136 
FOREST AND STREAM 
- 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
DEVOTED TO FlEI.D AND AQUATIC SPORTS, PRACTICAL NATULiAI. IIlPTORY, 
toll CtlLTDRE, THB PROTECTION OP (>AWE,PRESERVATION OF FORESTS, 
and toe Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 
is Out-dooe Recreation and Study : 
PUBLISHED BY 
Rarest and ^(reauf $$nblifihing 
17 CHATHAM. STREET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK, 
TPost OrprcE Box 3832.) 
128 SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 
Term*, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 
A discount ol twenty-five percent, allowed lot five copies andnpwards. 
' Advertising Kates. 
In rogular advertising columns> nonpareil type. 12 lineB to the inch, 2E 
Cents per line. Advertisements on outside page. 40 cents per line. Reading 
notices, 50 cents per lino. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 
month, a discount of 10 per cent, will be made; over three months, 20 
percent.; over six months, 30 per cent. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL (i, 1870. 
To Correspondents. 
All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 
Correspondence, must be addressed to Tub Fohkst and Stream Pub¬ 
lishing Comp ant. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 
All communications intended for publication mnst be accompanied with 
real name, as a guaranty of good faith, Barnes will not be published if 
objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 
Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 
We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 
Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor ns with brief 
notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 
to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle¬ 
men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other; and they will 
And our columns a desirable medinm for advertising announcements. 
The publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 
patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re¬ 
fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 
s beantiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 
the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 
tend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise¬ 
ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 
erms; and nothing will he admitted to any department of the paper that 
may not be Tead with propriety in the home circle. 
We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mall service, if 
money remitted to us is lost. 
Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 
CHARLES HALLOCR,Editor. 
WILLIAM C. HARRIS, Business Manager. 
—The last Grand Promenade Concert of Gilmore’s 22d 
Regiment Band was given on Saturday evening last. The 
attendance on this occasion was larger than at any previous 
concert. The New York Choral Union under the direction 
of Mr. Gilmore, sung several pieces in very praiseworthy 
style, among which Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “Ameri¬ 
can Hymn,” music by Keller, was received by the large and 
fashionable audience in a very flattering manner. The over¬ 
tures and selected pieces by the band were all performed in 
the'usual masterly way; while the solos of Mr. Arbuckle, 
on the cornet, and Mr. E. A. Lefebre, on the saxaphone, 
were received with a perfect storm of applause. During the 
evening Mr. Gilmore was decorated with a badge of honor, 
given by bis numerous friends, for which he returned 
thanks in a neat little speech. The Band took their de¬ 
parture ou last Sunday for San Francisco, where they will 
give a series of musical entertainments. We wish them 
all success. _ _ _ 
—The "Rod and Gklii" is publishing a series of letters, 
more or less scientific, from Greene Smith, Esq., relating to 
the southwest coast of Florida, covering in great part the 
course followed by our correspondent, “A1 Fresco,” two 
winters ago. Mr. Smith is making a collection of birds 
and creatures, and his observations will, no doubt, result 
in valuable contributions to the rather limited knowledge 
we have of the natural history of that section. Greene 
Smith has a happy faculty of combining pleasure with 
well-directed labor, which his friends will readily acknow¬ 
ledge. _ _ _ 
—A gentleman who has passed the winter on Indian 
River and the adjacent waters in Florida, writes:— 
“Prospects brighter on the Halifax River, many new 
settlers are coming in; land is rising in price, lots in Day 
tona, which two years ago were selling at $200,are now worth 
$400. Three years ago two small vessels could do all the 
business between these rivers and Jacksonville, now there 
are five, besides two lost this year on the bar, anil they all 
fiud plenty of freight; and probably a steamer will be put 
in the water by the next Beason.” 
—A new “Foot-and-mouth Disease” is making rapid 
progress in England. Its other names are Rinks, and 
Spelling Bees. _ _ 
—A few English snipe have been killed near Bergen 
Point and on the Hackensack Meadows, in New Jersey, 
but the flight has not yet arrived,. 
CHOKE-BORING. 
I N reply to numerous questions as to what comprised 
choke-boring, or in what manner the process was per- 
formed, wa have answered to the best of our knowledge 
on the subject, that it consisted in enlarging Die bore for 
a certain distance within the barrel near the muzzle, leav¬ 
ing it at the original size both above and below the en¬ 
larged part. We might have qualified this statement some- 
wliiit by remarking that in the barrels of some manufac¬ 
turers tile portion of the barrels at or just within the muz¬ 
zle was somewhat smaller than the bore just behind the 
enlarged portion, but the difference, if any, is trivial. A 
correspondent who had asked for information on this sub¬ 
ject, after repeating our reply, says:— 
"All the choke-bored guns that I have seen appear to be 
constricted in bore just at or within an inch of the muz¬ 
zle. The editor of the Field in ‘General Remarks of Gun 
Trial, 1875,’ says of choke-boring: ‘It is now generally ad¬ 
mitted that there are at least two distinct modes of boring 
the new guns, well represented by Mr. Greener and Messrs. 
