422 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JrajB 38, 1888. 



gfo Sjfartstifm §ottri$t 



N c 



THE MARCH OF COMMON SENSE. 



TOT many years ago, in any well regulated locality of 

 _.. S I, Ids country. :mv person Who was Been with a gun on 

 his Bhoulder, pr afisMng rod in his hand, or who dared the 

 wrath rrf "goad society" byharboring a "bird dog" or 



i <i ..:,:-, considered i'jv business men generally a failure. 



The corner grocery man thought twice before trusting him 

 for a. Back of flour, and no properly conducted banking in- 

 stitution would have discounted his pit per. In those days 

 there were DO "nun and Bshing tackle establishments" Out- 

 side of the large cities, aud the hardware merchant of the 

 country towns supplied lie sporting fraternity of a large 

 district for H season from a DOS of No. I Limericks; a sack 



of No, 3's, orperl ipslarger, and his kegot "F. G." supplied 

 the limited demand foi manj seasons. And even nw, in 



certain unprogressive dUtriOtS, the sportsman physician, 

 lawyer or business man dons his shooting or fishing "logs' 

 with some trepidation, ami either tries to get out of town 

 before his neighbors are up, 0I seeks the unsightly alleyway 

 to : rOld recognition. 



Butspeakitur generally all the old logy notions with ref- 

 erence to spoils of the licld are exploded and relegated to 

 Hie days of Witchcraft and blue laws. 



A. mail may delight in and follow any or all field sports 



and Still be i , - I i a gentleman and a business man, 



except, perhaps. h\ a few parchment-skinned, hollow- 

 chested old fogies, from OUl of whose eyes the lighl of health 

 has long since faded, whose ears are never opened to the 

 rustle of leaves in the forest, but Wbo can catch the faintest 

 crumplbg Of a bank-note, who do not care to see the frce- 

 running brook gleaming in the spring or summer sunlight. 

 but who gloat over the glider of a double eagle. These aTe 

 the men "and this is ilic class wbo cry down field sports. 

 Those who advance with the world in every profession, and 

 in all the pursuits of fife, have within a tew years back conic 

 out and acknowledged, although they all might not indulge 



i.'.iat field sports are a proper recreation for any 



man. 



The farmers, tOO, have signified their approval. The pot- 



im ■ i i perfect right tu despise, but when public 



opinion said 'that gentlemen might shoot and fish, and the 

 farmer became acquainted with one or more of this latter 

 elas.- his opinions changed regarding a man "who would lug 

 a gun all day and kill birds." 



ilamr laws are being perfccled and the protection of game 

 and fish io advauon", There is m- thing a tins cor.ne„t:^i: 

 that I cannot understand. The Legislature of each State 

 pass game laws without number, many good, some indiffer- 

 eul and a few bad. Why IS it that none of them can sec 

 that they Cannot fully protect game without abolishing sum- 

 mer shooting entirely, and making the close season uniform 

 tot all game', except nig. perhaps, wildfowl; 



This maj seem nonsense to some and ridiculous to others, 

 but I believe that it any sportsman not a market-hunter will 

 s tud\ , . . i while, he will come to the conclusion 



that 'there is some sense in it. 



Now. take for instance the great numbers of large and 

 small Bummer resorts which are seal teral over the country, 

 with their hosts of summer visitors. Many of these 

 visitors take along with them their shooting outfit "to kill 

 a, few woodcock." It is a well-known fact that ruffed 

 grouse are frequently found in the resort of the woodcock 

 fn the summer Suppose that a family of grouse are painted 

 by the woodcock shooter's dog. and he Hushes them, how 

 many woodwork shooters out of ten will resist the tempta- 

 tiotito shoot? "O. any true sportsman would scorn to do 

 liny such thing ■ replies. Well, my friend, in my 



short sojourn' here on earth I have found many woodcock 



shooters who were not "true sportsmen.'' but humble speci- 

 mens of frail humanity, bo humble, indeed, that they would 



refuse to show their bag, and would go half a mile around 



: assing a game constable. No, if all shooters 



were "true sportsmen" we wouldn't need any game laws. 



