FOREST AND STREAM 
369 
At sunrise we were awake, but our eyes wore blinded by 
mosquitoes, which were so thick inside of the mosquito 
net that we killed them by hundreds. One of thy frionds 
told rue that they were big enough to shoot on the Wing, and 
that he had been trying it; butI think it was only in his 
Bleep. 1 had two hundred and fifteen biles on my two 
hands. 
AS soon as we had had breakfast, which was the same as 
the supper, with the addition of a Mule pork, we took a 
row on the beautiful Blue Springs, which is about half a 
mile in length, with largo trees on each side. The water 
is very clear, and we saw the bottom distinctly; quantities 
of fish were swimming about, from the smallest minnows 
to the largest bass. Near the mouth we saw what looked 
like a large fish swimming near the surface, and one of my 
friends shot it, and we discovered that one fish had failed 
in trying to swallow another almost as large ns himself, 
and when we saw them.they were both dying. After this 
excitement half the party started tip the river snipe shoot¬ 
ing, and w T e went down stream after an alligator that we 
heard blowing like a bull. We saw him, but did not kill 
him, and went on shooting birds of different kinds, till at 
last we saw a coon curled up in a tree sound asleep. We 
shot him, but he ran away. Further on wo saw a large 
moccasin snake swimming towards us, but did not shoot 
him. Turning the boat, we had rowed half-way hack to 
camp when we met a man paddling towards us, who told 
us that a party of ladies wanted to see us, aud the sound 
of voices made us hurry on to camp, where we recognised 
three friends from Enterprise, who bad driven over to see 
us. We had a very nice time together, although they 
.laughed at our housekeeping, but soon left us, as they had 
a hard drive ot ten miles before them. 
The next day, after the boat had been packed as before 
described, with the addition of some orange canes and 
Some gray moss, we had a hard pull up the river. We 
got some alligators and came up to the test of our party, 
who were shooting snipe, and stopped half an hour to 
watch them. It was very exciting. They had to shoot 
right and left with great rapidity, as a quantity of birds 
were started up at every step. At last we got tired, and 
with a few parting words “about mosquitoes.” we hurried 
on, and after a pull of thirty miles, entered Lake Monroe, 
which, unfortunately, was very rough. Being in a flat- 
bottomed boat the waves splashed in,"and by the time we 
beached the landing wet was not a large enough word to 
describe us. We were therefore glad to have a bright lire 
and a good big supper, after which we felt ready to go 
through it again. Then we had to toll of our adventures 
and paint our camp in glowiug colors; but at last, could go 
to bed, and so good night ! Tip Top. 
S s h § ultur L*' 
Canadian Salmon.—A great improvement has been 
made in the Canadian fisheries during the last ten years. 
By a better system of inspection, the trout streams have 
been kept free front impurities, and unlawful Ashing has 
diminished; whilst by the more extensive propagation of 
salmon, principally through the enterprise of Mr. S. 
Wilmot, of Newcastle, Ont, The lakes and streams are be¬ 
coming more plentifully supplied with fish. As a pleasing 
result'of this, fish is no longer an expensive luxury in the 
market for the gratification of the wealthy, 1ml is now sold 
at moderate prices, and within the reach of all; and by 
reason of more extensive sales there is an increased revenue 
to the country. 
Tn some respects, however, other improvements are 
needed, and to one of these special attention is now being 
devoted. It is suggested by the Commissioners of Fisheries 
that the salmon stands in different rivers are too numerous, 
and that these should he reduced cither by lessening the 
number of licenses or by associating together the owners of 
different stands, and granting Joint licenses for a reduced 
number of places. This would he a saving of exoeuso to 
the fishermen, and would result in an increase of fish in the 
rivers. 
In the Province of Quebec tho plan has been tried on a 
limited scale, and with marked results. Since 1868 the 
salmon fishery there has yielded an iucrease of nearly three 
lmndred per cent. As an illustration, it is said that in the 
river Moisie there were in 1858 not less than 15,000 
fathoms of nets, whicli secured only 75,000 ills of fish; 
whereas in 1875 there were only 2,500 fathoms of nets, 
and yet the yield was 204,000 lbs. of fish. This astounding 
increase was due entirely to better inspection and more dis¬ 
criminate fishing. In Ontario similar facts may he quoted; 
and in many places where, a few years ago, fish were 
hardly to lie caught they are now so plentiful as to be 
almost thrown away, . 