Scott,’ and that by use of his callipers he is ‘in possession 
of the exact measurements of these two methods,’ which 
he is confidentially restrained from disclosing, hut states 
that ‘a point common to all modifications he has examined 
is the existence of a contraction at the muzzle.' The ques¬ 
tion is an interesting one in mechanics, and a more compli¬ 
cated one than supposed by many, if your answer be ac¬ 
cepted and understood, that the enlargement of the bo>e 
is to be commenced at the distance of six inches from the 
muzzle, and then extended downward toward the breech 
for the extent of three inches more, say in a 80 or 32-inch 
ban-el. May I take the liberty to ask if your reply is 
based upon certain knowledge from a credible artisan of 
skill and experience in this line, or from actual careful 
measurements, and in what brand of gun this method 
of choke-boring may be examined?’' 
The editor of the Field might have gone still further and 
stated that there were three or even four distinct modes of 
choke-boring, for Messrs. Dougall and Pape claim methods 
of their own, each differing; or supposed to differ, materi¬ 
ally from the others. Since receiving our correspondent’s 
letter we have taken the opportunity of examining guns of 
Messrs. Seott and Greener, and certainly find a marked 
difference in the apparent mode of boring- Our own error 
was in stating, upon hearsay, that the constriction com¬ 
menced at six inches from the muzzle, and then extended 
for three inches towards the breech. In a gun of Messrs. 
Scott, which we have recently examined, and which was 
an extreme choke-bore, upon looking in the muzzle (with 
the breech open) there appeared to be a distinct shoulder 
at a distance of say six inches from the muzzle; precisely 
such a shoulder as appears in the- chambering of the gun. 
This settles the question as to the enlargement of the barrel, 
which must exist beyond the shoulder and towards the 
muzzle, From this apparent shoulder the bore gradually 
decreases until the muzzle is reached; we say gradually be¬ 
cause in looking from the barrels no other shoulder, or ap¬ 
parent shoulder, is to be seen. In the extreme choke-bore 
of Messrs. Greener we believe that this shoulder is to be 
seen, but we have had the opportunity of examining only 
his modified choke-bores, in which there appeared to be 
only a gradual constriction of the bore. The Field editor 
is correct in one sense, as there certainly is a contraction 
at the muzzle as compared with the bore a few inches 
beyond it. If we understand the theory of choke-boring 
correctly—and we confess to having found no one to explain 
it satisfactorily—it is that by enlarging a portion of the 
bore and again constricting it, the pellets which have a 
tendency to diverge from the common centre are again 
brought into a uniform position and take their direction 
with the entire charge, and in a more compact and gradu¬ 
ally expanding form. This might account for an evenness 
and closeness of pattern, but one would imagine that it would 
be at the expense of penetration, for an enlargement in the 
barrels would, we should suppose, permit of an escape of 
the gasses which would lessen the effect of the explosion 
of the powder. In the first choke-bore guns used in this 
country a false muzzle of a smaller bore was screwed on 
the gun barrel; but this could only be used in single guns. 
Mr. Dougall, iu his admirable work entitled “Shooting, its 
Appliances, Practice, and Purpose,” says that closeness 
and velocity are antagonistic, but that he has hit upon a 
method which renders them compatible and at the same 
time without undue wear on the gun. What that method 
is he is no more ready to disclose than are Messrs. Scott, 
Greener, or Pape. That an enlargement of the bore near 
the muzzle is a portion of the process is made additionally 
apparent by the fact that the first question a gunmaker 
asks when one proposes to have his gun altered to the new 
bore is, “are the barrels worn thin, and will they stand 
being bored out?” In fact if .choke-boring was merely a 
constriction of the barrels at the muzzle, how could old 
guns be choke-bored? 
Long ago we alluded to an old fowling piece, brought 
here during the war of the revolution, the barrel of which 
was choke bored, and which bore the date of 1774-Slamped 
upon it. The reader may find additional confirmation of 
the fact that the process is not a new one, and of the trite¬ 
ness of the saying that "there is nothing new-under the 
sun,” by referring to Miss Edgeworth's “Ormond,” written 
in 1798, In the edition published by Harper Broson 
page 137, will be found the following:— 
“O’Shane, besides being a good shot was an excellent 
mechanic; be beguiled the hours, when there was neither 
hunting or shooting, in a workshop, which was furnished 
with the best tools. Among his other occupations at the 
work bench, he was particularly skillful in making and ad¬ 
justing the locks of guns, and in boring and polishing the 
inside of their barrels to the utmost perfection; he had 
contrived and executed a tool for enlarging the barrel of 
a gun in any particular part, so as to increase its effect in 
adding to the force of the discharge, and in preventing the 
shot from scattering too widely.” 
