406 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



light. This may be called a wonderful combination of 

 rare, curious, and unique flowers. They are of all kinds, 

 shapes, and colors, and you have only to visit the florist to 

 find ready potted for use any variety you may desire to 

 place within your now nearly completed window garden. 

 Begonia rex is the best variety grown in this country, being 

 a very showy and picturesque plant, and is equally well 

 grown in the parlor, conservator}', or greenhouse. . Its 

 leaves sometimes attain to a large size, and are beautifully 

 marked witli crimson. Some of them have broad, irregu- 

 lar silvery zones and curious spots, rendering them truly a 

 most wonderful plant for the parlor, and worthy of all our 

 care and attention. 



In arranging this lower box much care must be had in 

 keeping it open, so that you can let the very largest plants 

 have ample room to develop themselves like trees in minia- 

 ture, so that you can look under their leaves. If you wish 

 to add in front some of the smaller plants, as violets and 

 the like, you could probably find no finer study than the 

 violets and mosses would yield you. Try it, and do not 

 forget the rules of harmony of color, room, soils adapted 

 to your plants, and untiring watchfulness. 



In our next we will tell you something about sub-tropical 

 plants and the aquarium as a study and an amusement. 



Ollipod Quill. 

 — — — *-»^~ — — — 



A Great Canal.— The Grangers of California have de- 

 vised a grand seheme of irrigation. It is proposed to con- 

 struct a canal, commencing "where the San Joaquin de- 

 bouches from the Sierra Nevada, and carry it along the 

 foothills, as high up as practicable, to Stockton. The 

 object primarily to be obtained is the affording of a suffi- 

 ciency of water to irrigate all the land intervening between 

 the canal and the San Joaquin river, and at the same time 

 to furnish a means of cheap transportation for the produce 

 the large area of land will give to the country as a result of 

 the irrigation. The great canal is proposed to be made 100 

 feet wide by as much as eight feet deep; large enough to 

 carry boats of 100 tons capacity, and will be supplied with 

 its waters from the following streams, which are situated 

 as follows: 1. San Joaquin; 2. Fresno, about twenty miles; 

 3. Chowchilli, ten miles; 4. Mariposa, ten miles; 5. Bear 

 C.ieek, eight miles; 6. Merced, fifteen miles; 7. Toulumne, 

 twenty miles: 8. Stanislaus, nine miles; thence to Stock- 

 ton, twenty miles— making 112 miles in all, though the 

 actual distance is probably about 130 miles. Taking 130 

 miles as the length and twenty miles as the width, there 

 would be 2,600 sections, 'or 1,644,000 acres, of nominally 

 unproductive land, that would be rendered the most pro- 

 ductive of any body of land in the world. The cost of the 

 canal is estimated at $13,000,000. The State will be asked 

 to issue her bonds for the cost of construction, and the law 

 providing for the canal will levy an annual tax of $1 per 

 acre on every acre of land within the above limits, also a 

 tonnage duty of say twenty-five cents on every ton of pro- 

 duce passing through the canal, to save the State from ex- 

 pense. Each stream crossed by the canal shall be used as 

 a feeder, and it is suggested that flume-feeders may be used, 

 through which the timber, lumber, and wood bordering on 

 those streams in the mountains can be floated to the canal, 

 and thus reach a market otherwise impossible. As it is 

 now, the crops being uncertain, the land of the entire dis- 

 trict is probably not worth over $5 per acre, certainly not 

 more than $10, whereas certainty of a crop every year, 

 as irrigation would make it, would enhance it to $30. This 

 would make the actual enhancement of the value of the 

 land $16,440,000, more than the cost of the canal; and in 

 less than ten years the productiveness of the land would 

 enhance the value to $70 or $80 per acre. 



NOTES ON THE GAR PIKE. 



— We are gratified to receive this prompt reply to the 

 queries of Prof. Baird respecting the gar pike. Doctor E. 

 will accept our thanks : — 



Lake City, Minnesota. 

