396 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



it, leaving a small aperture on the down hill side, where 

 the chain was lying. I left, feeling conscious my work 

 was well done, which was verified three mornings later, 

 when I took my snow-shoe trail, now solid ice, and saw at 

 a distance my game swinging in the breeze. He was 

 caught by the same leg, half an inch above the stump, 

 which was fearfully swollen. He was a fine specimen, and 

 measured four feet and two inches from tip to tip. 



C. L. Whitman. 

 Weston, Vermont, January VMh, 1874. 



— In reply to several inquiries, we give the following di- 

 rections for improvising traps at short notice. The plan is 

 in vogue in the backwoods of Canada. Of course any 

 trappei who intends to establish lines for the winter, will 

 use Newhouse's steel traps, or some more effectual devices 

 than these given here, but these answer very well in emer- 

 gencies. See "Jacobstaffs" articles on trapping, already 

 printed in Forest and Stream. 



For a marten trap, the stump of a rotten tree, some 

 four feet high, is generally selected, and the wood remov- 

 ed for a depth of two feet, the bark alone being left so as to 

 form a shell. Logs of wood are now built up against its 

 front, the upper log being on a level with the surface of 

 the solid portion. On this log, and in front of the recess, 

 a small upright three or four inches in length supports 

 another log, on the extremities of which several pieces of 

 timber rest. The bait, consisting of a bit of salt fish or 

 wing of a duck is fixed to a pointed stick projecting into 

 the recess, one end underlying the upright, which will 

 fall at the lightest pressure. The marten in his runs 

 through the woods scents the bait, and endeavoring to 

 reach it, squeezes through the open space between the two 

 horizontal logs, the upright falls, bringing with it the upper 

 log; which, pressed down by the balks resting in its extrem- 

 ities, either kills the marten at once, or else keeps him 

 tightly jammed till the next visit of the trapper. 



The otter traps are constructed on much the same prin- 

 ciple, save that whereas the marten trap is placed at random 

 through tiie woods, the hunter must first ascertain where 

 the otter is in the habit of rolling himself, (always near 

 the bank of the river), and build his trap on that spot. No 

 bait is required. Two logs, four feet in height are then 

 driven firmly into the grand about two feet apart, and 

 connected at the top by a cross piece; logs are then placed 

 against the uprights to a height of two feet, as in the marten 

 traps, and a small branch is next chosen, hooked at one 

 end the hook passing over the cross piece at the top, while 

 the lower end is carefully adjusted behind the upper log of 

 the lower series. A cord attached to the hook keeps in 

 suspense a horizontal log, on the extremities of which 

 balks of timber rest. The otter in rubbing himself must 

 press against the hooked upright, the bottom end, nicely 

 balanced, tips up, and the .leverage being removed, the 

 cross piece which the hook supports falls on the otter with 

 the additional weight of the timber resting on its ex horn 

 ies. 



\atiomil §§z$times. 



_ ' Will our University correspondents kindly send us their most recent 



catalogues. 



♦ 



The first days skating of the season at Central Park oc- 

 curred on Jan. 20th, for a few hours. On the 26th the Park 

 lake presented a very gala appearance. There was skating 

 at Prospect Park the same days, and also at the Capitoline 

 lake and the Union pond. Owing to the sad accident which 

 occurred at the little corner lot pond, on Seventh street 

 and Sixth avenue, on Saturday last, by which three young 

 boys were drowned, the Police have prohibited boys from 

 going on the same class of ponds, and very properly so 

 too. 



The Curlers were out in force at Prospect Park, on Jan. 



20th on which day the Thistle and Caledonian clubs played 

 a medal match together, which resulted in the latter club 

 by the appended score : 



Caledonian. Thistle. 



J as. Kicall (skip) 20 A. Robertson (skip) 22 



A. Kellogg, (skip) 25 J. Gallaway, (skip) 20 



Total, 45 Total, 42 



This necessitates a third match, as the Thistles won the 



first. 



—The grand match, lt North vs. South," for the Dal- 

 rymple medal, took place at Central Park, on Jan. 27th, 

 when the clubs of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Pat- 

 terson Yonkers, &c, took part in the contest, the scene 

 presented at the lakes bein- lively in the extreme. 