Centennial Bom-Boats. —Philadelphia promises to have 
a large floating population, in a literal sense, during the 
continuance of the Centennial Exhibition, and the rivers • 
will be crowded with ns remarkable an array of craft as 
can be seen on the Pearl River at Canton, where thirty 
thousand persons live, move, and have their being, from 
one end of the year to the other, with nothing but a plank’s 
thickness between them and the water. We hear on cvery 
side of parlies being formed, and schooners being chartered, 
both as means of conveyance to Philadelphia, and for 
homes while there. All along the coast of New England, 
and even as far as New Orleans, such parties are being-, 
formed; old schooners are being fitted up with new cabins, 
and bunks, and dining saloons arranged in the holds, until 
they are transformed into floating hotels or dub-houses. 
It would remind an old Californian of the days of ’49, 
when crewless vessels were made to do duty as lodging- 
houses. On the south side of Long Island several vessels 
are being fitted up for the purpose of carrying Centennial 
parties, and if the reports we hear of the charges proposed 
by hotel and lodging-house keepers are correct, this mode 
of “doing” the Centennial will be very popular. Five 
dollars per day appears to bo the minimum price, at 
-which the stranger will be “taken iu,” while a less amount 
per capita would cover the entire expenses of a yachting 
party, and include the important item of transportation. 
And then the jollity and fun of such a parly when prop¬ 
erly composed can scarcely be described. A gun and a 
set of colors are important additions, and the expense of 
powder is well repaid in the noise and Bmoke attained, as 
well as the similar acknowledgments received in return. 
The trip to Philadelphia by water is amply diversified with 
sea and river sailing, and there is just enough “outside” 
work in it to make it interesting. Long Branch and Cape 
May can be visited en route, and perhaps a Bchoolof bluo- 
fish might be sufficiently accommodating to put in an 
appearance. We know of several such parlies and vessels 
fitting out, and if we can give any information, or be of 
service to our readers in bringing them together, it will 
afford us pleasure to do so. 
Mann’s Reactionary Health Lift is becoming quite) 
an interesting means of amusement, and profit at the) 
Produce and Cotton Exchanges, each of which has several: 
of the machines in use. Trials of strength and lifting 
mutches are alwayB in order, and competitive teams fre-' 
quently vie with each other for first place. The stimulus 
of competition keeps the machines in constant motion, and 
the exercise is doing an amount of good which the mem-i 
bers cannot at present realize- The theory of its use is toi 
promote free circulation of blood. When the lift is made,' 
with the body in its proper position, every muscle, nerve,i 
and blood-vessel is compressed and tautened to its fullest 
tension, circulation is checked for the instant, and then a 
reaction follows which sends the blood like a flood from its 
fountain head into the remotest vein, expelling foul se¬ 
cretions, breaking away obstructions, and reopening tuber¬ 
cles, vcscicles, and cells long since closed by disease or dis¬ 
use. By discretion in not over-doing or straining, the best 
results quickly follow the first trial. Many men whoso 
maximum lifting power at the outset was only 300 lbs., 
have acquired such nerve and vigor that in three months; 
they have lifted 700 }bs. A weight of 900 lbs. is not am 
extraordinary lift for a person of medium size, while one 
man who weighs but 140 lbs. lifts over 1,200 lbs. This is 
done without straps, or auy artificial appliance. 
Of course increased vigor promotes appetite and he) pa 
digestion; and healthy consumption of victuals in large 
quantities increases weight; so that while the exercise keeps 
a man in professional form, making him lean, hard, and 
fibrous, it also increases his weight and reduplicates him. 
It lias taken a long time to bring these machines into popu¬ 
lar favor, but now their universal use is assured among 
those who can spare a dollar or so each week to pay for 
their practice. Ten minutes a day is all that is absolutely 
necessary to devote to the exercise, for it is not the con¬ 
tinual use that accomplishes the result desired, but the re¬ 
action that follows the isolated effort. Wherofore we find 
that in economy of money, time, and force, this instrument 
is incomparable, and the exercise it affords desirable above 
all other modes in vogue. There are exercising rooms in 
all the principal cities, and one great advantage to the 
holder of a ticket is that it admits him to all alike. 
The Centennial Aquarium.— The foundations have 
been put in, and work commenced on the great salt water 
tank. This aquarium is to be twenty feet long by seven 
wide, by four deep; it is to be of cedar with a front ol 
glass one inch in thickness. The largest fresh water lank 
is to be of the same width and depth, but only ten feet 
long. 
The Ohio Fish Commission, through their Secretary, 
Mr. J. II. Kliffpart, has agreed to furnish a collection of 
the fishes of that State, and to keep the tanks supplied 
from time to time in case of loss. We hope soon to heat 
that New York, Michigan, and other States having fishes 
peculiar to their waters will follow suit and make this a grand 
display of American aquatic life. Since the offer ot a ten 
foot aligator was made in our last by Mr. Labadie, Messrs. 
C. Crossman & Son, of the Grossman House, Alexandria 
Bay, N. Y., have offered to forward a musealouge of the 
largest size caught between this and the opening of the 
Exhibition at their famous fishing grounds among Hit 
