116 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 

 D ?H OT S?' roFl " LD •"'dAhuatioSpobtb, P»aotioai.:Natubai.Hi6toby, 



ifOHlCtTLTtran, TH* PhOTEOTIOK OP GAMI.PKEBKBTATIONOrFOaBSTO, 

 AJTO THK IjJCtfLCATIOH IK M*N AND WOKEH OF A HEALTHY IHTKUS9T 



n« udt-doob Hecebahoh amd Studt: 



PUBLISHED BY 



£oresi m& &trem\ §abJislung fgomgatig, 



A.T 



IT CHATHAM STREET, (CITY HALL SQUAkE) NEW YORE, 

 [Post Omoi Box 2832.1 



T.rm., Four Dollars a Year, Strictly In Aivane*. 



Twenty-five per cent, off for Clubs;of Three or n 



Advertising Kates. 



Inside pages, nonpareil type, 20 cents per line: outside page, 80 cents. 

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

 columns, 40 conts per line. 



*** Any publisher inserting our prospectus as above one time, with 

 brier editorial noljee a ttllnss Mteatioo thereto, and sending marked copy 

 to us, will receive the Forest and Strram for oue year. 



SEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1877. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, whether relating to ouslnesB or literary 

 Correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub 

 LiBsiNs Company. Porsonal or private letters of course excepted. 



All com mun ications in tended for publication must he accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 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 us 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 uusirable medium 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- 

 ined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 Is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those baee 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 

 terms ; and 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 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. 



t3T" Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES HAL LOCK. 



Editor and Business Manager. 



Oub New Type. — Fbrest and Stream appears this 'week in a 

 full dress of new type, which we hope will please out near- 

 sighted and aged readers, as well as the rest. Types are 

 bound to wear out in a short time, whatever may betido the 

 editors; but the editors of this paper are good for some time 

 yet; while the fact of our investment in new type shows that 

 we have faith in its continuance and stability. 



By why don't more of our readers interest themselves to 

 get up clubs ? Three dollars for a twenty-page paper like 

 ours is cheap, isn't it ? 



The Weather Fifty Ybabs Acso. — A friend has sent to us 

 an extract from an old Philadelphia paper, date of 1830, 

 showing an interesting meteorological observation of "spring 

 weather," in that year, which may prove of .soine interest 

 now, as a comparison, in subject of the views of some who 

 claim that our olimate has undergone an entire change. 

 Prom it wo learn that on the 1st of March large nights of 

 robins, with cow-birds, and blue-birds, were observed. 

 Snow drops and hearts — oven in flower. Two vessels sailed 

 up the Schuylkill. On the 2d of the month, snow fell to the 

 depth of eight inches, and there was fine sleighing on the 

 morning of the 3d, (The last week of February had been 

 mild). With thaw imd rain, the snow disappeared by the 

 9th. On that day it grow cold again, and ice formed an inch 

 jn thickness. March 10th, thermometer 44 degrees in the 

 shade ; the warm weather bringing crowdB of black-birds 

 and ducks on the 11th. Warm weather continuing, peas and 

 potatoes were planted on the 15th. There was a light frost 

 on the morning of the 19th— thermometer 54 at 3 p, it. 

 Spring frogs heard piping. 22d— Large flocks of wild geese 

 flying north. 23— Thunder storms. 24th— Thin ice. 25th— 

 Snowing in the evening, and changing to rain on the 26th. 

 Large flocks of wild pigeons going South. Fine weather the 

 next four days, and rain on the 31st. April 1st, apricots in 

 bloom. On the 27th was a Bniart frost, the last of the 

 season. 



• ■«•» 



We have the reputation in this country of building some 

 rather queer railways, but they beat us all hollow in Canada. 

 At a recent examination before the Government Committee on 

 Bailways, it was discovered that many of the embankments in 

 the Western Canada Railway, was built of bmsh and%x with 

 a little dirt on top. 



