264 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Db voted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 ;;Fish Culture, the Protection op Game, Presrvation op Forests, 

 and tub Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 

 in Out-cook Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



forest mid Jtfmwf 



$om$Hi\ti, 



J 108 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 



Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 

 4 



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

 pending us one subscription and Five Dollars will receive a copy of 

 Hallocli's "Fishing Tourist," postage free. 



* , 



Advertising Kates. 

 '"In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121iues to the inch, 25 

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

 notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in doable 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, DEC 4, IS 73. 



To Correspondents. 



■ ♦ 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

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

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manage f. 



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 Names will not be published if 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. 

 a 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 witb. careful reference to their perusal and instruction. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations arc urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of mis paper 

 become a medium of useful and reliable information 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 Streak 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 

 ! »end to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

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

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department o 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. 



♦ 



Suturday, December 6.— Louisiana Jockey Club, New Orleans, 



Tuesday, December 9.— Louisiana Jockey Club, New Orleans. 



Wednesday, December^ 10.— Camden Jockey Club, Camden, South 

 Carolina. 



Thubsday, December 11.— Louisiana Jockey Club, New Orleans.... 

 Camden Jockey Club, Camden, S. C. 



FIELD CLUBS— A SUGGESTION. 



WE have entertained the opinion that a large amount 

 of practical information of the most valuable qual- 

 ity of a zoological or other character was obtainable outside 

 of strictly scientific sources. The exceedingly valuable 

 material furnished to the columns, of Forest and Stream 

 by our many correspondents, coming to us quite unsolici- 

 ted, is the strongest proof we can present that a spirit of 

 research in Natural History, with habits of close observa- 

 tion, exists in the United States to a most marked degree. 

 If learned professors of the Smithsonian and other leading 

 scientists in our universities and schools have been good 

 enough to give our readers information and instruction, 

 conveyed with infinite skill and erudition, we have at the 

 same time derived many advantages from the contribu- 

 tions of persons unknown to fame, with no idea of scien- 

 tific study, but whose singularly novel and interesting ob- 

 servations in regard to animals, birds, and fishes have lent 

 additional charms to the columns of the Forest and 

 Stream. What has been so persistently asserted by us, 

 that a practical knoioledge of Natural History must of neces- 

 sity underlie all attainments which combine to make a thorough 

 sportsman, are then undoubtedly true. From Labrador to 

 Florida from New Jersey to California, those who handle the 

 o-un and the rod have given us their rich stores of informa- 

 tion and all seem to appreciate the fact that the study of 

 the game or fish they seek, with a knowledge of their hab- 

 its when noted, not only gives an immense amount of prac- 

 tical information, but adds fresh zest to their manly plea- 



sures. 



We feel ourselves called upon to make this general ac- 

 knowledgment of the value of the labors of all our con- 

 tributors, and to express to all of them how gratefully the 

 public, both at home and abroad, have appreciated their 

 labors,' for English sporting journals and periodicals are 

 copying us with avidity. 



There is, however, a method of combining such general 

 advance of intelligence, which, without depriving the 

 Forest and Stream in the least of their valuable services, 

 would be of infinite advantage to many of our co-laborers. 

 In England they have certain kinds of societies, and, dis- 

 carding the rather pom pons titles of "scientific societies," 



they simply call themselves "Field Clubs." In quite an un- 

 ostentatious way they collect from absolute experiences in 

 the fields, woods, and rivers, in the forests and streams, an 

 endless variety of useful information. The subjects they 

 choose are varied. Some field clubs take urj geology, others 

 zoology or botany, some meteorology, others archaeology, 

 but generally all these various branches of study are com- 

 bined. The sportsman going in the fields, for instance, 

 notes age, sex, general appearance, habits, and effects of 

 season on the birds he hunts. Should he find a bird un- 

 known to the section of country, he jots it down in his 

 book, perhaps stuffs the specimen himself, and at a subse- 

 quent meeting of his field club descants on this novel bird, 

 and not only gives but gains information. If he is a fisher- 

 man, there are a thousand novel facts which strike his in- 

 telligent notice. He learns something about the migration 

 of fish, their methods of spawning, the differences even in 

 the same species as to color, shape, or size, and, carefully 

 recording the facts of his own experiences, imparts it to 

 others. If the field club is ambitious, at the end of the 

 year, their proceedings could be published, and it would be 

 surprising to find what a^ast amount of solid facts would 

 be given to the world. 



Societies of this character in England, humble at first, 

 counting but a few members at their start, have in a com- 

 paratively short time developed into real centres of vast 

 importance and scientific acquirement, and from being sim- 

 ply "field clubs" are now august scientific societies, pub- 

 lishing each year volumes full of the most varied informa- 

 tion, and having libraries attached to their societies. 



