Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, APRIL 19, 1883. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 





Match Chances and Dangers. 



What is a Game Fish; 



The Patent Coffee Mill. 



Ohio Fish Laws. 



Concerning Salt Mackerel. 



Does the Mnskalonge Leap; 

 Vermont and Canada Notes. 



The Sportsman Toihist, 



Inuiau Folk-Lore. 



To Ftshway Experts. 



Baie Des Chaleurs. 



The Illinois Commission. 



Natural History. 



Canada at the London F.vh ■ 



The Birds of Maine. 



bit ion. 



Massachusetts Winter Notes. 



The Kennel. 



Soiu,- s\.i.i mm- i adrondn. Br,\l- 



Pre-Naral Influence. 



The Society of Taxidermists. 



The Vicars Memorial Fund. 



Game Bao and Gun. 



Judges for the New York Bench 



My Last Deer Hunt in Ohio. 



Show-. 



A Bit of Winter Sunshine. 



Bench Shows and Judging. 



Two Bear Hunts in Florida. 



My Dogs Snncho and Septuiw. 



A Hunting Horn. 





A Trip After Quail. 





Incidents of a Fiontier March. 



Rifle and That Shooting. 



TheNev* York Society. 



Military Rifles. 



jlnaH'SOU- i..-.; Hi!' N . i T P :- 



Muzzle vs. Breech-Loaders. 



Camp Fire Flickekings. 



Range and Gallery. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



The Trap. 



The Secrets of Salmon Growth. 





With Hackles and Gentles. 



The American Can Uai i 



Trout in Pennsylvania. 



tion in Canada. 



Old Angling Books 

 Florida Fishing. 



The Deflecting C.-nterlmard 



Answers to Correspondents. 



1HE PATENT COFFEE MILL. 

 'T^HERE is a certain ingenious little contrivance sometime 

 J- employed in grocery stores which is known to the initi- 

 ated as the patent coffee mill. The machine is fastened to a 

 partition of the wall, and into it is poured for grinding, the 

 coffee just purchased by the customer. The clerk turns 

 the crank and the buyer sees, or thinks he sees, his pure Old 

 Government Java or Mocha coming out of the mill again. 

 The product which he beholds is, however, only one-half or 

 one-third pure coffee. The rest is browned beans, parched 

 peas, burnt bread crusts, or whatever else the economical 

 merchant may have put into the concealed compartment of 

 the mill, on the other side of the wall. The genius who de- 

 vised this mill is said to have reaped a rich reward as the 

 fruit of his ingenuity, and is reputed to be worth as much 

 as the Connecticut quarry owner whoships his stone to manu- 

 facturers of grantdated sugar. 



Unfortunately the principle of the patent coffee mill is not 

 confined to the humble cross-roads grocery, its workings 

 on a more magnificent scale maybe studied at the respective 

 capitals of the several States, when the wise heads there 

 assembled come to the annual grinding of the game laws. 

 That which ostensibly goes into the mill as pure and honest 

 game protection is when ground out again only one-six- 

 teenth protection and the rest destruction. 



The mill under the big dome at Boston some years ago 

 gave out such an adulterated product; and Boston markets 

 have since then been receivers of what is equivalent to 

 stolen goods, namely, Maine game illegally killed and 

 shipped out of season. The process of grinding is now in 

 active operation at Harrisburg, where the Philadelphia 

 marketmen are attempting to open their stalls for the same 

 ill-gotten merchandise. At Springfield, 111., the crank has 

 of late been vigorously turned by the Chicago game dealers, 

 chief among them a professed sportsman gamedealer, whom 

 we recently showed knowingly to be a receiver of 

 contraband goods in the form of Minnesota gome 

 illegally killed and shipped out of season. Neither at 

 Albany do "the grinders cease because they are few;" nor 

 yet is "the sound of the grinding low," Quite the contrary; 

 the grinders are many, and the grinding is loud. 



Among the bills, amendatory of the present statute, intro- 

 duced this year at Albany, is one known as the O'Connor 

 bill. This provides for summer shootiug and (by opening 

 the game market) for winter shooting up to February first. 