& One of our Virginia exchanges tells us of an aged col- 

 ored woman in that vicinity "who has been making bread 

 fcr one family for the last fifty years. Three cheers for the 

 Old Dough-minion." 



FOREST FIRES IN FLORIDA— BURNING 

 FOR THE CATTLE RANGES. 



THE tenth of March is a "red letter day" in Florida, 

 for it begins the season of the annual burning of the 

 woods. One would think the lurid flames that stream up all 

 over the country would entitle the day to be marked doubly 

 red in the calendar. All round about the dense, dark smoke 

 rises above the forests, |urged upward by the hot flames, and 

 at night the horizon for miles is reddened with the glare that 

 tells of the sweeping devastation. The dry grass and buBhes 

 the "pine straw" or fallen leaves of the pine, tho scattered 

 legs of "light wood," or dead pitchy meat of the tree, and 

 the living pines themselves, furnish the fire with material; 

 and to what limit its ravages would extend were it not for the 

 occasional rainfall one could not tell. Many a rail fence 

 meets what might be called, when the inflammable nature of 

 the material is considered, its destiny, and leaves where it 

 once stood but a charred zig-zag track, which may serve to 

 guide the farmer in putting up another one after he has 

 ' 'mauled" out some new rails. 



The stranger might think those fires accidental, or due to 

 some one's carelessness; but there is no accident about it. It 

 is an act to promote the welfare of the numerous cattle who 

 range the woods for subsistence, and find therein but a very 

 meagre one. ' Florida woods furnish various tender, wild 

 flowers and berries, but tho grass is of the ' 'wire" kind, and 

 though tender and nourishing when young, by winter it be- 

 comes dry, tough, and wiry, and shows no disposition to 

 decay. Tho Floridian stock-owner, therefore, as soon as the 

 law permits, applies the match, and away goes the fire, 

 sweeping through tho woods, reducing everything on the 

 surface to ashes, and licking upward about the tall pines, 

 often to their utter destruction. 



It is not a pleasant sight to ride through the woods after 

 the burning. The desolation is almost complete; the earth 

 is a blackened waste; half burnt bushes, mutilated, scorched, 

 and withered palmettoes, everywhere about, and nothing of 

 verdure except we look high above to the foliage of the trees. 

 What is more suggestive of luxuriant tropical growth than 

 the bushy palmetto? Tough, elastic, and vigorous, it opens 

 its multitudes of large, jagged leaves to the sun, even in the 

 most barren places and under the most discouraging cir- 

 cumstances. A mighty determination to live is written all 

 over it; but it stands in the burned waste, overcome, shorn 

 of its vigor, and marred of its beauty. 



But this impressive desolation is only transient. The stock- 

 owner burned the woods to get new, tender grass for his 

 stock, and in a few days it comes springing from the ground 

 through the ashes. The palmettoes, too, and other shrubs, 

 will put forth new leaves, and out of this general death will 

 spring a hew and, perhaps, more glorious life. The cattle un- 

 derstand it all, and gather on the ' 'burn" thenceforward to 

 browse, while endeavoring, if possible to clothe their lean 

 sides with a little more flesh. 



It is generally'conceded in Florida, that, the burning of the 

 woods brings better grass, and therefore improves the condi- 

 tion ,of the stock: but one may question whether the end 

 gained is worth seeking, when the quality of the stock is 

 taken into consideration, and the fact that the destruction of 

 many pine trees necessarily results. Cattle are cheap, and 

 their meat inferior — one might almost say, unfit for market 

 purposes. s The value of a large herd is mainly for manuring, 

 which is done by the system of ' 'cowpenning;" but the yellow 

 pine, with its standard commercial value, it would seem 

 worth while to protect the growth of, even if the cattle do 

 not make out so well. However, the Floridian values his 

 stock — and the pine trees — well, the woods are full of them 

 yet, so the range is burnt over. 



