FOKEST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 Fish Culture, the Protection of Game, Presrvation of Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a healthy interest 

 in Out-door Kecreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 

 103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 



Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 



A discount of twenty per cent, for Ave copies and upwards. Any person 

 sending us two subscriptions and Ten Dollars will receive a copy of 

 Hallock's "Fishing Tourist," postage free. 



Advertising Rates. 



In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 25 

 cents per line. Advertisements on outside page, 40 cents per line. Reading 

 notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in double column 25 per cent, 

 extra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 

 10 per cent, will be made ; over three months, 20 per cent ; over six 

 months, 30 per cent. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUG. 21, 1873. 



To Correspondents. 



♦ 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 



All communications intended for publication must be 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 Names will not be published if 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. 



Ladies are especially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 

 pared with careful reference to their perusal and instruction. 



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 infox-mation between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable 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- 

 fined 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 base uses which always 

 iend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 tei-ms ; 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 mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 



CHARLES HALLOCR, 



Managing Editor. 



Calendar of Events for the Current Week. 



» 



August 21st.— The Manhattan Cricket Club vs. Walthams, at Waltham^ 

 Mass. 



August 22nd.— Bostons vs. Walthams, at Waltham, (Criclot).— New 

 York Yacht Squadron at Newport— Extra meeting at Monmouth Park, 

 Long Branch.— The Park Association, Wilkesbarre, Penn. 



August 23rd.— Meeting of the Athletic club foot of 133rd street, East 

 river.— Extra meeting at Monmouth Park, Long Branch. 



Augusu 26th.— Earl Park Association, Earlville, 111. 



August 27th. — Herdic Park Associttion, Williamsport, Penn. — Earl 

 Park Association Earlville, HI.— Middletown Association, N. Y. 



August 28th.— Earl Park Association.— John Biglln and George Brown 

 sculler's race, Halifax Harbor, N. S.— Middletown Association, N. Y.— 

 Herdic Park, Williamsport, Penn. 



CREEDMORE. 



IF by any method it could be possible to get at this fact, 

 as t how many men in the United States of American 

 birth, outside of military organizations, were or were not 

 proficient in the use of arms, we feel certain that the pro- 

 portion familiar with the shot gun or rifle would be found 

 in the majority. Taking Prussia, with her all-absorbing 

 military element, as a comparison, we think that it would 

 not be unsafe to assert that in a squad of ten Germans, on 

 their first introduction to the routine of arms, nine-tenths 

 of them, when the gun was placed in their hands for the 

 first time, would be utterly ignorant of its use. This is 

 that exact distinction, sometimes overlooked even by mili- 

 tary authorities, between men "able to bear arms" and men 

 knowing how to use them. 



How long this general acquaintance with the use of fire- 

 arms in the United States would have lasted is, however, 

 a question much more difficult to answer. From our own 

 experience, notwithstanding the late terrible appeal to arms, 

 we are inclined to think that this familiarity would have 

 gone on decreasing. The reasons* for our thinking so are 

 quite plain. The first school of arms with us would never 

 have been acquired in the camp, but as heretofore would 

 have been obtained by the use of the shot gun and rifle in 

 hunting. As day by day our country is getting more thickly 

 settled and game scarcer, these opportunities, once indulged 

 in by all classes, would have become more rare. We even 

 think that already this change is somewhat noticeable. In 

 our younger days, even in the large cities, every youth of 

 sixteen almost, had his fowling piece— to-day it is getting 

 exceptionable. Other occupations, tendencies towards a 

 sedentary life, disparity of fortune, less time for recreation, 

 with the scarceness of game, have all caused this change. 



Though Englishmen were our superiors in athletic sports 

 they certainly were not our equals in the general use of fire- 

 arms, for the very reason that in England game was not so 

 abundant, the hunting ground was limited, and even the 

 right to use arms was placed under certain restrictions. 



It is exactly for this reason — the possible decline in the 

 knowledge of how to use fire-arms — that we hail with plea- 

 sure the introduction of rifle shooting, and the most laud- 

 able efforts to give it every encouragement. Thanks to the 

 exertions of some half dozen gentlemen, among whom a 

 merited prominence must be accorded to Colonel W. C. 

 Church, of the Army and Navy Journal, and to Captain J. 

 W. Wingate, the National Rifle Association was formed ; 

 and the fine rifle range at Creedmore, now open to the pub- 

 lic, is the crowning result of their labors. Creedmore, 

 though not so large as Wimbledon, has many advantages 

 over it, being as flat as a billiard table, and having extent 

 sufficient to allow numerous parties to ivj their weapons at 

 all possible ranges. Eveiy advantage has been taken of the 

 experience acquired by riflemen at Hythe and Wimbledon, 

 and the targets are the same as are used in England. 