The inference is that it pays to take care of fisheries. In 
reality Canada possesses a great source of wealth in rivers 
and lakes. Every year llieir value is increasing; and the 
more prudently they are guarded the more they will yield 
to the substance of the people and the revenue of the 
Government. 
Fish Culture in Canada.— Advices to the Fisher¬ 
ies Department state that the greatest success has attended 
the distribution of young salmon bred at the hatching- 
houses of Restigouche, Tadousac, Gaspe, aud Mirimicln. 
Six hundred thousand young fish were placed in the rivers 
and streams of the maritime provinces. Mr. Wilmot, iu 
charge of the Government hatching-houses at, Sandwich 
and Newcastle, Ontario, has placed in the waters of the 
Detroit river no less than 10,000,000 white-fish fry and vivi¬ 
fied eggs, which were liberated early this spring. 
Spake the Fingertjngs. —Our contemporary the Rut¬ 
land, Vermont, Herald, in an article deploring the rapid 
diminution iu the number of trout in Vermont waters 
touches upon the real cause of the evil in. the following 
p iragraph. After reciting the other agencies at work, such 
as the taking, of trout at improper times and by improper 
methods, and the effects of sawmills and dams,it says:— 
“These three causes of the depletion of our mountain 
Streams, fatal as they are, are as nothiug compared to 
another; an every day evil, but also susceptible of an every 
day remedy if we choose to apply it. The subject of this 
article was suggested by an account in one of our morning 
exchanges of the wonderful success of Mr. So and So, who 
had taken, in one day’s fishing, one hundred and seveuty- 
four trout, weighing eleven pounds. Now if this person 
had taken two more fish, his entire catch would have 
averaged just one ounce each. A 'ot one of these trout ever 
had n I'hanco to try to propagate its species. At the most they 
could not have been over two years old, and it is well 
known that yearling trout do not deposit spawn, These 
Lrout, granting them to have been two years old, would 
have deposited tlicir first eggs this coming November if 
they had been given the opportunity to do so. But it was 
not to be. The slaughter of the innocents had been con¬ 
summated and it is too late to talk about them. There was 
no law to preveut it and it is very unlikely that the lucky 
(?) fisherman ever had it occur to his mind that the question 
of the size of the catcli had anything to do with the future 
supply, or that there was auy impropriety in taking these 
small trout. And what was it all for ? Was it for sport ? 
The. very men who bring home these baskets of fingerlings 
will always say that it is not sport. Are they fit for food ? 
Well, tastes differ, They are trout, and trout are a deli¬ 
cacy, hut for us such fish when brought to table are simply 
a mixture of corn meal and pork fat with just euough back 
bone to hold the morsel together, flavorless and free from 
any suspicion of the gatney delicious flavor of a full-fed 
fish of one quarter or one-half a poutid weight. Is not 
this “killing the goose that lays the golden egg" with a 
vengeance ? Is it not worse, is it not, killing the goose be- 
fore she has a chance to lay any kind of an egg ? Is it not 
eloar that this wickedly wasteful course, if persisted in, 
will inevitably lead to extermination ? Illegal and im¬ 
proper modes of fishing have done their share and saw 
mills have done much more to destroy our fisheries, but it 
is the destruction of the younglings that has been the mMn 
cause of the present poverty of our once fruitful streams. 
What cau he done to remedy the evil ? There is no law to 
say that trout of one size may be taken and another may 
not. There remains then only the appeal to the good sense 
and the generous feeling of every good sportsman to spare 
the babes. Let us give them one year at least in which 
they may make the effort t,o reproduce their kinds and then 
wc shall receive in the not remote future large dividends to 
repay us for our present self-denial. 
Trout in Wells. —Few people are aware of the quan¬ 
tity of dirt that falls into a well aud increases the impurity 
of the water. The filth ooines iu the form of worms, flies, 
bugs, grasshoppers, and every thing in the insect tribe that 
flies or crawls about the yard. Nine-tenths of this insect 
filth would be eaten by a' good sized trout, and when put 
in a well, a lrout requires hut little attention, other than to 
give him a few broad crumbs iu winter, and flies and grass¬ 
hoppers in summer, for in eating habits a trout is as vora¬ 
cious as a crow, or, like him, can subsist on a very small 
quantity of food. In my well a common brook trout had 
nothing to cat save what fell into the well by accident, and 
a few grasshoppers in summer, for five years; yet in the 
aquarium, a trout six inches long will regularly eat two or 
ihiee minnows a day, and When first taken from thebiook, 
he will eat double that amount of minnows two inches long. 