If summer shooting were abolished there would he no ex- 

 cuse Tor taking a gun and dog into the field and cover, and 

 many now nv quail and grouse would be spared to make glad 

 an t )c U ll icr "day . OcTO. 



CHARMS OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 

 rpilE approaching warm weather wakens in me what little 

 L additional enthusiasm is necessary to clean up and re- 

 pair my eanoc and add to or take from its cargo a few sup- 

 posed necessities, and as the hatches are adjusted and se- 

 curely fastened, and eauoo crated and ready for transporta- 

 tion. 'my mind wanders back to the pleasant recollection of 

 summers spent m the. woods and on the streams aud lakes of 

 Northern Michigan, and f mark the crate "Petoskey. 

 Michigan." This town is near the let-minus of the famous 

 "flNhiwr line." the G. If <fc T. railway, and 1 know that the 

 agent, Mr. M. F. Quaiulance, will sec that, upon arrival, 

 she has the care and affection Ivstowed upon her that she so 

 much deserves, and thai when 1 land in that beauliful sum- 

 mer resort, 1 will find my boat in good condition, and care- 

 fully [mt aside out of harm'.- way, ready for its owner to 

 take possession and launch at the'bead of Crooked Lake for 

 asdeliehlfnl (t trip its could betaken through the streams and 

 lakes of the inland route Io Cheyboygan. Good camping 

 grounds or good hotels can be found at either terminus or 

 on the route. 



At Petoskey, the Arlington, a new hotel, quite large, and 

 finished last summer, is as spacious aud pleasant 8 stopping 



pffl.ee k; — ! andhere a table is set that cannot he 



found fault with, except by a chronic growler. Go here if 

 you have neither a canoe, gun, or fishing rod, and wish to 

 And a pleasant place to while away a vacation with friends 

 or your lamily. The open bay and Lake Michigan beyond 

 With the ueat Utile SUnuner cottages of the many private 

 families lining the bay on either sale, quite plainly seal 

 from the .hotel, present as charming a view as one could 

 wish to see, and the town of Petoskey. alive with summer 

 tourists, <>ives an effect of life and activity to all, so that there 

 is notions ,i ii . i M in a stay at this point. 



flu:, -re many delightful places Qf interest within easy 

 reach of I'closkio , ;-o tied, it has become a central point for 

 location. Howe bake Michigan shore a lew miles, with 

 : nners running each day, lies Charlevoix, quite a place, of 

 interest, and still further south Elk Kapids, the place par 

 excellence foi a comfortable vacation of rest, a good, cheer- 

 ful, pleasant home-like hotel, and a good table, with a very 



aecom i '< milord, a fine view of Traverse Bay. The 



quiet, the eood fishing nearest to the hotel of any place in 



Northern Michigan that, I know of, eo. pled with the other 



numerous attractions of 'this locality, makes it just the place 

 to go to, Go where I suggest, ami yon will tind without 

 fail the fish, fish stories, ami fisherman. Returning again to 

 Petoskey, none should fail to take n I rip through I he beauti- 

 ful inland route through lakes and rivers to Cheboygan. 



You leave Petoskey in thu morning about 8 o'clock for 

 head of Crooked Lake., six miles, then taking steamer 

 through Crooked Lake, thence through the the beautiful, nar- 

 row aud properly named Crooked River, thence across Burt 

 Lake to Indian River, down which, about, half a mile, you 

 bring up at the dock at Indian River Station, at which point 

 you will find another hotel, finished last year, which is a 

 very neat, tidy place, as 1 understand, although I have not 

 personally stopped there since it was finished. The coun- 

 try in this immediate vicinity has been my chief point for 

 operations for several years past, and near here was located 

 Capt. David Smith's hotel, of which I have spoken so fre- 

 quently in my letters in your columns, and which burned Io 

 the ground a year ago Inst winter. Near the site of the old 

 hotel is a favorite place for camping parties, and you will 

 see their white tents on the left bank a short time after en- 

 tering the stream. You follow on from here through Indian 

 River, and thence through Mullet Lake and Cheboygan 

 River'to Cheboygan, arriving there about 5 P. M.. some- 

 what tired with the day's boat ride, hut well pleased. In 

 Cheboygan go down to the locks and logging chute, or 

 through some of the immense lumber mills here located, and 

 when you are ready to leave, if you wish to go south, you 



have your choice between the railroad or lake routt 

 you wish to return to Petoskey, you can go by either one Of 

 three routes— first, back again through I he island route; 

