, of the quails now on the 

 market a very small percentage have died of gunshot wounds. 

 Most of them are, he affirms, found dead in the coveys on the 

 snow, either frozen, starved or poisoned by the berries and 

 other unwonted varieties of food to which they are compelled 

 to resort. The belief in such poisoning, he thinks, is strongly 

 supported by the dark color of the flesh and other indications 

 of disease presented by many of the birds sold. Wild turkeys 

 are also frequently found standing stark dead in the snow, and 

 there seems to be little doubt that in a severe season like this, 

 the prowess of huntsmen on the plains is largely supplemented 

 by the weather in bringing down the game." 



A POWERFUL GAME ASSOCIATION TO 

 THE FRONT. 



ON June 1st, 1871, nearly eight years ago, the editor 

 of this paper presented iu the following words, 

 through the columns of the Brooklyn Bogie, the claims of 

 the Blooming Grove Park Association, then recently in- 

 corporated, to tbe consideration of the public : 



"England and the older countries of Europe long ago found 

 it necessary to adopt means to preserve their wild game and 

 fish from total extinction. The rapid increase of popula- 

 tion aud the spread of settlements not only depopulated the 

 forests and streams, but denuded the land of its timber, so 

 that eventually plans for restocking and reproduction be- 

 came objects of most serious consideration ami earnest 

 practical application on the part of scientific and thoughtful 

 men. Judicious legislation, combined with the active co- 

 operation of landed proprietors and sportsmen, have secured 

 results exceeding the anticipations of the most, sanguine, 

 results remarkable for ihe ease with which they were ac- 

 complished, aud remunerative in every instance. " At pres- 

 ent nearly every Kingdom, State, and Province has its game 

 Laws. Zoological gardens, acclimating societies, public and 

 private parks, fish works, and all manner of associations for 

 breeding and preserving game aud fish are found all over 

 the Continent 



In England alone are no less than 800 parks, chases, 

 and forests. Timber is extensively cultivated, 

 certain returns and larger assured profits than any other 

 agricultural product. Fish culture has become a most 

 lucrative branch of business, especially in Germany. The 

 surplus stock sold from breeding parks invariably pays the 

 runniug expenses of the preserves. Indeed, the whole sub- 

 ject considered in its length and breadth, involves the pros- 

 perity of communities to' a degree that, is not dreamed oi 

 now, but will he recognized and appreciated iu years to 

 come. It stauds in the same relation to mankind as the 

 early attempts to domesticate a' nl brreil cattle and sheep; 

 and just as, at the pretest day, no branch of industry is 

 deemed more praiseworthy than ihe improving tin' breed of 

 our domestic animals and aidi"g Iheir increase; so eventu- 

 ally will be the preserving and propagating game animals, 

 birds and fish. If we would live, we must produce the 

 food that nourishes and sustains life. 



Our own country, though comparatively new, and origin- 

 ally teeming with game animals, has already suffered so 

 much from reckless and indiscriminate slaughter, that meas- 

 ures equally stringent with those of Europe, have become 

 necessary to prevent their total extinction here. 

 in those wilderness districts not yet penetrated by raif- 

 roada, game is now actually scarcer than it is beyond the 

 Atlantic." 



Impressed by facts so patent as theao, the Blooming Grove 

 Park Association procured its 12,000 acres of broken coun- 

 try in Pennsylvania, built a commodious club house, en- 

 closed with a fence a bleeding paddock one mile square in 

 the heart of the forest, stocked it with game, provided 

 gamekeepers, and invited membership ami co-opera- 

 tion. To divest it of the hard features or dry detail and 

 drudgery which simple devotion to the development of a 

 principle involves, they made it attractive by adding club 



