8 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Naturae History 



™ n !™l U £ CATION inMen anb Women of a healthy interest 

 in Out-door Recreation and Study: «"«* iaxjs« si 



'PUBLISHED BY 



Sorest mid gtrMt^gnbBhmg @omyati$ f 



103 PULTON STREET~NEW YORK. 



Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 



«™ v iscount . of twenty per cent, for five copies and upwards. Any person 

 Sfe U ^° subscriptions and Ten Dollars will receive a copy of 

 Hallock's "Fishing Tourist," postage free. 

 • ♦ 



T Advertising Kates. 



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. TV here advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 

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



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

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

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 



All communications hit- dec! for publication must be accompanied With 

 r jal 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 Names will not be published if 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 promts? to return rejectee! manuscripts. 



Ladies arc csp .ially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 

 pa pu with c..i .ef jT -eference to their perusal and instruction. 



Secretaries of Clnb^ and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their move/renis and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 men spm-t.smen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find cm columns a dcurablc 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 nropcrly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Natrre. It will pandec to no ^cpraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate soon- of land and water to tho^e base uses which always 

 tend to make them unpopu'ar with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment oi bnpinesg notici o." an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothiug will b3 admitted to auy department of the paper that 

 may no_. 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 shoull be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 



CHARLES HALLOCK, 



Managing Editor. 



Calendar of Events for the Current Week. 



♦ 



Thursday, Aug. 14.— Utica Trotting Park Association, Utica N. Y.— 

 Second raeejing Saratoga Association, Saratoga, N. Y.— Danville Agricul- 

 tural Society, Danville, Penn.— Regatta Seawanhaka Yacht Club of Oyster 

 Bay.— New York Yacht Srpiadron Cruise. 



Friday, Aug. 15.— Danville Agricultural Society, Danville, Penn.— 

 (Jtica Park Association. 



Saturday, Aug. 1G. — Atalanta Rowing Club Regatta,— Danville Agri- 

 cultural Society; Danville Penn.— Saratoga meeting, Saratoga, N. Y.— 

 Amateur Oarsmen of the IT. S. meet at the Metropolitan Hotel in the 

 evening. 



Monday, Aug. 18.— N. Y. Yacht Scpiadron at Newport.— Amateur 

 Regatta, Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. 



Tuesday, Aug. 19.— Hampden Park Association, Springfield, Mass.— 

 St. Catherines, D. of Canada, Amateur pigeon shooting. 



Wednesday, Aug. 20. — Hampden Park Association, Springfield, Maas. — ■ 

 Single scull match on the Connecticut river.— Monmouth Park, Long 

 Branch, -Kingston Driving Park Association, 



Thursday, Aug. 21.— Caledonia Club, annual meeting, Myrtle Avenue 

 Park, Brooklyn. 



*>♦«- 



TO INTENDING SUBSCRIBERS. 



Persons receiving the first number of the Forest and 

 Stream, w ill do well to preserve it. As we do not stereotype 

 our forms, we cannot supply back numbers to any great 

 amount, although we shall print an extra large edition to 

 meet anticipated future demands. 



Let it be impressed upon all that the paper will be valu- 

 able, not only as a work of reference, but as a compendium 

 of useful information on all topics. We offer it in a very 

 desirable condition for binding. 



*-•>- ■ 



OUR CONTRIBUTORS. 



Wc may well congratulate ourselves and the public upon 

 having secured so valuable a corps of contributors as have 

 pledged US their support. Without mentioning names at 

 present, we will merely state that we include many of the 

 most eminent naturalists, scientists, fishery officials, and 

 gentlemen sportsmen in the United States. Most of 

 these are now scattered from the Labrdor to California, but 

 when the summer is ended, and they have returned from 

 their several missions, we shall hope to reap the benefit of 

 their experience and investigations. A rich fund of material 

 is in store for us for autumn and winter reading. 



We shall adopt the practice of appending the real name 

 of the contributor to his article, unless objected to. We 

 shall print nothing that is worthless, and in many cases the 

 name adds the weight of authority to the article. 



We claim to have the most graphic, suggestive, and 

 artistically elaborated engraved title of any journal in 

 this country or Europe. We have spared no expense 

 in its preparation. Drawn by J. W. Beard, the well KlVffWB 

 animal painter, and engraved by J, IT, Richard- son, 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 