 second, by way of the Btraits of Mackinaw, touching al 

 Mackinaw Island and Point St. Ignace, thence to Petoskey; 

 or, third, by rail to Old Mackinaw and Petoskey. If you 

 take the rail route and want to stop at. Old Mackinaw, put 

 up, while in Mackinaw, at the depot eating-house and hotel; 

 it is the only place in this new town where you will find ac- 

 commodations that can be put up with, and here they are 

 quite good, new, clean and inviting. At this place you will 

 find the immense iron ore dock, and the feiry car-shipping 

 transfer and visit the site of the old Port aud look over the 

 old ruins aud grounds that were once the scene of such a 

 terrible slaughter, and think of the massacre that befel the 

 occupants of the old Fort. From this point the finest of 

 views can be had of the Straits of Mackinaw, with Macki- 

 naw Island and Point St. Ignace across the straits, and 

 the many vessels and steamers constantly passing and re- 

 passing. 



As a rule all who visit Northern Michigan are infected 

 with an epidemic known as agate fever, and from morning 

 until night the shore of the bay is lined with sufferers from 

 this malady, all bending low, groping and moping along the 



ad tin 



•e, and eithe 

 asketj bag or 

 f tin ir hotel, 



id had i 



water's edge, picking up a pebble here 



depositing it in a spacious pocket i 



pail, to be more carefully examined on 



and what is curious about, the oomplai 



victims, along about the spring_iiiont.il 



they can have a relapse of the disease t 



in that stooping posture, poking over 



looking for agates. The writer has h: 



and is now anxiously awaiting an opportunity for a i-cmpsc. 



A very choice selection of samples he claims Io have from 



his previous attacks, many of which, haying been through 



the lapidary's hands at, Petoskey, present a face polished 



and handsome to look upon. 



Fishing of the best can be had in any portion of Northern 

 Michigan, and although not always good from the porches 

 of the hotels, still there are many who visit these hotels who 

 expect to find it there. But. none of those who are willing 

 to go where the fish are. have ever had any trouble in having 

 the fish come to them. The clear, bracing air, pure water 

 and cool nights will alone amply repay any one for a visit to 

 this delightful country. Fbakth N. @ebbb. 



OOLUUBOS, O. 



ONCE MORE FLORIDA. 



I NOTICE with much depression of spirits that "Didy- 

 mus" speaks in deprecatory language of that "Eden;" 

 "Italy of America," "Home of the t ininge," 'Semi-tropical 

 Paradise," perhaps more generally known as Florida. I am 

 afraid he has, to use an expressive but not very aesthetic 

 term that I once heard a street, Arab use. "soured" on thai. 

 sunny and sandy refuge. This is sad. A gloom seems to 

 have settled over things. I fear me much that "Duly nuts 

 has not thoroughly digested the beauties and attractions of 

 that delightful land, and it may be that he has failed also 

 dio-cst some of the viands set before him in his travels. Such 

 things ought not so to be. Is there no balm in Gileatl? 

 Verify there is balm. Florida should have a good word now 

 aud then. -Everybody seems to be running her down, or 

 running down to her. (She ought, to have some real estate 

 agen.t and newspaperial puffings, likewise writers of books 

 laudatory of her sautians, gorgeous scenery, Herts, Hies, 

 fevers and tin can bric-a-brac. People who wander over the 

 State blindly want, some disinterested person, sai S teal 

 estate agent or a proprietor of a metropolis, to show them the 

 beauties of nature, and explain to them the value of an acre 

 of orange grove. Now and then the subject is mentioned 

 there, but there don't seem to he any irlut as it were. The 

 risiu'ertiip seem to have petered out, so to speak, or else the 

 fruit growers who make specialties of apples, peat.-., 

 plums and cherries, have such a good thing that they don t, 

 care about letting any others come in. People like "Didy- 

 mus" will return from Florida disgusted, so long as the 

 State government permits them to grope over t.n. 