 Edttor Forest and Stream :— 



For many years I have endeavored to study the fish in 

 Lake Pepin; in many cases have been successful, while in 

 others, have only been able to form theories. Thus with 

 the gar pike, {Esox belone), I have never been able to dis- 

 cover for a certainty their spawning mon.h, but I haie ar- 

 rived at facts satisfactory to myself, but which would not 

 perhaps do to state as scientific truths. For instance, when 

 wo first begin our fishing in June, we frequently catch 

 while seining for minnows, very small and young gar pike, 

 say from two to three inches long. These, I have calcu- 

 lated, could not be over two months old. From this fact I 

 am led to believe that they spawn in April, perhaps as 

 early as March. Their spawning grounds are more difficult 

 to determine. But in this, also, I am myself satisfied with 

 my observations. It has been generally supposed that th#y 

 spawned in sloughs or in the worst waters they could find. 

 I do not believe this to be the case. For we get many of 

 our minnows from the sloughs in the fishing season, and 

 never get a single , fingerling of the gar pike, as far as I 

 have observed. I have observed the very young broods of 

 almost all our fish, but I have never ^een as a brood the gar 

 or the shovel-nosed sturgeon. From all these observations 

 I am persuaded that the gar, also the accipenser spawn on 

 muddy bottoms in deep water. 



I have repeatedly put the young gar into my aquarium, 

 but have as often becomo disgusted with them, for if say 

 six inches long, they will kill all my minnows. I once had 

 in my aquarium a gar about six inches long. He was such 

 a curiosity that I desired to keep him, but he soon began to 

 destroy my other fish, and for the bad deeds he had done, 

 I resolved to punish him, so taking a piece of very small 

 silver wire, I tied his long jaws together, leaving them just 

 enough apart so that he could breathe well. At this treat- 



ment he was very much enraged, and would dart at every 

 fish in the tank, and would nose and root them in every 

 conceivable way— but they soon found out that their once 

 dreaded enemy was now harmless. Thus I kept him four- 

 teen weeks, when he passed in his checks, and young Mr. 

 Gar was dead. There was now a regular jubilee among 

 the other fish— they seemed to realize that their great enemy 

 was dead, and such playing and frolicking I had never seen 

 before among my finny beauties. 



D. C. E., M.D. 



"Why Alcohol Cures Rattlesnake Bites.— The ex- 

 periments of Professor Binz, of Bonn, in regard to the 

 effects of alcohol on animals, are exceedingly interesting, in 

 as much as he seems to have discovered the reasons why 

 alcoholic stimulants were so useful in cases of snake poison- 

 ing. He found that when decomposed blood was intro- 

 duced into the veins of the living animal, all the symptoms 

 of putrid fever were shown, the temperature increasing 

 until death ensued. Alcohol reduced the heat, retarded 

 the putrid process, increasing the action of the heart. This 

 seems to be precisely the effect of alcoholic stimulants 

 when administered in cases of rattlesnake poisoning. 

 X -«»-♦♦- 



A HINT TO ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTORS. 