 ♦ 



UPON the occasion of a self-introduction to the public, 

 it is becoming to manifest a certain degree of modest, 

 retirement — a kind of yielding resistance, so to speak, to the 

 impelling motives that may qualify the intrusion if they 

 cannot excuse the pretension. As regards the debutants of 

 courtly salons, who have been taught in the school of strict 

 etiquette and self-assurance, or have a Turveydrop's keen 

 sense of the proprieties,- this presentation act is always in- 

 vested with a charming grace. But for us of the Fori t 

 and Stream, attired in the rustic garb of the woods, and 

 fresh from our inner seclusion, what else can be expected 

 than an entree made awkward by a natural diffidence ? Our 

 embarrassment is more than a pretense. As well might it 

 be expected of the Dryades and Hamadryades to appear in 

 the full glaie of the public gaze and dance unabashed to 

 Orpheus' step-compelling lute. Our tastes are rural and our 

 habits of the simplest. We drink from pellucid fountains , 

 or, if we quaff Falernian, it is of the purest natural juice 

 and not, of the stimulating stores of Bacchus, or of Silenus, 

 his foster-father. Wc read from Nature's book alone, and 

 our instructions are written on Sybilline leaves. Here is 

 our card, good reader, to announce our mission. It is of 

 simple birch bark, peeled from a tree in whose veins the 

 sap flows freely. In texture it is more delicate than the 

 ancient papyrus. It is odorous of balsam and fir and sweet 

 trailing vines. Herewith we bespeak your favor. Though 

 a stranger, we feel that you will bestow it, for is it not writ- 

 ten, "One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin ?" 



Through the columns of our beautiful paper we would 

 make you familiar with the living intelligences that people 

 the woods and the fountains. We would teach you those 

 secrets which necessity compelled the savages to learn — how 

 to wrench fire from dry sticks ; to feed, clothe and shelter 

 themselves Avith the simple roots, barks and skins which 

 the wilderness provided. They familiarized themselves 

 with the habit of every form of animal life. Under each 

 decaying leaf, in each blade of grass or rolling log, they 

 discovered a microcosm. They learned to read the track- 

 less forest as though it were an outlined chart. And if they 

 did not find "sermons in stones and beauty in everything," 

 they at least found utility. Let us go back to first princi- 

 ples. Out of these our civilization grew, but of the princi- 

 ples themselves we are ignorant. Remove temporarily our 

 modern appliances and we are helpless. Let us acquire the 

 rudiments anew. We know not at what moment the storm 

 may lay us ashore upon an island uninhabited, the earth- 

 quake leave us naked to the elements, or some adverse cir- 

 cumstances beset us as we travel on our wilderness jour- 

 neys. 



The object of this journal will be to studiously promote 

 a healthful interest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 

 a refined taste for natural objects. We especially desire to 

 make the Forest and Steam the recognized medium of 

 communication between amateurs and professional sports- 

 men. All of us have something to impart, which, if made 

 available to each other, will in time render us proficient in 

 all those several branches of physical culture which are ab- 

 solutely essential to our manhood and well-being, both as 

 individual men and as a nation. A practical knowledge of 

 natural history must of necessity underlie all attainments 

 which combine to make a thorough sportsman. It is not 

 sufficient that a man should be able to knock over his birds 

 dexterously right and left, or cast an inimitable fty. He 

 must learn by study and experience the haunts and habits 

 of the game or fish he seeks. If he depend altogether upon 

 his dog's nose, or upon his henchmen, he will some day 

 have to retire from the field in mortification and disgrace. 

 Therefore it is that we shall study to give practical instruc- 

 tion in the most attractive departments of natural history. 

 We shall not forget the technicalities of the craft either, 

 but take pleasure in designating the best localities for hunt- 

 ing and fishing, outfits, implements, remedies, routes, dis- 

 tances, breeds of dogs, &c. Each number will contain a 

 paper descriptive of a particular game animal, bird, or fish, 

 with some instruction as to its habits, haunts and mode of 

 capture, and the period when it is in season. We have ar- 

 ranged to receive regular weekly reports of the fishing and 

 shooting in various parts of the country. 



Yachting and boating will be encouraged, and yachting 

 news be made an especial feature of the paper. A reason- 

 able space will be given to athletic sports and those out- 

 door games in which ladies can participate. In a word, 

 every description of game that is in vogue among respect- 

 able people, and of value as a health-giving agent or recre- 

 ative amusement, will be considered and its practice en- 

 couraged. Nothing that demoralizes or brutalizes, nothing 

 that is regarded as "sport" by that low order of beings who, 

 in their instincts are but a grade higher than the creatures 

 they train to amuse them, will find place or favor in these 

 columns. 



To horse news we shall devote some space, giving a record 

 of leading races and meetings and current events, but we 

 shall not make it a feature of this journal. We leave this 

 department to others, much more competent than ourselves, 

 who are recognized throughout the country as exponents of 

 the turf, and as authority in stock, pedigree and kind. We 

 yield to no one, however, in our love and appreciation of 

 the horse and his estimable qualities. The noblest of all 

 animals, and the companion alike of men of high and low 

 degree, he lias never become contaminated by the moral 

 atmosphere by which he is often surrounded, or degraded 

 below the high rank to which his attributes entitle and as- 

 sign him. 



To the forest, lawn and garden Ave assign full place. For 

 the preservation of our rapidly diminishing forests we shall 



continually do battle. Our great int crest s a re i n j 



even our supply of drinking water is threatened, from ft 



depletion of our timber-lands by fire and axe, It 



proper to state here that the gentleman in charge "of tl? 

 department is the well-known "Olipod Quill, " & w i 10 * 

 connected with the Agriculturist newspaper from the st ♦ 

 and a co-laborer with the lamented Downing for man w 

 Much valuable information will be found in this depart 

 ment. 



