24 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[February 10, 1881. 



rifle shooting wo have enjoyed, but it is not as yet a plant of 

 such sturdy growth that it will bear such neglect as the State 

 of New York, through its official leaders, proposes to put up- 

 on it. To suspend shooting for a time until ihepermmneloi the 

 Guard has been altered means simply that the entire work will 

 have to be gone over again and a start made from the point 

 we stood at iu 1872. The expenses already incurred are not 

 fairly representative of the sums which will be required to 

 maintain rifle practice. The ranges are now fixed upon, and 

 while many of them no doubt me illy chosen and on too 

 pretentious a scale, more modest arrangement, well patron- 

 ized, would show better results ; but to enforce this economy 

 is quite another thing from jumping to a total abolition of all 

 rifle practice and the placing of the National Guard iu the po- 

 sition of a mere puppet show, trained to walk iu step, to 

 carry their rifles as so many drilling sticks and make a very 

 pretty show at parade, while worthy only of ridicule for their 

 inefllciency. 



THE EEL-WEIR QUESTION. 



THE local papers in the interior of the State of New York 

 have been greatly exercised over some donkey's assertion 

 that the eel-weir was a harmless institution, and gallons of 

 ink have been shed by those who saw a fine chance to adver- 

 tise themselves at the donkey's expense. Slip after slip has 

 been sent to Forest and Stream containing arguments pro 

 and con which have gone into the waste-basket on the princi- 

 ple that it don't pay to load a |siege-gun to kill a mosquito. 

 If these weirs can discriminate taking only eels, and passing the 

 basa, shad and young of other fish, they are the most intelli- 

 gent eel-weirs in the business, and we would like one for dis- 

 section and examination of its brain. No doubt, now that iu 

 the process of evolution the eel-weir has advanced so far, 

 these traps can be taught to bring their prey on shore and 

 skin them for market, and when the angler of the future takes 

 his walks along the banks of the stream he will behold this 

 new breed of traps hauling their catch ashore, and swearing 

 at the stray bass which have persisted in getting in to annoy 

 them. Such traps will no doubt increase not only the bass 

 and shad of our rivers, but will also add to the crops of the 

 riparian owner by fertilizing his fields with the eel skins and 

 other debris. 



Seriously, the fact of thedestruclivenessof the cel-weiris so 

 apparent that we have not thought fit to print the arguments. 

 Our old friend, E. C. Z. J udson (Ned Buntline), who is 

 something of a naturalist as well as a novelist, writes us from 

 " Eagle's Nest " on this question and says : 



" All observant trout men know, old and large trout after 

 spawning in the fall almost always, if not always, turn their 

 course down stream to seek still and deep water, or to go to- 

 ward the sea. Such invariably fall victims to an eel-weir if 

 it is in their way. 



"I know from years of observation on the Juniata, Susque- 

 hanna and Delaware rivers, not to speak of other and smaller 

 rivers, that eel- weirs scoop in every kind of fish which turns 

 to go down stream faster than the current, and so goes head 

 first into the pot, from which none but the smallest escape. 

 These eel-weirs used to be set at low water, before the fall 

 freshets came on, all along the rivers I have named until so 

 far down that the water was too deep to build dams. Cap- 

 tain King, of Mast Hope, Pike County, Pa., used lo supply 

 his table with fish as well as eels from his weir when I stop- 

 ped at his hotel one summer in 1853, I think ; and trout not 

 caught by hook and line— trout of large size, taken thus from 

 the Delaware, were more than once on that table. I remem- 

 ber it distinctly, for I had quite a row with the captain about 

 the innovation on our old Waltonian arts." 



A ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN FOR NEW- 

 YORK. 



THE project to establish a zoological garden in New York 

 on a plan somewhat similar to the London Zoo and the 

 Jardin des Plantes of Paris is again being agitated. It is high 

 time that this matter should be taken in hand, for as we have 

 before said, it is a shame and a disgrace that New York should 

 have no " wild beast show" while other cities, such as Phil- 

 adelphia and Cincinnati, have excellent ones. The collection 

 at the Central Park, although good as far as it goes and ad- 

 mirably managed by Mr. Conklin, can never amount to any- 

 thing so long as it is under the city government. 