Yet in the well tended aquarium this speckled member of 
the finny tribe excels the trout in his native haunts as much 
as does the high grade or full blood Shorthoru, the native 
steer. In fact, 1 think this is a truthful comparison, and 
any one who is familiar with the trout in the shady pool of 
sparkling water, and in the aquarium will endorse this 
assertion. 
Although a trout has a very large mouth, and “can eat 
his bigness" for broakraBt, dinner, and supper, I would not 
pul a smaller than a six inch trout iu a well, aud only one 
unless great care can he exercised to feed them regularly, 
for Ihe larger will devour the sumller. 
Considerable pleasure eau be derived from seeing a trout, 
iu the well come to the surface of the water, and some¬ 
times quite out of the water to take a fly ot'grasshopper 
Thrown to him.— lirchange. . 
SALMON CULTURE IN NOVA SCOTIA. 
Halifax, July 1st, 1875. 
* Editor Forest and Stream:— 
I noticed in the Forest and Stream of June 22d, a par¬ 
agraph about the distribution of salmon fry from the fish 
breeding establishment at Bedford, near this city, which is 
slightly inaccurate as regards the number placed in River 
Philip, Cumberland Oo. It, should have been 140,000 in¬ 
stead of 10,000. 1 think, Mr. Wilmot deserves great credit 
for his endeavors to replenish our rivers with salmon, and 
in order that all possible publicity should be given the 
successful result of his labors, I trust that you will make 
Ihe correction. 1 may say that Mr. Wilmot did not succeed 
in getting to Gold river with the 10,000 intended for that 
place owing to the roughness of the road. But fearing 
that he might lose them on the way, he very wisely put 
them into Indian and Ingram rivers, St. Margaret’s Bay; 
thus saving them for the country, aud replenishing two 
rivers in which they are much required. I send you a pa¬ 
per containing an account of some convictions for illegally 
selling nets, from which you will see that a sharp look out 
is kept for offenders. Friz Cochran. 
Secretary Game and Inland Protective Society. 
—A writer in Nature says that he has often noticed dur¬ 
ing spring and summer that flowers appear to follow the 
spectrum from the blue of tbe wild hyacinth to the deep 
scarlet of summer flowers. During autumn he noticed the 
same gradations in colors; and he asks whether the actinic 
lavs of the sun are not in greater force during spring, and 
whether these chemical rays are not those which revivify 
seeds and plants after llieir winter’s hibernation? 
—In one tank of Dr. Dobru’s aquarium at Naples three 
great cuttle-fishes lived with three lobsters. At length a 
fourth lobster of great size aud strength was put in, and 
was inetantlv attacked by the largest cuttle-fish, and a 
desperate fight ensued. The contest being renewed day 
after day, the lobster was finally withdrawn and placed in 
an adjoining tank. But this was not the end of the mat¬ 
ter, The cuttle-fish, bent on massacreing his enemy, left 
the water, climbed over the partition separating him from 
the lobster, and renewed his assaults. He gained the vic¬ 
tory this time, and, when discovered, was found to have 
slain the lobster and literally torn it in halves. This con¬ 
duct of the cephalopod in following his enemy stems to 
indicate an intelligence unusual to them. 
J^turnl fisforg. 
DA D D Y-LO NG-LEGS. 
Daddy-long-legs is in a general way objectionable, but 
be is particularly so at the present time in and near London. 