 Esrvptian darkness. It wants to establish an agricultural 

 college say near Okeechobee, create a bureau ol statistics. 

 appoint a commissioner of immigration aud bell him, spread 

 broadcast books and pamphlets showing how many snow- 

 storms to the square mile each Northern State is blessed 

 with, and how they don't have such reprehensible things 

 down there, and an acre of orange trees thirty feet apart 

 amounts to fifty, which at two to five thousand oranges to 

 the tree makes anywhere from one to two hundred and fifty 

 thousand sold at a"cent and a half apiece makes a man in- 

 dependent for life in a very, very few years. Figures don't. 

 lie, aud they want to be put at people at point-lLi e. an 

 no thai they will make, an impression. Or people will come 

 North dissatisfied. To be sure there is a vast deal of sand in 

 Florida, which is just a little thin as regards vegetable 

 matter, but the excellent thing about it is that ti : ml n 



■I New Jersey or Michigan for instance, and will 

 raise magnificent oranges if soil is put with it ; this is all it 



needs. HOW, the sand Of the two above mentioned Stabs 

 is a coarse sand, and cannot by aay possible means he made 



He refers folds "shooting ami fishing" experiences, and his 

 confessions prove that he was a verdant "sportsman," and 

 to produce the citrus family. The sand of Florida is very 

 fine, you see, which makes alfthe difference. Of course, to 

 come, to the truth, it is sand, but the texture changes the 

 aspect entirely, and gladdens the heart of the immigrant 

 when it is explained to him. The subsoil is likewise pure 

 sand, purer than the top, but it is of different color, which 

 makes it valuable. There are other points I might mention, 

 but I think it the duty of the people interested in the de- 

 velopment of that State to inform settlers. 



"Didymus" rather decries the hunting privileges of 

 Florida' Well, to be frank, a dog has no time for such fool- 

 ishness, excepting in the line of fleas, which occupies all his 

 leisure. He can't even enjoy an unbroken meal, but alter- 

 nates between snaps at his' food and tormentors. It, is somc- 

 wdiat exasperating to take the field for game and have Your 

 dosr stop every few rods, drop, and go savagely for the. place 

 just forward of the root of his tail, which he can't by any 

 possibility get at, whining pitifully as he grinds a hole in 

 the sand, 'and this to be repeated until yoti are sick of life. 

 They cut their dogs' tails off down I here so they can't whip 

 I hem to sausage meat on the jagged palmetto stems. If one 

 wishes to visit a laud where a fortune can be made quicker 

 and with less outlay than in any other place on earth, where 

 gardening goes on every month in the year, a place endeared 

 to Simmons, the Liver-Regulator-Man, and to all vendors 

 of quinine and blue-mass, then, ray beloved friend, visil 

 Florida. Boom. 



Editor Fort-M, and Minim: 



Four winters in company with my family we have spent 

 in Florida, and if there are among" your readers any who 

 have in contemplation a winter's sojourn in that, delightful 

 climate, permit me Io say, do not be discouraged, neither 

 abandon your visit through any fear of having to live with 

 "Digger Indians," or subsist upon "grubs and grasshop- 

 pers'" 



We were in camp three winters on the west coast of 

 Florida, at a point, below Tampa called Sarasota, one of the 

 most delightful winter resorts to be found in the State for 

 those who'enjoy fishing, hunting, boating and shell-gathering, 

 and T assure your readers if they can secure accommoda- 

 tions there of Myron Abbe, assisted by his accomplished 

 wife, they will not agree with "Didymus" that the "devil" 

 sends the, cooks to Florida. 



Fishing is unsurpassed at the. very door, while game i9 

 abundant ten to twenty miles in the country, and beautiful 

 birds of plumage, one to five miles away. 