Of course there has been, as there always is, in the ini- 

 tial movement of such an important subject, a certain 

 amount of apathy, but our military organizations and 

 sportsmen are rapidly becoming cognizant of the fact that 

 although they might be the possessors of the best guns in 

 the world, they might be surpassed by foreigners in the use 

 their arm of predilection — the rifle. 



Perhaps a field for rifle practice never was opened at a 

 more opportune time. We doubt if in any country so much 

 ingenuity has been directed towards fire-arms, or with such 

 brilliant success, as in the United States, and, with all 

 respect to ordnance officers, we are inclined to think that it 

 is just on such a ground as Creedmore that the merits of the 

 gun of the future will be proclaimed. It will be at Creed- 

 more that the rifle which shoots the hardest and closest, loads 

 and repeats the quickest, stands the hardest usage, will by 

 popular acclamation be adopted as the gun of the soldier 

 or the sportsman. We are no prophets, but the time will 

 come when twenty thousand people will stand on the pleas- 

 ant grounds of Creedmore to witness some future rifle 



contest. 



-♦♦♦- 



KILLING GAME OUT OF SEASON. 



SOMEWHERE about A. D. 1867, Rev. W. H. H. Mur- 

 ray, of Boston, paid a flying visit to the Adirondack re- 

 gion of our State, and the result was the production of a 

 book, the pecuniary success of which was most satisfactory 

 to the author, and a source of astonishment to the many 

 accomplished gentlemen ' who have for more or less of a 

 quarter of a century, made our northern wilderness a sum- 

 mer camping ground. The publication developed at least 

 one important fact, viz., that the mass of our people con- 

 fined to out towns and cities, are fond of reading any- 

 thing, even of passable merit, if it treats of the backwoods 

 and its kindred associations. 



On the first Wednesday of our present month of Au- 

 gust, Mr. Murray returned from "his annual excursion" to 

 the Adirondacks. In this trip he was singularly unfortunate 

 in violating the laws of nature and breaking the statutes 

 of our State. But for his own confession, the world would 

 probably remain ignorant of his dereliction; but Mr. Mur- 

 ray is not one of the reticent kind, for he recounts his 

 " victories" over as a "brave" returning from the " war 

 path," and like a red-handed Indian, shakes his scalps in the 

 faces of his tribe, be they in the highway or around the 

 council fires. 



Says the red man, when vaunting of his chivalrous deeds, 

 "I have stolen like a cat upon my enemy, and left the 

 bones of the squaw and pappoose to whiten on the plains." 

 Says Mr. Murray in the same vein, "I have deceived 

 the finny tribe and killed and eaten a half score of deer 

 slain by my own hand;" and ice add, did this valorous 

 thing in the sickly central month of the summer heats ! 



Among all true sportsmen there is a bond of sympathy, 

 one touch of which makes the fraternity akin, and within 

 this charmed circle, Mr. Murray has not yet been admit- 

 ted, and never will be, so long as he continues to slaughter 

 game out of season. What apology can he make for being 

 ignorant of the natural laws . which control the sanitary 

 conditions of the gentle deer? Why has he not informed 

 himself, that in the month of July, the brave blue coated 

 buck of the fall and winter months, is moulting like a sick 

 canary? His antlers, half developed, are covered with "vel- 

 vet." In his nostrils are hidden away great worms that 

 seem to feed upon his brain and eyes. His gait is unstead} r , 

 for like a gouty invalid, he seeks the shallow waters of the 

 lake, in the vain endeavor to cool his fevered blood. 



The poor doe, in the sweltering time of July, with all the 

 tenderness of a young mother, is nursing and guarding her 

 fawn, keeping it in sequestered nooks, and only when hun- 

 ger inpels, she hides it away in the matted thicket, that she 

 may browse on the gross vegetation of marsh and hill sides, 

 then returning to her charge, half satisfied of food, and 

 wholly self-condemned that she has been away so long. 



The great Juno-like eyes of the dying buck speak louder 

 than words, ' ' that I was slaughtered in my sick bed. " 

 And if we were to attempt to eat this "diseased venison," 

 the very touch of the shrunken loin of the stricken doe 

 would have recalled the voice of the poor fawn, appealing 

 for succor in plaintive cries from its hiding place, pining 

 and wasting away until death, more considerate than "in- 

 satiate man," puts an end to its sufferings. 



We confess we cannot understand this desire to kill for 

 the sake of destruction. How noble by contrast is the as- 

 sertion of the brave and accomplished sportsman, I kill 



no bird unless it has a chance for its life on the wine- 

 and no four-footed game except in its season of health and 

 possessed of all the advantages which God has given it for 

 escape. " That was a grand idea of Leather Stocking's 

 that he would shoot not a single thing more than was 

 enough for his present appetite. But take heart, Mr. Mur- 

 ray, you are only one of the many who have helped within 

 a few years to almost annihilate the game of the forest and 

 streams of our north wilderness. We remember well 

 that years ago, at a country house at the foot of Mt. Tacona 

 that looks out on Great Barrington, there was a book in 

 which tourists inscribed their names, and if inclined, their 

 deeds. And in this book was written in a bold hand, and 

 signed by a well known name, the following memorandum- 



" Our party found an abundance of trout, and caught and 

 left 1300 to die upon the banks." 