A considerable number of grass plots in places of public 
resort are just now absolutely destitute of grass, and pre¬ 
sent a most deplorable appearance. There can be no 
doubt the proximate cause of this state of things is the dark, 
sausage-like grub of Daddy-long-legs (the crane-fly, Tipula 
oleracea). This insect belongs to the Dipiera, the order 
of flies, and is classified near the gnats and gad-flies, 
IgnoraDt persons fear them in the adnlt state although 
they are perfectly harmless; but in their larval stage they 
are fearful pests. This larva has a peculiar taste for grass- 
turf, it is partial also to lettuce, strawberries, and, indeed, 
will eat almost any kittlien garden vegetables, and has a 
fanny for a feast in a seed-bed, where it will thin the rows 
of seedling plants with a severity worthy of a better cause, 
The extent to which the pest has spread in some districts 
of London is almost past belief. Some spots in that large 
and useful open space, London Fields, are literally alive 
with them, especially around the foot of the gas lamps; 
the new garden in Leicester square is desolated of grass; 
the turf oa the Thames Embankment gardens is unusually 
thin, and the yards of private houses are destitute every¬ 
where. A few years ago the turf of Blackheath forest was 
much injured by them. Yet this is only in the cities. “As 
soon," says the Gardner’s Magazine, with an application 
equally good for American readers, “ as we escape from 
the town we find the grass turf everywhere in good condi¬ 
tion, or if not so, at least not seriously injured by this 
ravager. What makes the difference? The answer to this 
question will come by observation. Wherever song birds 
are fairly plentiful grass thrives, and where they are 
scarce daddy-long-legs has it all his own way, and Dibbles 
among the grass just above the toots; or as the garduera 
say, “ between wind and water.” It is true that in most 
town localities sparrows abound, but these active foragers 
rarely hunt for earth grubs, whereas tlie thrush, the black¬ 
bird, and the whole tribe of warblers that come here for the 
summer season, subsist chiefly on insects, and fiom day¬ 
break to dusk pursue their useful calling as supplementary 
gardeners. We caunot, of course, compel song birds to 
locate themselves iu tuwns, but we are bound in the inter¬ 
est of one of the principal charms of English rural scenery 
-that is, fresh green turf—to protect them to the utmost 
of our power, and happily the well planted suburbs of 
most of our great towns are plentifully stocked with these 
delightful and useful creatures. It will be found that 
wherever song birds abound the keeping of grass turf is a 
comparatively easy mailer, but wherever they happen to 
be scarce the Tipula is a frequent and powerful enemy. 
The moral is obvious, blit it does not go fur.” 
HISTORY OF THE PRAIRIE-DOG. 
T HE prairie-dog (Gynomys ludomcianus ) is a very amus¬ 
ing little rodent animal, much resembling the mar¬ 
mot, about the size of our small hare, of a light silvery 
gray color, body of medium proportions, head, legs, toes, 
long nails much resembling the woodchuck’s, tail short 
and waggish, and motions always very sprightly. Like 
the marmot ot the higher regions of the Alps and Pyren- 
nees, lie inhabits only the more elevated prairies of the- 
great, West. Northerly, lie is believed to extend up to, if 
not beyond, the Misionri River. Westerly, he reaches 
well up to the Rocky Mountains; southerly, he is fouud as 
far as San Saba county, Central Texas, and is pushing his 
boundaries. Easterly, his limit is about 98-i WestLongi- 
tude—all least I have never found him east of this line on 
any of our marches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Kan¬ 
sas River. It is worthy of especial notice that this easter¬ 
ly line of their habitations (981°) is the natural line sepa¬ 
rating Urn immense graiu-prodDoing regions of tbe east 
from the rich and almost boundless pastoral lands o’ the 
west. Beyond it no grain can be raised without irrigation, 
for the rains that fall are untimely for crops; and the little 
dogs stand like tentinulB for l,00i) miles along this line, 
warning the emigrant farmer, and inviting the stock- 
raiser. Tite country he inhabits is the land of the sweet¬ 
est and most nutritious grasses, more than 100 species of 
which are natural to Texas alone. It is a high region hav¬ 
ing a mean elevation of ,£,000 feet. It is dry and remark¬ 
ably healthful, Since they are spread over such a vast re¬ 
gion it is evident that they must migrate; but the manner 
of their doing so is not understood. Do they spread singly 
or in colouies? and do they make any seasonal movements? 
Some of our army officers ought to be able to tell us. They 
do not hibernate in Texas, for I have seen them out and 
lively as a cricket iu mid-winter. But I think he must hi¬ 
bernate in the cold and snowy regions of the northern 
plains. Information.is wanted on this point, and also to 
fix more definitely his extreme northern and western lim¬ 
its; the time of bearing his young, and the number pro¬ 
duced at one time. 
The prairie dog burrows in the ground like the 
woodchuck, and is found in communities of various sizes 
scattered over the broad region. His aggregate numbers 
are countless, aud bis pie-emptive rights indisputable. 
The Comanche tradition is; “In-gins always find plai-lie 
dog here; may-be so, just like In-gin, he come up out of 
de ground right here." They are decidedly social in all 
their habits, aud llieir places of living are called “prairie- 
dog towns.” Iu some towns there may not be over 50 or 
100 dogs, while in others they number thousands, and their 
burrows, a rod or so apart, may bo continuous for miles. 
They are wise engineers, and generally select for their 