Men who are extensively planting orange groves would be 

 glad to see some other system of keeping cattle, or else 

 have their presence dispensed with, for that very com- 

 mon reason, the necessity of fencing; and it may be that the 

 time will yet come when the orange interest will be so exten- 

 sive that the cattle interest will naturally yield to its welfare. 



THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION. 



THIBD PAPER. 



THE questions here suggesting themselves are, What is 

 the true order of education ? and, Which are the best 

 schools for the young ? A very prevalent error seems to be 

 this, that education consists in cramming into a child's brain 

 as much knowledge as it will conveniently or inconveniently 

 carry, and leaving its muscles and morals to take care of them- 

 selves. The sooner we got rid of this delusion and act upon 

 a truer knowledge, the better it will be for the rising and for 

 all future generations. The fact is known, though somehow 

 it but seldgm obtains practical recognition, that there are 

 teachers graduated from no normal school or college, and 

 schools not built of brick and mortar. When this truth is 

 fully understood and digested, the discovery will follow that 

 what ought to be considered the natural order of education, 

 has been inverted — that instead of neglecting the moral and 

 physical systems, and devoting the whole energies to rearing 

 the intellect, the former should be the ground-work upon which 

 to raise the intellectual superstructure. A boy may show 

 genius sufficient to warrant his guardians predicting for him 

 the career of a Faraday or a Morse ; but, how often, merely for 

 lack of moral backing, does the genius turn out worthless 1 

 Tne value of truth, perseverance and energy, without genius, 

 is greater to the possessor, and to the world, than genius with- 

 out any moral quality to make it available. This is witnessed 

 in business circles every day, the plodding dullard riBing to 

 be a credit to himself and a benefit to humanity ; while the 

 vacillating, purposeless genius, with ten times his ability, is 

 lost in the distance behind him. If it be said that a genius 



should never be hampered with the drudgery of business, we 

 might quote the instance of the poet, Morris, to show that the 

 two are not incompatible. Genius engages in business, but is 

 never lowered by it. Burns could guide a plough, or measure 

 a boer barrel, and yet write "The Cotter's Saturday Night," 

 and " Tam O'Shantor;" any how many sweet songs have been 

 sung by men engaged in more— she! I we say degrading— labors 

 than these 1 For our present purpose, the ease may be taken 

 of men and women of genius, whosejeourse has not b«en dis- 

 turbed, or.'if disturbed, not turned. Letjus look for a moment 

 at Byron, and, if we' oan, admire without pity the poetical 

 talent which could find a refuge in describing the unwhole- 

 some career of a kind of wandering debauchee Sin genius, 

 at least, was as free as air, unhampered} and untrammelled, 

 with all the accessories of time and v circumstance, place, posi- 

 tion, and association, for " nourishing a youth sublime," He 

 wantonly threw away his opportunities, and while thousands 

 consider "Don Juan" a stain upon his memory, in the recol- 

 lection of thousands more he lives as anything' but a great man, 

 whatever be his rank as a poet. Willi all his power he had no 

 moral stamina, no quality to carry him over the mingled 

 smiles and frowns of a capricious mother, the fickle favors of 

 an equally capricious world, which pleased him one moment, 

 to have the better chance of abusing him the next, or the sad 

 disappointment of being called "a lame boy " by the woman 

 he loved. In short, his moral education, as far as the evidence 

 goes, was totally neglected. His stupendous intellect found! 

 no counterpart in his nature, upon which to lean for support 

 and guidance, and urged him along a misguided and unworthy 

 course; he wrote as he lived, in defiance of every law, human 

 and divine; and, in ^considering his works, we might be lost 

 in admiration of the poet's genius, did wa not find ourselves 

 so often brought faoe tojface with the comparative, pigmy to 

 which it belonged. 