A number of applications have been made for some years 

 back to obtain the consent of the Park Commissioners of this 

 city to establish in Central Park an independent zoologxal 

 garden, but the Roard decided, and very properly, that the 

 Park could not be used for any such purpose. In 1879 the 

 Universal Conservatory and Zoological Garden Company was 

 formed for the purpose indicated above, and it is stated that 

 ground will be broken for the buildings as soon as the frost 

 is out of the ground. The site said to have been selected for 

 the garden is an admirable one. Thirty-three acres of land 

 have been purchased, we are told, north of One Hundred and 

 Fifty-fifth street, and between Eighth and St. Nicholas ave- 

 nues. This is about one mile from the High Bridge, and at 

 the present terminus of the West Side Metropolitan Elevated 

 Railway, overlooking the Harlem River and including a con- 

 siderable area of low flat ground, a steep hillside and a pla- 

 teau on a level with the highest portion of the island at that 

 point. A location more admirably fitted for the purpose to 

 which it is to be devoted could scarcely have been found on 

 Manhattan Island. 



It is stated that the plans for the buildings have been 

 drawn, and it is to be hoped that, work on them will be begun 

 as soon as the weather will permit. The following descrip- 

 tion of the proposed garden has been published : 



The main entrance to the garden i8 to be on the corner of One 

 Hundred and Fifty-seventh street and Eighth avenue. Here it is 

 proposed to erect a building 100 by 90 feet, in Moorish style, for 

 of the company, with a series of arcades fronting on Eighth 

 , for the tropical carnivora. 



For the larger tropical animals thore will be an extension of 

 these arcades along One Hundred and Fifty-eighth street, 525 feet 



length and 50 feet wide, while the arcades on Eighth avenue will 

 be 1,090 feet long and 75 feet wide. Pavilions are to be erected on 

 both comers. Xbc garden will be divided by the main avenue, 70 

 feet wide. To the north, directly opposite a large fountain, will be 

 a Chinese pagoda 05 by 125 feet. West of this temple, at the foot 

 of a bhilV, will be the antelope house, 40 by 80 feet, while to the 

 right will be a stone quarry. This will be converted into bear pits, 

 which will adjoin the owl and bat ruin, running along the wall of 

 the aqnaduct for a length of 250 feet. The top of these raiiis will 

 form a promenade 15 feet wide, leading to the dairy building. 



At the fountain in the main avenue will be an ornamental mon- 

 key house in Moorish style, the building being 70 by HO feet. 

 West of the monkey house will bo a grotto for the Polar bears and 

 seals. 



The most prominent buildings of the garden will be on the 

 bluffs, which rise one hundred feet above the level of the ground. 

 Here it in proposed to place a conservatory and palm garden, 225 

 by 125 feet, with arcades which will form a square and contain 

 restaurants. The space inside the arcades will be arranged like a 

 terrace garden and so constructed aa to be covered during the win- 

 ter by glass frame-work. There will also be another extension of 

 the conservatory, 110 feet by 95 feet, on the east side, arranged es- 

 pecially for water plants. 



Fifty feet from the northwest corner of the arcades will bo the 

 observatory, whose tower will rise 210 feet above the foundation 

 and 325 feet above the level of Eighth avenue. 



The capital stock of the company is fixed at 52,000,000 in stock 

 and Ssl.000,000 in first mortgage bonds. 



It is earnestly to be hoped that this project may be carried 

 through. That such an institution would pay, if properly 

 managed, scarcely admits of doubt, and its value as a public 

 educator cannot be over-estimated. 



For Gentlemen Handlbrb.— The Forest and Stream 

 desires to offer at the Lmpirtaut Field Trials to be run the 

 coming autumn certain prizes, to be competed for by dogs 

 owned and worked by amateur handlers. It is too soon to 

 announce the exact conditions which will govern the run- 

 ning for these prizes, or to say of just what the latter will con- 

 sist- It is probable, however, that a number of cups and 

 gold medals will be offered to be run for at the different 

 events, to be won by the best dog owned and haudied by a 

 sportsman who has never received compensation for breaking 

 a dog, and who is not a market shooter. 