 In other words, the public is given to understand that the 

 result of the passage of this bill will be game protection, 

 whereas in truth it will be game destruction. Mr. O'Connor, 

 we understand, does not occupy a position corresponding to 

 the proprietor of the grocery store; he simply acts the part 

 of i he clerk, and turns the crank of the mill "by request." 

 He doubtless means well enough. The public, however, 

 will not consent to be duped by such a shoveling in of 

 burnt crusts from the other side of the wall as this is. 



Another piece of legislation on the patent coffee mill prin- 

 ciple bears the name of Mr. Grady. Whether he is the re- 

 sponsible party, or, like Mr. O'Connor, merely the clerk, we 

 are at present uninformed. Neither position is tin enviable 

 one, for in this Grady bill, which was introduced into the 

 Senate week before last, is embodied a heterogeneous com- 

 bination of preposterous abominations. The responsibility 

 for Ibis would be a grievous burden to be borne by one pair 

 of shoulders. The Grady bill, like the O'Connor bill, per- 

 mits summer shooting, and hy extending the selling season 

 to Februry 1, insures the destruction of game in this State 

 and at the West for two months after the legal killing season 

 has expired. 



But the bill goes much further than this in absurdity. 

 It seeks to graft on to American game legislation the most 

 obnoxious aud ridiculous principle of private ownership of 

 wild game. Section 20 permits the creation of private 

 parks by advertising a description of the property, and 

 provides that all the birds, fish and game of, in, or upon 

 such territory shall be the private property of the owner 

 or lessee of the premises, and further that to effect such a 

 result but one signboard shall be necessary on every 500 

 acres in excess of 10,000. This section, in short, gives the 

 right of appropriating all the game in a given part of land 

 by proclamation only, and when it does this it affords ptoof 

 positive of either the stupidity or the inordinate monopo- 

 listic greed of its framer. By its provisions individuals and 

 clubs would be empowered to proclaim themselves proprie- 

 tors of all the game on a given tract ; and could let out the 

 slaughter of it when and how their caprice might suggest. 



If Mr. Grady knows anything whatever about the prin- 

 ciples underlying game legislation — and having introduced 

 a bill on the subject, he probably does know something of 

 it — he must understand that the gaaiv.fcm miinm, is pub- 

 lic property until it shall have been reduced to possession 

 by capture, And even an idiot might comprehend that 

 signboard proclamation is not capture, nor can in any con- 

 ceivable way reduce the game to the lawful possession of 

 the parties erecting the board. The Senate committee who 

 reported this bill, if they were at all competent to decide 

 upon the merits of a proposed game law amendment, should 

 have understood that this Section 20 of the Grady bill is just 

 so much meaningless bosh. Even should it become a law, 

 this section could not stand a minute when brought to the 

 test of the courts. But we cannot believe that the bill will 

 fail to be defeated, as it richly deserves to lie. 



The radical trouble with much of the attempted game 

 legislation of the country is that those who dabble in it are, 

 like the framers of the Grady bill, either so lamentably sel- 

 fish or so blissfully ignorant that it would be far better for 

 the public did they let the matter entirely alone. It is an 

 unfortunate fact that ninety-nine men out of every one hun- 

 dred in the community care little or nothing about the 

 game law, and the hundredth man is apt to be imbued with 

 the overpowering conviction that the first, last and only 

 thing needful to protect the game is to amend the law so far 

 as it concerns his own particular little duck pond. Selfish- 

 ness all too often rules the day ; game protection means the 

 bringing of the game lawfully within reach of one special 

 gun just when the owner of the gun wants it there. 



The mills are grinding on; and the grinding is said, in a 

 small way, to be profitable to some one. 



Hon. E. D. Potteb.— We rejoice to learn that the 

 veteran angler and fishculturist, Hon. Emory D. Potter, of 

 Toledo, who has been lying at the point of death from pneu- 

 monia, is now convalescent. Mr. Potter's age is somewhat 

 against him in a struggle with the reaper, but he has passed 

 the turning point and is now out of immediate danger. His 

 hosts of friends, both in and out of the Cuvier Club, will 

 read this note with satisfaction. Mr. Potter is one of those 

 men who should always be with us; we have too few of 

 them. 