■ * • 



Editor Forest and Stream:— , 



There are many collectors who work hard in the field and make large 

 collections of animals, yet for mounting purposes many of their skins 

 are worthless. When the skins are given to the taxidermist he has to 

 soak them in a pickle until they are soft and pliable. If skins are not 

 properly prepared, when subjected to the pickle the hair becomes loose 

 and falls off when handled in mounting. It is essential that collectors 

 should pay particular attention to preparing the skins of animals, par- 

 ticularly their heads. Many persons leave the whole fleshy parts of 

 the lips on the skins when drying them. The result is the flesh first be- 

 comes putrid and then dries. When a skin is prepared in this manner 

 it appears to be a good skin, but when it is soaked by the taxidermist 

 the hair immediately falls off around the muzzle, eyes and ears, and it 

 is impossible to replace it. To prevent such disastrous results, skin an 

 imals as soon as possible after being killed, and clean their pelts thor- 

 oughly. Those which feed on vegetable matter, such as animals belong- 

 ing to the orders Rodentia and Ruminantia, should be dressed as soon 

 as they are taken, and skinned as soon as an opportunity offers. Dur- 

 ing the summer mouths the coats of all animals are naturally loose, and 

 every means should be employed to prevent the hair from parting with 

 the skin. Animals of the genera Felis, Lynx and Lepvs,have thin skins, 

 which are quickly dried and preserved. But such animals as bears, 

 wolverines, porcupines, large marmots and the Cervus family, need pow- 

 erful preservatives, which will penetrate the skin quickly, thus prevent- 

 ing putrif action. Small anihials should be skinned below the eyes to 

 the teeth, and have the lips split and rubbed well in pulverized saltpetre 

 and alum, and have the feet and head primed with corrosive sublimate 

 dissolved in alcohol or hot water, and the whole skin covered with dry 

 arsenic. If the skins are to be mounted, allow them to dry in the open 

 air as soon as possible. When turned inside out skins thus prepared 

 look very poor to the collector, but the taxidermist would select them 

 for mounting in preference to skins which had been returned, filled out 

 and brushed up to a nicety. Large animals may be prepared in the 

 same way, but should have the skull and leg bones removed from the 

 skin, and the lean meat should be cut away from the lips, and the dark 

 colored flesh on the margin of the lips be split and preserved. The pre- 

 servatives should be crowded between the skin and bones, at the base 

 of the hoofs, and should also be applied on the outer or fur side of the 

 skin in similar places. The eais of large animals should be skinned 

 half their length, the superflous meat removed from the base of the 

 gristly parts and be well primed with the preservatives. Pelts may be 

 preserved successfully as above stated, in any climate or at any season; 

 provided they are kept from being fly-blown. 



J. H. Batty, Collector, 

 Dr. F. V. Hayden In charge. TJ. S. Q. Survey. 



**++. — . 



Baltimore. January 27, 1874. 

 Editor Forest and Stream ;— 



Do quail withhold their scent? Among sportsmen of my acquaint- 

 ance there is the greatest diversity of opinion. If they do, and I incline 

 to that opinion, is it an act of will, or is it involuntary and caused by 

 fright? 



Last November, when hunting in Virginia, one of my dogs pointed a 

 bevy of full-grown birds in some brush. I put them up, killing one with 

 my right-hand barrel and missing with my left. However, as I marked 

 them down in a grassy meadow, about three hunnred yards off, the miss 

 did not cause me any special anhappiness. Without any delay I walked 

 to the spot, a solitary bush around which I had seen them drop, and 

 hunted every yard of the ground, both dogs working care- 

 fully, and I walking it over ; finally the bitch pointed, 

 and I put up the bird within a yard of her nose. I killed that 

 and four more, the dogs getting almost over them before pointing. At 

 the last shot the rest of the bevy, about twelve birds got up from the 

 ground I had been hunting over. Ii was not more than twenty yards 

 square and covered with thick grass about a foot high. 



Ilad the dogs been strangers to me I should have blamed them, but 

 they are both good, and the bitch has a remarkably good nose. 



Hoping to hear from you, I am truly yours, G. H. M. 



[After a bevy of quail have been once flushed they will 



fly say 150 yards or so and alight, huddling together, never 



moving, and scarcely breathing. The scent that comes 



from them is not perceptible even to the delicate nose of 



the finest dog; but let the same bevy rest awhile, recover 



their nervousness as it were, and begin to move about ever 



so carefully and they emit a strong scent. Mark down the 



bevy, and always wait a few minutes, keeping the 



dogs "to heel" before flushing them a second time. The 



scent is withheld, not from any will power, but because 



the birds are in a state of quiescence. — Ed.] 

 *»..*» 



CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 



♦ 

 Department of Public Parks, | 

 New York, January 31, 1874. j 

 Animals received at Central Park Menagerie for the week ending Jan- 

 uary 30: 

 One Toque Monkey, Macacus pileatus. Hab. Ceylon. 