The object of announcing such a series of prizes is, of 

 course, to encourage among non-professional sportsmen the 

 training of their owu dogs, or at least the proper working of 

 these after they have been trained. 



It will scarcely be denied, as a general proposition, that 

 comparatively few of the men who shoot know how to prop- 

 erly handle dogs. Each one of course thinks that he is 

 ported, but will readily enough agree that most of his fel- 

 lows' are not; and as no small portion of a dog's success 

 in such a competition depends on his handler, we are 

 inclined to think the prizes which we wish to offer may 

 have the good effect of showing to each man the excellences 

 of some methods and the faults of others. A competition of 

 this kind, open to all non-professional sportsmen, should 

 bring out a very large representation of the men who, own- 

 ing only one or two dogs, and those good ones, shoot almost 

 the whole season through and kill much game. We look 

 forward with much pleasurable anticipation to seeing such a 

 competition inaugurated, and if the field trials clubs will 

 arrange for sucharunniug we shall be pleased to contribute 

 the prizes. We shall have more to say on this subject here- 

 after. 



We See by tub Daily; Papehs that one Al. Johnson, a 

 grizzly bear hunter, of Calaveras County, Cat, after a scalp- 

 rending tussle with Biiun, is now lying in an extremely 

 mangled and critical condition. There is nothing remarka- 

 bly strange in this state of affairs, except that the bear hunt- 

 er and the daily papers began to lie in this same way sev- 

 eral winters ago. It is about time for the attaches of our en- 

 terprising contemporaries to either let him up or give him 



decent burial. 



, ^.^.^, 



Fools and Snakes. — Eve was the first victim of the ser- 

 pent's wiles and Adam the second. The list is a long one, 

 and not yet finished. The latest on record is the man who 

 recently bought a petrified snake out in Western New York, 

 and who afterward discovered his treasure to be constructed 

 of sand, hair and fraud. 



The history of serpent worship is most curious, the history 

 of fools most instructive, and the study of the two in con- 

 nection is both curious and instructive. Cardiff giants, 

 planted Muldoons, dug-up snakes, petrified monsters, rogues 

 and dupes are multitudinous and coexistent upon the face of 

 the earth. The geographical distribution is the same ; where 

 one is there will the other be also. 



It was not so long ago that we looked on at the NewYork 

 Aquarium while the scientific elders of the city solemnly 

 studied the dimensions of the graven image of a tailed man, 

 and listened to the glib lies of one Conant, the fellow who 



had the bogus petrifaction in charge. In due time the whole 

 story of the fraud came out ; but whether the schemers were 

 punished we do not now recall. The fellows who sold this 

 last snake swindle have been arrested, and it is to be hoped 

 that they rnay have an opportunity of displaying their artis- 

 tic taste in stone work for a term of years in the State Prison. 



The American Cricketer— a little newspaper devoted to 

 the interests of the "noble game of cricket" — reaches us this 

 mouth with a new design at its head, in which are used f©r 

 ornamentation the implements generally to be found on the 

 cricket field. The design is appropriate, and notable for its 

 artistic effect. It is a decided improvement to the paper, 

 and has none of the "amateurishness" that was somewhat 

 characteristic of the old heading. We take this opportunity 

 of saying a good word for the little cricket paper. It is pub- 

 lished purely as a labor of love to the game, aud its useful- 

 ness is unquestionable. Through its columns may be learned 

 all about what is doing in the development of cricket in 

 America, so that the ex-cricketer may not remain in dark- 

 ness, although he be prevented from taking an active part in 

 it. Those of our readers who have an interest in the matter 

 may obtain a sample copy gratis by addressing the editor, at 

 413 Walnut street, Philadelphia. 



h. .», — . 



Spurgeon Has Preached a Sermon from the text "Be- 

 ware the Dog," in which he talks of that animal in a manner 

 little creditable to himself as an Englishman, a humane man, 

 or a clergyman. We commend to Spurgeon a perusal of the 

 instructive "Current Dog Stories," which appear from time 

 to time iu the Forest and Stream. 



There ts Some Doubt about the New Hampshire Fish and 

 Game League having a meeting this year. The president, of 

 the League says that the Commissioners have left the society 

 nothing to do. 



yortstman Eoumt 



A TRIP THROUGH THE PROVINCES. 