—Ice-boat sailing was indulged in both at Prospect Park 

 and at the Capitoline Lake, on January 26th and ?7th, the 

 "Lady of the Lake" and the " Icicle " sailing together at 

 the Park Lake, and the "Fly Away" at the Capitoline 

 Lake All three boats are to race for the Park Pennant 

 the first day that the ice at the large lake completely covers 

 its surface- it is not safe until then. An experiment was 

 tried with the " Lady of the Lake " to see how she would 

 act in the water, and on her going off the ice she went to 

 the bottom in lively style. 



—The Hudson River Ice Boat Associations took to the 

 rivers on Jan. 27th with their boats, the Hudson being fast 

 frozen from Newburg to Troy. Some fast sailing was had, 

 and if the cold weather continues, the annual regetta will 

 take place this week. 



—The contest for the Governor General's cup, open to 

 all skaters in the Dominion, comes off next month in Mon- 

 treal. 



—A book on athletic sports, of three or four hundred 

 pages, is soon to be published at McGill University, Can- 

 ada. 



—The Mutual Base Ball Club (professional nine) have 

 selected their nine for the coming season, which will com- 

 prise the following well known players: Matthews, pitcher; 

 D. Allison, catcher; Start, first base; Nelson, second base; 

 Gary, short stop; Burdock, third base; Hatfield, left field; 

 Remsen, centre field; and Higham, right field. 



BILLIARDS. 



— Maurice Daly, while in New Orleans, enjoyed himself 

 exceedingly. He returns his sincere thanks to his kind 

 host, Col. Merriam, and other numerous friends there. 



— Col. Merriam, proprietor of the Crescent Hall Billiard 

 Rooms, is ornamenting his handsome club rooms with por- 

 traits of the leading professional billiard players of America. 



— M. Ubassey has returned from Philadelphia, after giv- 

 ing several successful exhibitions there. He has settled 

 down to steady practice for his match with Gamier next 

 Friday, and may be found about every afternoon practis- 

 ing with Maurice Daly, at the latter's billiard rooms, Union 

 Square. 



— R. E. Wilmarth, ex-champion of Massachusetts, is 

 located at the Spingler House Billiard Rooms. Last week, 

 at these rooms, Mr. W. E. W., an amateur, while playing 

 pool pocketed the fifteen balls twice in succession. 



— John W. Bessunger has arrived in town from Chicago 

 and is giving Garnier practice for his match with Ubassey. 



— Joseph Dion is expected in tow r n this week from Mon- 

 treal. 



— Edward Daniels, of Boston, is expected here this week. 



— Col. Merriam, of New Orleans, is inaugurating a tour- 

 nament for the amateur championship of Louisiana; it will 

 commence on March 1st. 



— Much interest is manifested in the championship match 

 to be played next Friday evening at Tammany Hall be- 

 tween Messrs. Garnier and Ubassy. Garnier is the favorite. 

 Both are playing well in practice. 



— The billiard match between Daly and Maggioii, in New 

 Orleans, resulted as follows: Game, 300 points up, Daly 

 giving the odds of a discount; played on a 5x10 Griffith 

 table; time of game, 1 hour and 85 minutes. 



Points made— Daly, 292; Maggioii, 121. 



Largest runs— Daly, 18, 26, 87, 40; Maggioii, 18, 17, 24, 

 25. 



Average— Daly, 10 2-29; Maggioii, 4 5-29. 



Won in twenty-nine innings. 



— The billiard match at New Orleans between Messrs. 

 Daly and Miller, the latter receiving the odds of 100 points 

 in 800 up, French carom game, resulted in Mr. Daly's win- 

 ning by a score of 800 points in nineteen innings, to Miller's 

 97. The play throughout, on Mr. Daly's part, was remain 

 kable. 



Daly, 800 points; Miller, 97 points. 



Largest runs— Daly, 40, 51, 62, 07; Miller, 12, 18, 19, 27. 



Average— Daly, 15 15-19; Miller, 5 2-19. 



Brooklyn, January 24th, 1874. 

 Editor Fokest and Stream :— 



Seeing in your is-ue of the 22d a report of the proceed- 

 ings of the Convention of Amateur Base Ball Club iepre- 

 sentatives of December 17th last, in which reference is 

 made to the new rule of ten men and ten innings, as also 

 some comments on the advisability of limiting the delivery 

 of the ball to a legitimate pitch or toss, and of prohibiting 

 the present underhand throw in delivery, 1 thought it ad- 

 visable to explain some facts in relation to the new rule of 

 play, and especially in regard to underhand throwing, with 

 a view of enlightening the minds of those of the amateur 

 fraternity, who appear to be rather in a fog on the subject, 

 judging from the comments of your correspondent, 

 "Champion." 