Against this waste we shall wage a constant war. Every 

 practical law passed for the protection of game we shall 

 support to the best of our ability, and we venture the pre- 

 diction, that the Rev. Mr. Murray will slay no more deer 

 in the Adirondacks again in the hot, sultry month of 

 July. 



Then, there are those prominent public officials, Wood- 

 son the Governor of Missouri, and his party, who crossed 

 the Kansas line and shot grouse out of season. What 

 shall be said of this deliberate violation of law by one 

 sworn to enforce the law? Is there no grain of principle 

 left in men? Are they not satisfied of the justice and 

 reasonableness of these prohibitive and protective game 

 laws? Toadies treated this more than venial offense as a 

 good joke, because, forsooth, the parties are high in office 

 and position; but for us, the larger the mark the more cer 

 tain our aim, and for such persons there is the less excuse 

 and slower condonation. 



RECREATION FOR BUSY WORKERS. 



A GOOD deal has been said about the old fashioned con 

 ventional rules which govern employers and employees 

 in England. Pretty generally our commercial usages have 

 been modelled after English principles, and we have found 

 ourselves all the better for having followed them. Our 

 early-closing movement is decidedly English, and owes itfc 

 origin in the United States to the Anglo-Saxon element in 

 our midst. Not that this most humane measure was one 

 entirely advanced by the employed, but in many cases was 

 suggested bj r the heads of the most prominent English firms 

 in our midst. This good fashion is then pre-eminently Eng- 

 lish, and possibly the granting of certain holidays owes its ori- 

 gin to customs of five hundred years ago, when the London 

 burghers were obliged by old ordinances to allow their clerks 

 and apprentices certain hours of recreation, so that they 

 might play at "bowles," or shoot their "bowes" astride of 

 London walls. 



Though much might be said deprecatory of the intense, 

 all-absorbing character of an American business-life, where 

 neither master nor men spare themselves in performing their 

 allotted tasks, we must still hail with pleasure the gradual 

 diminishing of the working hours, and the granting of addi- 

 tional holidays to that very much overtasked class of men, 

 the salesmen, clerks and bookkeepers. 



One point that is overlooked, however, is this, that the 

 masters do not take sufficient interest in the amusements of 

 those under their employ, and in this there is a wide 

 departure from the good old English precedents. Perhaps 

 this idea may invoke a rather disdainful smile from the lips 

 of a member of some distinguished firm, and he may say, 

 " out of office hours we can have nothing to do with our 

 clerks. We give them their holidays, and they spend them 

 as they please. It is no business of ours." We might reply 

 to him as follows, drawing a Liverpool paper from our 

 pocket: "Perhaps you do business with Staple, Yarns & 

 Co. ?" ' ' Of course we do; they are among our oldest and best 

 correspondents." "Well, you will see here a gold medal 

 valued at £20, offered by this old established firm, to be 

 awarded to any one of their clerks who can run the fastest 

 mile." If you take an interest in such matters you would 

 notice in addition that all warehousemen have combined to 

 make up a series of prizes amounting to over $1,000 to be 

 given to any of their employees who may be the most profi- 

 cient in some half dozen various athletic sports. You will, 

 herefore, notice that these old firms take most decidedly an 

 interest in the sports of their clerks, and in an indirect way 

 supervise the character of their amusements. They are not 

 alone satisfied with giving them a holiday, but what is better 

 see that the time given for recreation is properly employed. 



We have in our large cities, establishments employing in 

 many cases hundreds of young men, and perhaps the sug- 

 gestions w r e offer to the heads of such concerns, may in time 

 bear their fruit. Why should not the employees of the two 

 most famous dry-goods houses in the United States, after due 

 preparation, engage in a friendly athletic contest? Perhaps 

 the time will come When, at Creedmore, a Stewart may 

 contest with a Claflin the honor of being the best rifle-shots 

 in New York. Once a movement of this character inaugu- 

 rated by the employers, the advance of all manly sports in 

 the United States would be immense, and the hours of recre- 

 ation be not only more liberally given, but more than ever 

 usefully employed. If in colleges, why not in stores and 

 warehouses? 



— An advertisement of this character would seem strange 

 with us, but very rightly in England is considered as an 

 extra distinction: " An undergraduate of Oxford of three 

 year's standing, who has rowed stroke of his college boat, 

 proposes to take charge of a pupil, etc., etc." 



