250 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



MORE ABOUT THE NEW YORK AQUA- 

 RIUM. 



N exceedingly interesting letter has been received by 

 the Messrs Appleton from Mr. W. Saville Kent, of 

 Brighton, England, in regard to the proposed aquarium at 

 Central Park, which is published in the last number of 

 Appleton's Journal. 



Mr. Kent speaks of the advantages likely to accrue in an 

 educational and recreative point of view by the establish- 

 ment of a grand aquarium in New York City. Once in 

 working order, Mr. Kent anticipates remarkable results 

 from the stocking of the tanks with the wonderful marine 

 fauna of the West Indies and with species from the Florida 

 reefs, and even from the more remote Pacific. The system 

 of transporting living fish in the United States— the aqua- 

 rium cars— already pursued by the American Fisheries 

 Commission, Mr. Kent thinks is of wonderful importance 

 as a means of transit, and Mr. Kent predicts that the time 

 may not be far distant when a well appointed aquarium, 

 representing all the fauna of a marine world will illustrate 

 this portion of Natural History quite as thoroughly as does 

 to-day a menagerie stocked with animals. 



In speaking of the Brighton Aquarium, the largest in the 

 world, and the porpoises in the monster tank, Mr. Kent 

 thinks there is no reason why the beluga, or white whale, 

 some 15 to 16 feet long, which abound in the St. Lawrence, 

 should not be captured and placed in our tanks. Some 

 exceedingly curious fishes, as the bony pike (Lepidostev.s) 

 and the paddle-fish (Polyodon), remarkable examples of ex- 

 tinct races, and only found in the United States, would, if 

 captured and put in the aquarium, lead to new fields of 

 research. "Another zoological problem, 1 ' says Mr. Kent, 

 "of the greatest consequence yet undetermined is associa- 

 ted with the embryology of the king-crabs, the only exist- 

 ing group of their class throwing light on the ancient pale- 

 ozoic eurypterida?, and forming a connecting link between 

 the spider tribe and true Crustacea One species (Limulus 

 Polyphemus') is a native of America, and it may yet be left 

 to the aquarium of the Central Park, New York, to furnish 

 through this species the details deciding this important 

 question. 1 ' 



The whole letter is a most excellent one, showing the 



practical and scientific knowledge of the writer, and 



we sincerely trust that before six months are over, the 



constructing of an aquarium in Central Park will be under 



the supervision of Mr. Kent. 



«*...$>- 



— Since the English Palestine Exploration, under the 

 patronage of Lady Burdett Coutts has been so successful, we 

 are glad to learn that the American Expedition, under 

 charge of Lieutenant Steever, has been most fruitful in its 

 results. Some five months 1 ago Lieutenant Steever arrived 

 at Beirut, after five months' of exploration, with many re- 

 markable Archaeological and Geographical discoveries. 

 Some 600 square miles of the land of Moab have been trian- 

 gulated, and elaborate studies have been made of Nebo and 

 Pisgah, and quite a number of rivers and streams unknown 

 to travelers have been found. At an early day the Geo- 

 graphical Society will hold a special meeting, when Lieu- 

 tenant Steever will lay before the Society some of the re- 

 sults of his five months 1 explorations. We are pleased to 

 state that numerous additional subscriptions to the fund of 

 the Palestine Exploration have been received, and that 

 many new discoveries are to be expected. 

 -*♦*• 



— Poor David Livingstone! There is now no chance for 

 this ubiquitous explorer, for no less than two expeditions 

 are after him. On the west coast Lieutenant Grandy, K.N., 

 left on June 16th from San Salvador in search of Dr. 

 Livingstone, and on the east coast Lieutenant Cameron is 

 trying to head the missionary traveler off. At late accounts 

 Lieutenant Cameron was near the Lake Region with a fair 

 chance of reaching a distant country where he would be 

 likely to obtain information about Livingstone. There will 

 be a wonderful discovery made some day. Whether geo- 

 graphical or not, we are scarcely at present prepared to say, 

 but certainly a mystery will be unravelled. 

 -*-••«»» 



— It is stated that a line of steamers established between 

 Pensacola and Havana would enable a traveler to go from 

 Louisville to Havana and r«eturn within six days. — Louisville 

 Courier- Journal. 



Yes; it is all very well to say "return," but how about 

 the passengers of the Virginius? 