The experiment of ten men in the game was successfully 

 tested in a series of prize g mes played in Brooklyn ten 

 years ago, at a time when the same opposition was made to 

 my plan of the "fly game" — as it was then called — as 

 against my rule of ten men and ten innings now. A sin- 

 gularity of this opposition is, that it comes chiefly from 

 those who have never seen the game played, and whose 

 objection is simply based on the old theory of "the game 

 suited my father, and it therefore suits me." 



In reference to the effort to reintroduce the rule prohib- 

 iting any method of throwing the 'all, your correspondent 

 advocates the return to a rule which has for twelve years 

 past been a dead letter law. Underhand throwing has 

 practically been the rule of delivering the ball swiftly to 

 the bat in base ball since the advent of Creighton, who was 

 the first man to introduce it. Moreover, it is the only style 

 of delivery which combines speed with command of the 

 ball. Even if a square pitch was capable of being correctly 

 and easily defined under the existing rules of punishing a 

 wide delivery, no pitcher could deliver a ball by a square 

 pitch with any, degree of speed, and not pitch it wide 

 every second or third ball; and if confined to an accurate 

 delivery, and thereby forced to toss the ball to the bat, the 

 result would be such facilities being offered the batsman 

 for making home run hits as to deprive the game of all the 

 opportunities offered for skillful fielding which it now pre- 

 sents. Instead, therefore, of the rule of limiting the de- 

 livery of the ball to a square pitch or toss affording chances 

 for sharp fielding the very adverse would be the case, as 

 the experience of past years fully proves. But the fact is 

 the difference in the form of delivery in swift pitching and 

 in a well disguised underhand throw is so difficult to de- 

 tect, owing to the quickness of the movement, that con- 

 stant disputes would occur from the diverse opinions of 

 umpires; and even were they able to distinguish easily, 

 and" square pitching was made the rule, the result would 

 merely be a return to the tedious and boyish style of play, 

 of home runs, large scores, and longr weary games in the 

 place of such displays of fielding skill as that exhibited on 



the occasion of the fourteen innings, swift underhand 

 throwing delivery game between the Philadelphia and At- 

 lantic clubs, marked by a score of three to two only. 

 Young amateurs of the present day forget that the New 

 England game of base ball of twelve years ago prohibited 

 any st}de of delivery except the swift overhand throw. 

 With a square pitch the chances for skillful fielding are 

 diminished one half, and as for batting, the veriest "buff- 

 er" at the bat could punish such a delivery with ease. Such 

 pitching may suit country village clubs, who go in for 

 heavy batting and large scores, but for really skillful ball 

 tossers the "underhand throw delivery affords the only 

 chance for masterly fielding and stragetic play, both on the 

 field and at the bat. It has been the rule for the past 

 twelve years, despite the dead letter law which "Cham- 

 pion" desires to see replaced on the law book of the game. 

 Respectfully yours, Henry Chadwick. 



["Champion's" letter of 26th instant is crowded out, but 

 will appear in our next issue.] — Ed. 



15. 



'*♦ 



— Our readers who are curious on these points, are here- 

 with informed that the salmon of the Pacific coast, or 

 rather of the Sacramento tributaries, are now spawning. 

 This is the busy season of the Fish Culturists on the far 

 western slope. 



— Thirty thousand salmon fry from the Sacramento river 

 were last week placed in the streams watering the middle 

 portion of Suffolk county, Long Island. Thirty thousand 

 have also been placed in the Uppei Potomac, and Opequan 

 river, and Cedar Creek, Virginia, We published some 

 time since from Livingston Stone, Esq., a full history of 

 the capture and transportation of these fish from California 

 to the hatching houses of Dr. Slack, at Bloomsbury, New 

 Jersey- 



— The stock of salmon eggs at Bucksport, Maine, con- 

 tinues in good condition and will soon be distributed. The 

 total loss by death thus far is about three per cent, of the 

 eggs originally taken, about 2,250,000 being how on hand. 

 These all belong to the National Government and to the 

 several States that have aided the enterprize; but it is the 

 intention of Prof. Baird to supply spawn to private parties 

 who may want it, at a low price, as announced in our ad- 

 vertising columns. 