Swinburne is another example of peculiar moral obliquity, 

 whom it is equally hard to acquit, or condemn. Listening to 

 his praise of love, one could imagine him living in a contiuued 

 ecstacy. Genius he haB, and that of the brightest. Few 

 poems in the language will be fonnd to excel his "Watch in 

 the Night." There is no more glowing imagery, no more 

 luxuriant imagination, no more silvery tongue than his, 

 whether he sing of tho victims to the French Revolutionary 

 rage, bound hand and foot, and plunged into the Loire, or of 

 the irnperiousIFaustine. But we cannot help recoiling from 

 the outpouring in such lavish profusion of tho praises of 

 Venus. At times the poet seems to forget, or, if remember- 

 ing, to ignore, tho story, that besides the Goddess of Love, the 

 shepherd of Ida was visited~also by the stately Juno, and by 

 the warlike, wise, and chaste Minerva. The general impres- 

 sion derived from his poetry is that his harp is an Instrument 

 of one string, and though its note is wondrously beautiful and 

 wild, it wearies with its monotony. Some volcanic disturbance 

 of his system may account for his tendency, but in no way 

 excuses it We cannot think of a man with an originally 

 sound and trained moral constitution beingjso led away as to 

 live and riot in the morbid and impure. 



The moral of both careers is obvious. Unless a sounder 

 foundation is laid than mere intellectual cultivation, any of 

 the incidents to which all are exposed may reduce a noble life 

 to a veritable wreck, over which we may bring ourselves in 

 erecting a light-house, to tell our fellow-mariners where it lies 

 engulfed "in thej sand. Enough has at least been said to 

 show that while devoting the energies to the fostering and 

 rearing of the intellect, it is just possible that the better part 

 af a youth may be neglected, and so virtually destroyed. 



REMINISENCES OF LIFE IN CHINA. 



A note from a correspondent regarding the Flobert Rifle, 

 which is printed in another column, brings to mind 

 such a comical event that happened to us some years since, in 

 which these rifles played a conspicuous part, that we cannot 

 help telling the story. It was away beck iu 'C:i or '64, and the 

 scene the newly opened tradiug port of Hankow, on the River 

 Vang Tsze, some six hundred miles from the coast in tho in- 

 terior of China. Our oompanion at the time was George Potts, 

 a well-known New Yorker, who now lies in Happy Valley. 

 During the long fall and winter, when the low water left us at 

 times for weeks without communication with the outside world, 

 we amused ourselves with two Flobert rifles, until, after con- 

 stant practice, we could hit silver dollars almost as far as the 

 rifles would carry accurately. The house, which had a wide 

 verandah in front, stood directly on the river bank. On one 

 side was a narrow alley leading to tho river, and through this 

 alley a continuous stream of coolies passed all day, one line 

 going to the river with their empty buckets slung on the ends 

 of a bamboo pole, and the othor file returning with buckets 

 filled with water for distribution throughout tho city. When 

 every other resource failed, we would take our stations behind 

 the closed blinds of the verandah,|ond, eachselecting a bucket, 

 would bore a hole through it as neatly as though done with an 

 augur. The monotonous cry of * A-ho ! A-ho ! A-ho !" pro- 

 ceeding from a hundred or more throats,'ent.irely drowned the 

 slight report of the rifles, and it was not until the coolieB 

 had reached the head "of the alley that the increased 

 weight on one end of the bamboo, and the diminution of that 

 on the other, acquainted them with the fact, that nearly half 

 their load had escaped, This went on undiscovered for some 

 time until, on one Junlncky day, a bullet from Potts' rifle 

 glanced from the wet side of abuckct, and striking the coolie 

 on the foot, made a slight furrow across the instep, The 

 howling and shrieking that followed was something fearful, 

 and not knowing what might happen, in the uusettled state 

 of the native feeling toward foreigners, wo hastened down 

 and dragged the man into the house'eneloTOre, when, with one 

 hand grasping his wounded loot, be danced around on tho 

 'other with an agility that would have done credit to u dervish. 