MATCH CHANCES AND DANGERS. 

 rpHE preparations thus far made by officialsof the National 

 -L Rifle Association bid fair to produce good results in 

 the International match, provided only that they be well 

 backed up by individual effort. And just here should be 

 the answer to much of the very unreasoning criticism which 

 has already begun to pour itself over the work in hand. 

 The programme to be followed in getting together the team 

 has been published, and under it there need be no fear on 

 the part of any really capable competitor that he will not be 

 taken in as a member of the team— should his merits entitle 

 him to that honor. The committee intrusted with the mak- 

 ing up of the American squad may fairly be trusted to use 

 their best endeavors to select from the not over large field, 

 such a dozen men as will leave no better man at home when 

 the sailing day comes. There may be prejudices, but they 

 can be fought down, and under the sharp eye of a vigilant 

 press, it is pretty certain that the team, when made up, will 

 be a really representative one in merit as in other qualifica- 

 tions. 



The field of selection is a narrow one, and more's the pity. 

 It is a disgrace that, out of nearly fifty States in the Union, 

 about one-tenth of the. number only should have anything 

 worthy, the name of a National Guard out of which a choice 

 can be made. This is one of the most significant lessons of 

 the entire contest, and one which thus far has been so entirely 

 overlooked. It does not appear that the defeat of last year 

 has roused the executive of a single one of the States, so 

 delinquent in this matter, into anything like a sense of 

 its shame. Had the defeat been one more of men than of 

 rifles, this fact would have been brought into bolder promi- 

 nence; but, compared with the situation in Great Britain, 

 that in America appears the more disgraceful. There every 

 section of the kingdom is able to send forward men fit to 

 compete for places on a representative team. Here a few 

 dozen letters would reach about every available candidate. 

 Still the battle is confined to the dozen before the butts, and 

 so. w itb a well-drilled and thoroughly competent squad to send 

 over, our directors need not fear the great army of very compe- 

 tent shots throughout Her Majesty's realm, but whose skill 

 cannot avail the dozen chosen to meet the Americans. This 

 makes the situation the more hopeful, and renders the out- 

 look a more encouraging one. 



One of the real stumbling blocks in the way of making up 

 of an harmonious team is that of the captaincy. Itisperhaps 

 the most advisable way to permit the selection of the leader 

 by the shooting men, not merely the sanctioning of a 

 nomination made by a board of directors who are them- 

 selves non-shooting men. The captain should be a marks- 

 man, and he should he thoroughly aware of what every 

 man under him is doing. A man with certain set notions as 

 to rifle or ammunition is not fit for the post. Such a one 

 soon becomes a nuisance aud a hindrance by insisting upon 

 the adoption of his pet hobbies. The idea that since there is 

 some money to be spent, the directors should put their own 

 man in the supreme control of the team, is not a valid reason 

 for taking the power of choice out of the hands of the team. 

 The amount at best is but trifling, and under proper rules 

 this could be accounted for exactly without handicapping 

 the efforts of the team by placing over it a man who may 

 not command the confidence of the men who are to do the 

 shooting. The captain can more readily mar than make a 

 victory. 



The great point to be borne in mind is to put the shooting 

 men jo such a frame of mind, and consequently condition of 

 body, as shall enable them to do their very best in the match. 

 After having stood the heat and effort of the prelimiaary 

 competitions for places on the team, it is fair to assume that, 

 as individuals, the men are competent, aud the effort of the 

 captain is to be directed toward making the men a compact, 

 single-willed whole, rather than a collection of disjointed, 

 though, perhaps, earnest workers for victory. 



This result is the more likely to come under the direction of 

 a captain chosen by the men, than under the rule of an out- 

 sider, who comes as the mouthpiece and Ihe agent of a set 

 of managers. If there is to be such a manager, create a new 

 office and let him be styled captain, if the title is a tickling 

 one; but then let there be a shooting-master or something of 

 that sort, who shall be a man able to help Ihe men techni- 

 cally, while his interest is as great toward one as another 

 and his entire allegiance to the team in its work before the 

 targets. With such a directing spirit, success may be 

 looked for; without him it may only be prajed for. 



Indian Folk-Lobe.— We publish to-day a charming lit 

 of Indian folklore from Hudson's Bay, 