— Seth Green, the indefatigable fish culturist, desires us to 

 publish the following -card: 



Rochester, January 20. 1874. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



r stand ready to answer any questions that may be asked me through 

 the Forest and Stream, about fish, lakes or streams; but the real name 

 must be signed by the writer. Yours, truly, Seth Green. 



Mr. Green lenews his offer to furnish salmon, black bass, 

 whitefish, perch, pike, etc., gratuitously, to all applicants 

 within the State, in accordance with his circular already 



published in all the newspapers. 



♦ 



Bucksport, Me., January 20, 1871. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



Your remarks in your issue of the 15th inst., on the prevalent mild 

 weather and its influence on fish hatching and rearing, suggest two or 

 three inquiries. 



1st. Has the temperature of ths water used for hatching salmon and 

 trout in the Middle States been raised by the recent mild weather? Fish 

 breeders who take observations can answer. Here in Maine the tenden- 

 cy is the reverse. A thaw in \yinter depresses the temperature, probably 

 by bringing in a larger proportion of snow and ice water. The coldest 

 water we had last season was in April while the ground was thawing and 

 ice melting in tV ponds. After the thawing is completed of course the 

 continuance of warm weather raises the temperature of the water. 



2d. What effect lias a freshet on spawn of salmon or trout deposited in 

 the natural way? I have heard persons who knew much about the 

 habits of salmon and something about breeding them, assert their be- 

 lief that were it not for the action of freshets in tearing open the sal- 

 mon ridds or nests, the young salmoh would never succeed in getting out 

 from the heap of gravel that the caieful mother throws over them. If 

 the liberation of thp embryo fish does not occur in this way, who can 

 tell how it does occur? But perhaps our knowledge of the structure of 

 the salmon's ridd, and of the position of the eggs in it, is too meagre to 

 warrant us in attempting the proposed explanation. Who among your 

 leaders has ever fxamined a ridd thoroughly, from end to end, 

 from top to bottom, .so that he knows just where the eggs were? If any 

 one has made such observation he can confer a favor on naturalists by 

 his discoveries. 



I see that "Fern Fly's" criticisms on Professor Baird's choice of 

 streams for the deposit of salmon spawn have been well answered by 

 several correspondents, but I will add my mite. I have written many 

 letters of inquiry to parties living near the Black and Oswegatchie rivers 

 and the siatements thus far elicited tend to the conclusion that neither 

 of them was ever largely frequented by salmon; white the testimony is 

 abundant and conclusive that they were found in Salmon and Oswego 

 rivers in great numbers. If any>f your readers will give me items of 

 information about salmon in any of the tributaries of Lake Ontario and 

 the St. Lawrence, particularly the Black, Oswegatchie, Kackett and St. 

 Regis rivers, they will place me under great obligations. 



Chas. G. Atkins, 

 Late Fish Commissioner. 



The Leipsic Fur Trade.— The report of the Leipsic 

 Easter Fair of 1873 has been published. To this fair is 

 brought the furs of the whole world. Furs are exported 

 from the purchases made at this mart all over the globe 

 again, though no small quantity remains for consumption 

 in Germany. At Leipsic last year, coming from Europe 

 alone, 120,000 foxes, 200,000 polecats, 50,000 rock martens, 

 20,000 pine martens, 20,000 badger skins, 6,500 otters, and 

 125,000 black cats were sold. Of Russian and Siberian 

 skins, 2,000,000 of squirrels found a ready market, with 

 with 160,000 ermine and 8,000 Siberian sables. Russia 

 bought up, coming from North America, 1,800 sea otters 

 and 80,000 beavers. Of bear skins, 6,000 of them went to 

 make shakos, while 220,000 racoons were of slow sale. 

 Skunk skins, some 950,000, were dull, and moved off slow- 



e 

 ere 



ly. Eight hundred silver foxes and 3,500 cross foxes wer 

 on hand. Of red foxes, 45,000 were on hand, which were 

 taken up by Russian, Greek, and Gallician buyers. Of 

 musk rats there were only 2,500,000, and prices were high, 

 owing to the possibility of a diminished supply from 

 America. Otters, though, were in full quantity, to the to- 

 tal of some 60,000. General prices were mostly lower for 

 staple furs this last year, owing to the mildness of the 

 winter in Europe. 