— Cuban bonds are being purchased freely in Philadelphia 



at twenty-five cents on a c ollar. 



-**♦• 



—Ahorse at Murfreesboro, Tenn., is fond of meat diet 



and eats bacon and game with great gusto. 



— Cattle men say that in no previous season has the grass 

 on the plains "cured down" so finely as the present fall. 



—The Patrons of Husbandry now have "Granges" in 

 every State, except Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

 • — : -+•+* ■ 



—The cultivation of oranges in East Florida has had the 

 effect of enhancing the value of real estate on all the navi- 

 gable streams. 



— Farmers of Tazewell Co., 111., complain of wolves kil- 

 ling sheep, the wolves coming right up to the bam lots 



after them. 



«_ .*&...*. 



— A bundle of shingles fell from a wagon on the ferry, 

 boat the other day and struck fairly upon the head of a 

 colored woman, who said,"" Y'oughter b' shame to muss a 

 cullud wom'n's har dat away. I wish de shingles fell ova- 



M^ ar ^HQ M em ff ram $b%Q*&* 



♦ ■ 



"Listening how the hounds and horn, 

 Cheerily rouse the slumbering morn, 

 From the side of some hoar hill, 

 Thro' the high wood echoing shrill.'" 

 So sang the grand John Milton, more than two hundred 

 years ago, and long before him, Twice in his rhymed 

 "Treatise on the Craft of Hunting," say? :— 

 "And for to sette young hunterys in the way 



To venery, I cast me fyrst to go ; 

 Of which four bestes he, that is to say 



The hare, the herte, the wulf, and the wild boar, 

 But there ben other bestes, five of the chase, 

 The buck the first, the second is the do 1 . 



So undoubtedly may have thought that elegant assem- 

 blage of ladies and gentlemen and fine horses who collected 

 at a railroad station in the West end of London, Padding- 

 ton by name, one day early in this month to follow her 

 Majesty's hounds from Salt Hill after the stag. We find no 

 notice of the stag or the hounds having been brought up 

 from London in the same special train, which might have 

 been ever so much more convenient. At Bayles' court the 

 stag was found (in his box) all ready waiting, and was 

 turned out, and with some difficulty having extricated him- 

 self from the mob, off bolted the quarry, with some hun- 

 dred horsemen and dogs at his heels. The poor Baron (for 

 so the stag is called) ran along wire fences, through plowed 

 fields, over the London highroad, across a brickyard, ana" 

 at last was taken in the garden of Mr. Drew's cottage. It 

 sounds a little bit tame when put in this way. A stag is 

 brought on the ground like a show beast in a menagerie 

 van, is let loose and then caught in the midst of a gravel 

 walk, perhaps in the immediate vicinity of a greenhouse. 

 Of the many who started, some thirty huntsmen are repre- 

 sented to have been in at the death, and some nice falls 

 came to the lot of many of the huntsmen. It is kind of a 

 put up hunt of course, adapted to the period, a little bit 

 theatrical, but it is all right we suppose, though it cannot 

 have the full flavor of real hunting, as expressed by Twice 

 or Chaucer. Though on a grand scale, it has the least smack 

 of barbarity about it, and when some future Leckie will 

 discant on hunting morals, he will tell of the time when 

 the last hunt of this nature was held in England. 



— Some time ago Punch had a most clever picture in re- 

 gard to driving partridges, which represented several kid 

 glove gentlemen seated on easy chairs knocking over par- 

 tridges, the birds being sent to them through the process 

 called partridge driving. One of most able foreign con- 

 temporaries takes umbrage at this; and declares that it is 

 no easy sport, and describes the process. From our owr. 

 experience of driving partridge in England we must per- 

 fectly agree with the Field that it is no easy sport, though 

 in our time no horses or flags were in use ; these are more 

 modern complications. The birds flew almost as swift as 

 black ducks on the wind, and we are not ashamed to say 

 that of seven which passed over us during a whole' morn- 

 ing we killed only two, and then to our surprise were con- 

 gratulated at being "quite a decent shot." We cannot say 

 that the sport was an amusing one, on the contrary, it was 

 stupid to a degree. To-day partridge driving, we believe, 

 is becoming more and more in vogue in l.ngland. The 

 poor bird are scared up by heaters, while men on horseback 

 with fluttering flags keep the birds going in one line, and 

 srom hedges the concealed guns let them have it. We think 

 it an abnormal sport, and to use a French maxim, "Ze jeu 

 ne taut pas la chandelle.'" All ultra refinements of sport are 

 unnatural. 