It is simply absurd to think a hunter can "pick up las 

 Fox," and step outside the village limits, there to bring 

 down his buck or doe. No hunter can obtain the game 

 called deer, or wild turkey, or even the gator, without 

 work, unless it be by purchase from those who did work, 

 while with reasonable enterprise and a love for the chase, 

 there is in store tor those who visil the locality 1 have 

 named abundant pleasure; a climate, I believe, hardly 

 equalled in any country; plenty of vegetables, with 

 oranLo-s. lemons, bananas, pineapples and other tropical 

 i dts in good supply. I he mainland is about two miles 

 from the Gulf, and between the two lie the islands called 

 Barasota Key, Bird Key and Long Key, while stretching 

 further northward to Egmont Light is Anna Maria Key, 

 along the shores of all which the tourist can find happy 

 amusement gathering the beautiful and curious specimens 

 nature has spread out upon the sand as if to remind those 

 who are not too epicurean in their tastes of the wonders that 

 lie hid in the ocean. 



Those afflicted with throat or lung disease, unless they 

 arc past help, will derive such benefit from a few months 

 residence on the Gulf coast, as will make them friends to 

 the place, as 1 have no doubt the hospitality of the people 

 will make them friendly to the "crackers." Some may lie 

 discouraged about visiting Florida upon listening to the ex- 

 perience, of some tourists in relation to the matter of 

 expenses, and to those 1 will briefly say. you can spend 

 from fifty cents to tirty dollars per day, as your inclination 

 and ability mav warrant. Possibly hereafter f may give 

 your readers such hints relative to camp life in Florida as 

 will convince many who desire to visit that land of flowers, 

 that they can do so, and cost no more than to remain at 

 home. 



It has been niv fortune Io enjoy the hospitality of hosts 

 named by "Didymus," both at Jacksonville and I'nlatka, 

 and it is a pleasure Io bear testimony to their excellence as 

 managers Of first-class hotels, and further, there arc others 

 equally desirable, and many of them abundantly good 

 enough for M. W. Batvkett. 



bmcovs, ui. . 



Editor Fared and Streum: 



In your issue of May 24 f noticed an amusing communi- 

 cation over the signature of "Didymus," which is calculated 

 to deceive, ft is an old and trite saying. "Give, the deyil 

 his due," and I have no hesitation in asserting that your 

 correspondenl has not fulfilled his mi si.m. 



Your correspondent writes: "N. B. Shooting aud fishing 

 unsurpassed. This k the style of lie that i have seen for 

 years attached to every hotel advertisement in Florida." I 

 unhesitatingly assert 'that the statement is unfounded, a 

 slander on the hotel keepers of the State, and that "Didy- 

 mus" has carefully avoided reading "every hotel advertise 

 ineut in Florida."" It is possible that the obnoxious words 

 may have been used by one or a few hotel keepers, as they 

 are in other parts of the Uniou, but I maintain that the 

 sweeping: statement of "D." is unwarranted. 



It is evident that "D." must have been verdant to have 

 believed the "report" about "the wild turkeys, deer and 

 bears that could be shot by the dozen from the cars." Such 

 a statement lias never been published in Florida or by a 

 Wormian, and il is evident that, "D." was victimized and 

 crammed by some of his Northern or Western friends, who 

 "put up a job on him" — the vicfimof misplaced confidence. 

 It, is evident that "Didymus" is verdant, or he would not 

 have believed the senseless "report " that "quail were so 

 numerous that he could ship enough to New York Io pay 

 his expenses." Each winter there appear in our State SM 

 dimiU "sportsmen" yyith shooting-coats andleggings, breech- 

 loaders and trunk rods. They tall into the hands of sharp- 

 witted railroad aud steamboat, runners, greedily swallow 

 every statement made, are victimized, and as a sequence 

 , .,! ih ir spleen on a whole State, of the sporting attrac 

 tions of which they are ignorant. 



L admit that outlying hotels are not as well kept as they 

 sate in large cities or old settled States; but the charges with 

 regard to living on "hog aud hominy and dirt udUUdim "are 

 slander. He admits that he is "fastidious," and his fas- 

 tidiousness has caused his mind to run riot with the truth, 