Societies of this character, composed of every element, 

 stimulate the general advance of human culture, and foster 

 a love for that most delightful of all subjects, Natural His- 

 tory. There is no reason why our own readers, the many 

 contributors to the Forest and Stream, especially our 

 friends of the gun and rod, should not establish field clubs 

 in the localities in which they live. The objects worthy 

 of their research exist quite as well in the State of New 

 York as in Nebraska. No country in the world abounds 

 with such magnificent material. 



There is nothing which will tend to so fully develop not 

 only among the older, but among the younger people, a 

 taste for ennobling studies as the formation of societies of 

 independent investigation of this simple character. We 

 have canvassed this matter sufficiently to have discovered a 

 nucleus for an association of this kind, and when the mat- 

 ter has been sufficiently discussed by our readers, we shall 

 develop our plans. We ask a careful consideration of our 

 suggestion, 



WINTER SPORTS. 



WITHIN a period of time covering but a little more 

 than the past decade, the winter sport and exercise 

 of skating in this country was indulged in almost exclusive- 

 ly by the masculine sex, and chiefly by juveniles, and gen- 

 erally by those only who found time to avail themselves of 

 the favorable condition of the ice on such ponds or streams 

 as were located in the immediate vicinity of their houses. 

 At that period adults, too, would, on holiday occasions, 

 take to the ice for a few hours' sport, provided the snow 

 had not placed an embargo on the use of any ice for skating 

 purposes. What a change has taken place in regard to this 

 exercise, however, within the past dozen year* ! Now thou- 

 sands engage in the sport where tens only indulged in it, and 

 the fair sex rival their masculine protectors in the skill in 

 which they disport themselves on skates. In fact skating 

 has become a regular American institution, and one which 

 specially commends itself to both sexes and all classes as 

 an exciting and invigorating out-door exercise and recrea- 

 tion. A dozen years ago a lady on skates was not only a 

 rare and novel sight in this vicinity, but any fair one, 

 ' ' native and to the manner born," who in such a way would 

 have dared to brave the opinion of " her set," and to have 

 outraged their peculiar sense of feminine propriety by ap- 

 pearing on a public field of ice on skates, would have been 

 driven forth in disgrace from the sacred circles of "our 

 best society." Now, however, the very reverse rule pre- 

 vails, for the self same fair one would now be tabooed as 

 "slow" and "behind the times" if she could not grace- 

 fully accomplish the "outside circle" or practically illus- 

 trate the beauties of the " grape vine twist " and other 

 mysteries of the skating art in the latest style. Now, too, 

 every girl not afflicted with weak ankles, thin or crooked 

 nether limbs, or positive physical inability to exercise her- 

 self on skates, is uneasy and dissatisfied unless enjoying 

 herself in the winter luxury of skating on a clear field of 

 ice. At one time a perfect furore for the sport prevailed 

 amongst the fair sex of our northern cities, and no wonder 

 either, for American women, until within a few years' past, 

 have been so much excluded from any participation in the 

 out-door amusements and exercises which European ladies 

 indulge in to such a wholesome extent, that it is not sur- 

 prising that when the door to such recreation is opened to 

 them they should rush in to enjoy it with almost ecstatic de- 

 light, or go to extremes in the indulgence of the too long 

 prohibited pleasure. Now, however, skating has settled 

 down into a permanent recreative exercise for Americans 

 of both sexes, and its present deserved popularity will never 

 relax, we trust. 



Looking at skating from a sanitary point of view the 

 benefits accruing from it outnumber its drawbacks to such 

 an extent as to render opposition to the sport on any reason- 

 able p-rounds futile. Especially is this the ease in reference 

 to its enjoyment by ladies, for to them it has been an 

 ecial advantage when they have indulged in it with 

 judicious care and moderation. The prominent cause of 

 the delicate and sickly constitutions of American girls, and 



especially of our city ladies, arises in a great measure from 

 their entire neglect of out-door recreative exercise. Two- 

 thirds of the lives of fashionable American women have 

 hitherto been passed in the artificial and poisonous atmos- 

 phere of their poorly ventilated and furnace-heated apart- 

 ments The result has been the preventing of that exhala- 

 tion of carbon and the inhalation of oxygen which are of 

 such vital importance to the health of everv human being. 