—The subject of refreshing the moors is now being agi- 

 tated in England. Some are of opinion that all the old 

 cock and hen grouse should be exterminated; others are in 

 favor of very careful shooting for the year to come. Ques- 

 tions of the introduction of new birds from other sections 

 of the country are spoken about, and there is a dispute 

 whether it is better to produce fresher breeds by the eggs 

 or by placing young birds on the moors. 



—A piece of red pepper, the size of your finger-nail, put 

 into meat or vegetables when first beginning to cook, will 

 aid greatly in killing the unpleasant odor arising there from. 

 Remember this for boiled cabbage, green beans, onions, 

 chickens, mutton, etc. 



• .*•+. - 



—The amount of timber cut on the head waters of the 

 Mississippi River and its tributaries, the past year, was 

 equal to 1,579,000,000 feet. This quantity, estimating the 

 yield of pine land at 10,000 feet per acre, would require the 

 denudation of 155,000 acres, or nearly 250 square miles of 

 land. 



—"Do black 

 a pinion. 



bass take a fly?" This is a question of 



«»«^ 



—The Brooklyn Eagle says :• 



Some days ago a match was made between two horse- 

 shoers of South Brooklyn, each man betting $100 that he 

 could make more horse-shoes than the other within a speci- 

 fied time. The names of the men are John Burns and 

 George Boyle and as both have the reputation of being 

 adepts in the art of horse-shoeing the contest excited a good 

 deal of interest. The match came off yesterday, and was 

 attended by large numbers of horse-shoers and sporting men 

 from New York, New Jersey, and even the neighboring 

 States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The men worked 

 eight hours, during which Boyle turned out 11,010 shoes, 

 while Burns manufactured but 11,000, thus losing the 

 match, As an exhibition of endurance and skill, the feat 

 was a most remarkable one, and surpassed anything in the 

 horse-shoeing line ever accomplished in America. Some 



— * — 



VALUE IN HORSEFLESH. 



. * 



A CORRESPONDENT of the New England Farmer has 

 written an exceedingly sound letter on the horse, and 

 what constitutes a good horse, from which letter we lake 

 the following: 



We have objections to the statement by Mr. Murray that 

 speed and flight are the standards of appreciation and value. 

 We believe that utility is the standard of value, and that 

 the race horse, whether the runner or the trotter, is almost 

 valueless unless we make his availability as a gambling in- 

 strument a standard of value; and it does seem to us that 

 this is the position the reverend gentleman virtually as- 

 sumes; and we are not alone in this view, as expressed by 

 others. 



To a certain extent, however, the stallion may be an ex- 

 ception; its value may depend upon its ability to improve 

 stock. Value in this respect might be real, but the value 

 of the gelding is entirely fictitious. 



Now I believe a good road horse is useful, and valuable 

 because he is useful. When I was a boy I remember driv- 

 ing a mare fourteen miles inside the hour, accompanied by 

 a lady, in an English gig, a vehicle with two wheels, which 

 would weigh about 850 pounds, the lady and myself 250 

 pounds, making 600 pounds. This mare had had no train- 

 ing, no particular care, and was worked more or less everv 

 day, in a regular way. Mr. Murray's 2:40 horse on the 

 course has been trained for months; his whole work has 

 been to get ready to trot a mile at his best speed; the sulky- 

 he draws weighs 60 pounds, the driver about 140 pounds, 

 making together 200 pounds. The mare I drove never 

 broke in the whole fourteen miles; her pace was Gne steady 

 trot, with neither skip nor break. Now when the pains 

 taken to get a mile in 2:40 is compared with the achieve- 

 ment of this mare, under the circumstances, it seems to 

 me the 2:40 performance dwindles to an insignificant affair. 