OUR party, consisting of Walter Hubbard, F. G. Mark- 

 ham aud the writer, left Boston, May 28, for St. John, 

 N. B., thence, to Halifax, and returned via Intercolonial 

 Railroad lo Moncton, Campbellton, River Du Loup, Que- 

 bec, White Mountains aud back to Boston— covering a dis- 

 tance of 1,757 miles in three weeks' time, at an expense of 

 only about f 100, the details of which follow, with a sum- ' 

 mary of lime, miles and expenses. Our prime object was to 

 see new places, experience new sensations and take salmon 

 and trout en route, if they deigned to rise to our flies. To 

 taking salmon we plead not guilty ; to the other charge, 

 guilty. We experienced a delightful trip, caught quantities 

 of large trout, but found ourselves too . arly for salmon, 

 which this year, owing to a cold and backward season, had 

 not yet commenced running up the rivers. We visited sev- 

 eral famous salmon pools where last year salmon were taken 

 in considerable quantities. Our objective point for the latter 

 was Fraser's Pool on the Restigouche, and it was not until 

 we reached Halifax that we learned the New York Club had 

 purchased all rights there. This somewhat disconcerted our 

 plans. We pursued the even tenor of our way, however, 

 and rested content with what came in our path. " 



Taking the Eastern Railroad at Boston at 7 p. m. we 

 reached Bangor at 5:30 A. M, next' morning. A free carriage 

 took us to the Penobscot Exchange Hotel, the best there, 

 where we got a good breakfast for fifty cents. At 7:17 the 

 train left on the European and N. A. R. R. for St. John 

 (only one train a day). 



From Bangor to St. John the ride is an exceedingly dull 

 one, as the road passes through a very uninviting country, 

 mostly woods, whose dreary aspects are not enlivened by 

 any interesting features. At 12:50 p. M. you reach Vuuce- 

 boro. where the train stops about twenty minutes for dinner, 

 which is good at a charge of fifty cents. 



At 5:30 you reach St. John. As you near St. John the 

 woods disappear, the country becomes hilly, green grass and 

 flowering meads appear, and waving fields of grain and 

 rustic farmhouses greet the eye. At St. John terminus the 

 train leaves you at the ferry landing, where the vociferating 

 hackman will relieve you of all care of luggage, etc. Five 

 minutes ride takes you across au arm of the Bay of Fuudy, 

 and you are in St. John City. 



" Hotel Dufferiu " is the house you will hie to if wise, and 

 although it is not all that could be desired, still it is the best, 

 since the " big fire " swept away the " Victoria," and with 

 it half the city. It is kept by the former proprietor of the 

 " Victoria," aud is favorably located and comfortable. 



Sunday 1 , the 30th, we spent roaming about this an- 

 cient city, visited the falls of St. John, shipping, etc. 

 The. traces of the big fire of '77 are scarcely to be noted now, 

 so that the city is" still a, beautiful one. Saturday eve, 1 

 omitted to note, we visited D. Scribner & Sons and Charles 

 Baillie's tackle stores, and laid in a supply of fishing tackle 

 aud flies. The former makes the better rod, while the latter 

 ties l he bettor fly. 



Monday, May 31, we embarked on the Empress at 8 a. m. 

 to cross the Bay of Fundy. The steamer runs tri-weckly — 

 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It was a stormy morn- 

 ing, and the " General Order No. 1 " from the captain to the 

 crew as we left the wharf to "prepare for rough weather" 

 was suggestive of a stormy passage, which on this bay means 

 business for all hands, passengers included 



However it did not prove very rough, and we reached An- 

 napolis about 2 p. m., and took the Halifax train, via Wind- 

 sor aud Annapolis Railroad. From Annapolis to Halifax 

 (130 miles) is one of the most enjoyable rides in the Prov- 

 inces. The conductor who runs this train, Mr. Edwards, de- 

 serves more than a passing remark. He has been upon the 

 road longer than any other employee, and has risen from an 

 humble position to conductor, and deserves even belter. He 

 is the most courteous, good matured and obliging I ever met, 

 and carries souvenirs of his popularity iu the shape of a gold 

 watch, charms, etc., presented him by fellow travelers. The 

 route traversed by this division of the road is through the 