Our military department is intended to comprise mcrel - 

 a weekly summary of news for officers and soldiers upoti 

 the frontier— such news as the castaways would enjoy t 

 receive in a "letter from home ;" and we trust that many of 

 them will be inclined to send us in return some account of 

 their hairbreadth experiences among the Indians, die i m i 

 f aloes, the grizzlies and the antelopes. We of the East are 

 not thoroughly familiar with the varied species of game in 

 the far Northwest, and would like to receive full informs 

 tion especially of the numerous Cern/s family and of the 

 Rocky Mountain sheep. This department is under the 

 charge of a distinguished and competent army officer. 



Our dramatic and art column will be prepared by Colonel 

 T. B. Thorpe, and must at once become popular with 

 all our readers wdio are interested in these matters. AYY 

 shall occupy an independent position, and throw our efforts 

 in behalf of a competent reform. We shall perhaps even 

 clamor for it. 



Our columns will always contain the cream of the latest 

 foreign sporting news. 



In a word, we arc prepared to print a lite paper and a. use- 

 ful one. We shall not be parsimonious in securing the best 

 material for its columns. Wc are convinced that there is a 

 • standard of eminence and usefulness not yet fully attained 

 by any sporting journals in this country. To this wc aspire. 

 It will be our ambition to excel ; and we have relinquished 

 a life of ease and semi-indolence to take charge of the en- 

 terprise. This not of our own free choice, but at the soli- 

 citation of many hundreds of friends and strangers. We 

 are ably assisted in our labors by a corps of valuable asso- 

 ciates — men of age and experience, all of whom, with a 

 single exception, have been identified with leading journals 

 for years 



Mr. Simeon A. Atkinson, connected with the Georgia 



press for over twenty years, has charge of the business af. 



fairs of the Company. 



Charles Hallock, Managing Editor, 

 —«*,.»« 



THE NEW ERA OF ATHLETIC SPORTS. 



THAT the taste for athletic sports has at last passed 

 through that critical period called " the growing one," 

 is now we believe quite certain. If we as a people have given 

 some attention to out-of-door sports, it has been heretofore of 

 rather a sporadic character, developing itself at most by 

 out-croppings of base ball clubs all over the country. With> 

 out placing too much stress on this game, even according 

 to it all the merit it deserves, we see now that for the very 

 first time in the United States, other and better exercises, of 

 a more manly and varied character, have been fully inau- 

 gurated. 



Open-air sports should never be limited to a single kind. 

 We must not play base ball to the entire exclusion of crick- 

 et, any more than we must always pull boats, and never run 

 foot-races. We should be able to do each and all of them ; 

 giving all of our attention to a single athletic sport dwarfs 

 true spirit in the matter. Just as certain as there is exclu- 

 siveness — one particular sport engrossing the entire atten- 

 tion — all the rest must languish. It is for this peculiar rea- 

 son, that we must confess that we look at the decline of 

 base ball with something akin to a grim satisfaction. Of 

 course it was far better for our young men and boys to have 

 had that, than nothing else. There was something even 

 commendable in the fact that if we had not invented the 

 game, we had at least revived an almost forgotten ball-play. 

 Its course to public estimation, was as rapid as its decline. 

 The nobler game of cricket was neglected for it, and base 

 ball was heralded as the coming American game. 



It is not sufficient to assert that base ball has gone out of 

 fashion, because- professionals had taken it entirely in their 

 hands, and that amateurs could not cope with professionals. 

 If the game had possessed within itself any sound vital merits, 

 the gentlemen would soon have been able to play it quite as 

 well as the professionals. Cricket is a game requiring ten 

 times as much address and skill, but what is more, wants 

 sound judgment, Avhich is the soul and animus of all such 

 sports. It is well known perhaps to the majority of our 

 readers, that the best cricket eleven in England is com- 

 posed of gentlemen amateurs, and what there is no pro- 

 fessional team m England who can play with them. We 

 feel certain even that the bad repute base ball has fallen 

 into, though partly due to the gambling introduced into it, 

 is not entirely owing to it. We are even pleased to notice 

 that certain corrective measures introduced by professional 

 players in their midst, are likely to create a reform in the 

 character of the game. It is not to be in the least under- 

 stood, that professionals cither in base ball or any other 

 sport, are to be decried by us for their calling, or are to be 

 blamed as a body, for the rascally proceeding of some of 

 their members. Quite as honest men are to be found in 

 their ranks as in anj^ other profession. The best deduction 

 to be made however in explaining the decline of base ball, 

 is that there was not enough in the game itself, and that it 

 was played to excess ; and wanting variety, it has now only 

 fallen into the third-rate place to which it naturally belong- 

 ed. For the good it has done, and may yet do, we, ffl 



levers of athletic sports, arc quite grateful, 