 I own a mare to-day which I keep to plow, harrow, draw 

 out manure, and drive. She brought myself and wife from 

 South Framingham depot to my house, a^ distance of ten 

 miles, in fifty-five minutes. She trotted steady the whole 

 way; was harnessed to a common sized top-buggy, drawing 

 about 700 pounds. This was done without the'use of whip, 

 without any training, and on only common feed. The 

 same mare harnessed to a double-seated beach wagon has 

 carried four persons from Boston to my house, a distance 

 of twelve miles, in one hour and twenty minutes. I call 

 this mare a horse of value, because a horse of utility; in 

 which are combined speed, strength and endurance. Yet 

 she was never trained, has no pedigree, and is not a perfect 

 horse. I have never driven her so fast that she could not 

 eat as soon as she entered the stable — something a 2:40 

 cannot do when he has trotted a mile in his best time; but 

 must then have the best of care — two or three men to rub 

 him dry, and everything possible must be done to restore 

 his exhausted energies. This nursing cannot be given to 

 our common business horses. If after a few miles sharp 

 driving they have a blanket thrown over them it is all, and 

 many times even this is omitted. Mr. Murray says that old 

 Topgallant trotted his sixteen miles in forty-five minutes 

 and forty-four seconds. Compare this with the time of the 

 two mares to which I have referred, and it appears insig- 

 nificant indeed. But when we consider that he had been 

 in training for weeks for this purpose; that everything had 

 been done which art could accomplish to perfect him in 

 this work; then remember that he did not trot these sixteen 

 miles consecutively, but in four mile heats; that at the end 

 of each heat he was rubbed dry, allowed to breathe and 

 rest, and brought almost fresh to the succeeding heat; that 

 it took much longer time to rub him dry between the heats 

 than it took to trot them, so that we shall find the time oc- 

 cupied in accomplishing these sixteen miles was over two 

 hours, with at least two grooms to assist, and that he did 

 not draw over 200 or 220 pounds, and that overground 

 made the most favorable to the effort— it appears to "us that 

 after all it was no very great achievement; that there was 

 really nothing of a useful character, but was simply a gam- 

 bling operation that made its owner rich, and many others 

 poor. If all the breeders in the country should follow the 

 advice of Mr. M., and produce three minute and 2:40 horses 

 how profitable would this kind of horse breeding be? Sup- 

 ply and demand regulate prices. In this case what w^ould 

 be the price of a fast horse since everv one would be fast' 

 Then let it be understood that although you breed from the 

 fastest horse and the fleetest mare, some of your colts may 

 prove fast, and if not fast they would be worthless, because 

 g. ood f or nothing else. But let the farmer ask this ques- 

 tion— W hat kind of horses are most in demand? Common 

 observation, aided by a little common sense, would answer 

 every. day horses; good road horses; horses with good 

 stylish gait; horses that can make from seven to eight miles 

 an hour; horses that have strength to draw ourlhackuey 

 coaches, our omnibuses and our horse cars We want 

 good stout twelve to thirteen hundred pound horses for our 

 farms, and we want the heavy dray horse of from fifteen 

 to twenty hundred pounds for the cities. These horses have 

 a commercial value, and a degree of utility which the coun- 

 try never fairly realized until last fall, 'when that fearful 

 malady swept over the country and kept the horse from our 

 streets— suspending commerce throughout the whele coun- 

 try. Now if all the fast horses in the world had been thus 

 afflicted, and our common drudges had been spared we 

 should have realized no inconvenience. 



Tuotting on the Ice ^TheTeTs every reason to believe 

 that during the present winter there will be more public 

 trotting contests than ever before. All over the country 

 the trotting men are bestiring themselves and promising to 

 bring on an issue soon after the snow commences to flv. 

 The following are likely to be the leading events of the 

 season, and we advise the different Associations to give 

 timely warning of their intentions. Last year several meet- 

 ing were poorly patronized, simply because the managers 

 did not give sufficient publicity to their programmes Horse 

 owners like s to be posted in time. Toronto, Brantford 

 Hamilton, Barrie, Orillia, Port Hope, Cobourc Grafton 

 Picton Brockville, Ottawa and Montreal. In Addition to 

 these there will be numerous re-unions in the province of 

 Quebec— Toronto Sporting Times 



«»«». _ 



Anoint the inside of a horse's ears with a drop or two of 

 kmte decade, so says a French horseman, (an oily liquid 

 obtained from the wood of juniperus oxycedrusY and it will 

 save the animal from annoyance by flies. The oil need not 

 be applied more than once a, w^es, and it, is perfectly harm- 