 Now it happens that this requisite healthy action of the 

 lungs in the expulsion of the refuse carbon from the blood 

 and the reception of the life-giving properties of the air 

 we breath, is never better promoted than when the indivi- 

 dual is engaged in the vigorous exercise of skating, for while 

 thus causing the blood to circulate healthily to the surface 

 of the body by the muscular exercise, and thereby giving 

 life to the dormant functions of the skin, the oxygen of the 

 pure frosty air is inhaled under circumstances best caleu- 

 culated to invigorate the entire system. The sanitarian 

 rule is, that exercise, to be beneficial, must have the effect 

 of increasing the insensible perspiration, or, in other 

 words, give an impetus to the healthy action of the skin in 

 removing effete matter from the system. By this means 

 the otherwise overworked functions of the lungs, bowels 

 and kidneys are relieved and the diseases which res; It 

 therefrom, are prevented. It is from the very lack of this 

 healthy circulation of the blood to the surface that indivi- 

 duals unaccustomed to out-door recreative exercises take cold 

 so easily. Those in whom the functions of the skin are in 

 active operation scarcely know what a cold is ; and hence 

 the hardihood of those who are constantly inhaling the 

 open air under circumstances of active exercise of their 

 muscles, in comparison to others who in their sedentary 

 habits of life scarcely realise what recreative exercise is. 

 Habitual skaters, who regularly breath the invigorating at- 

 mosphere of winter on a skating pond and thereby make 

 their cheeks ruddy with the newly vitalized blood sent to 

 the surface by the exercise, become proof against colds. It 

 is your housed girls and office-confined young men who 

 become victims of colds,' and not the well-clothed and well- 

 exercised skater. 



Though we have recently had quite a cold snap, it has 

 not been sufficient to inaugurate the skating season of '73 

 and '74, and it is not probable that the season will be open- 

 ed before the middle of December. By that time, however, 

 the skating lakes at Central and Prospect Parks will, no 

 doubt, be in operation. Preparations are in progress at 

 both localities for the advent of King Frost, the skating 

 houses having been commenced this week. Water has 

 been let on at the Capitoline and Union Lakes, too, in prepara- 

 tion for the season's sport. We regret to notice that even 

 at this early period of the season accidents to skaters have 

 occurred in different localities resulting from the risks in- 

 curred in skating on Mill Ponds ; three boys having been 

 drowned near Highland Falls, in this State, this last week, ' 

 and a young man in a Mill Pond in New Hampshire. No 

 such danger can result from skating on our Park Lakes, as 

 the water is not deep for one thing, and great care is taken 

 in keeping people off the ice when it is not sufficiently 



strong. 



-*♦♦• 



NEB RASK A. 



THERE is always a certain amount of solid informa- 

 tion derivable from the Agricultural Reports of a 

 State. If such reports are not always exactly amusing, at 

 least they have the merit of being instructive. The wealth 

 of a country in an agricultural point of view is, however, 

 of the most tangible character. As one reads, it requires 

 but little imagination to see before one's eyes the rich prai- 

 ries bending under their golden harvests, or the fat kine 

 drowsily chewing the cud, fetlock deep in the succulent 

 blue-grass. Those dryer details of manufacturing or com- 

 mercial communities, as expressed by so many looms with 

 their thousands of yards of sheeting or so many forges with 

 their tons of iron, or of so many ships, or an amount of money 

 invested in stocks, shares or mortgages, do not present that 

 palpable consistency which wheat and corn, oxen, horses, 

 swine, or sheep give. In the Fourth Annual Report of the 

 Board of Agriculture of the State of Nebraska for 1878, 

 there is, in addition to quite a large amount of excellent in- 

 formation, no end of true Western dash. There is an 

 original impulsiveness about it which has its charm. Why 

 should a great go-ahead State like Nebraska, which was a 

 territory but a few years ago, and a terra incognita fifteen 

 years before that, want to be staid, heavy and dignified, or 

 to give us here in our older civilization some intensely prim 

 yet dull facts in the cut and dried guise of an English 

 parliamentary Blue Book ? Some idea of the perfectly 

 free and easy manner in which this most clever report is 

 written, may be had from a line or so in the introductory 

 portion. Discussing the most curious fact of that wonder- 

 ful belt of civilization which is encircling this giant coun- 

 try of ours, one of some three thousand miles long from 

 east to west, by four or five hundred miles in width from 

 north to south, the report scouts at anything like curtailing 

 this huge girdle, and describes the country as "bounded on 

 the north by the Aurora Borealis and on the south by the 

 Day of Judgment." * 



But our report is not wanting in statistics, See what it 

 says about the Homestead bill and the benefits the vigorous 

 State of Nebraska has gained by this "twice honored bill," 

 as it calls it. Taking the whole number of acres occupied 

 by settlers under the Homestead bill, the report states that 

 up to June 80th, 1872. "the total number of acres of land 

 to which claims had been filed by homesteaders amounted 

 to 25,173,309 acres," which is an area of ground twice as 

 much as is now under tillage in England. Think of such 

 a royal domain, well nigh forty thousand miles square, and 