 One Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo liwatus. Captured in the park. 

 One Mottled Owl, icops asio. Presented by Mr. M. I. Hoff. 



W. A. CoNKxrN. 

 ^.»» ■ 



FISH BREEDING AT BURGHLEY HOUSE. 



(salmon : trout), and four of Salmo fontinalis. The ova of 

 the white-fish seem to travel the least well of the three 

 kinds, as there are many dead amongst them, while the 

 other two sorts have arrived in perfect order. I could have 

 some "Black Bass" sent over, but am afraid of them, as 

 Mr. Roosevelt says that "the Black Bass (Grysies nigricans) 

 is a fighting American, and will swallow every British fish 

 in your lakes. It is our champion fish, and it can whip all 

 creation of the fish race." After this description, I think 

 that you will advise me to have nothing to do with such a 

 devil, if I want to get up trout and Salmo fontinalis in my 

 ponds. The fish hatched from eggs sent me by Sir Edward 

 Thornton last year are doing very well, and are growing 

 rapidly. _ They are principally salmon, white and big lake 

 trout, with a few white-fish. I hatched a good number of 

 the latter, but, unfortunately, lost most of them, through 

 their escaping down the waste-pipe of the lower large tank. 

 I had a guard of perforated zinc; but the little white-fish 

 seem to work themselves through everything, and they got 

 away, despite all my care and that of my servant, who is a 

 very good hand at fish-hatching. The trout appear to grow 

 rapidly; I have taken out several over one and two pounds 

 weight this summer, while shifting my fish from one pond 

 to another; and one trout was nearly three pounds in 

 weight. These fish had only been hatched a year, or a 

 year and a-half at most. Amongst them, I took out about 

 one dozen very pretty fish, as bright as salmon, but differ 

 ent in form. They are broader than salmon, flatter in the 

 sides, and the head is of a different form from either the 

 above-mentioned fish or the trout. The scales were like 

 salmon scales, but rather coarser. I am sorry now that I 

 did not take fuller particulars of the fish before turning 

 them into the ponds, and I cannot get at them now. Not 

 having seen a full-grown American white-fish, I am unable 

 to say if these fish are the same; but not having any white- 

 fish spawn sent me the year before last, I do not think 

 that my friends can be the Coregonns alius. Anyhow, they 

 are very handsome fish, and they came in the ova from the 

 other side of the Atlantic, and were hatched in my boxes 

 here. 



Enclosed I send you the observations made by my valet 

 (Deane), while attending to the hatching of the ova sent 

 me from various parts. The ova from Switzerland gen- 

 erally turn out well; but the sender should be more careful 

 about the packing of the ova, which are often sent in too 

 crowded a state. Exeter. 



— Land & Water. 



Seth Green, Esq., has kindly inclosed to us the 

 above paragraph, remarking that " the strange fish 

 mentioned in Lord Exeter's letter in the Land & 

 Water, January 10th, as above, is a hybrid between 

 the Great Lake Trout and White Fish. The spawn of the 

 trout was impregnated with white-fish milt. I hope Lord 

 Exeter will take great pains to raise them for scientific ob- 

 servations, and will give us a full description of what they 



are like through some paper." 



*,**. _ 



— A large number of valuable papers on Natural History 

 accumulated within the past fortnight, are necessarily de- 

 ferred until next week.— Ed.] 



S^l §nlhai 



w. 



PRACTICAL FISH CULTURE.— No. 4. 



THE AINSWORTH SCREENS. 



YOU will be glad to hear that I have just received a 

 good remittance of ova from Mr. Robert Roosevelt, 

 New York, through the kindness of Sir Edward Thornton. 

 The ova have arrived in first-rate order, and are safely de- 

 posited in my breeding-boxes. Four boxes contain the ova 

 of the Coregonut albus (white-fish), four of Salmo amethystus 



• ♦ 



THIS admirable contrivance for taking spawn, in a 

 natural manner, is the invention of the Hon. Stephen 

 H. Ainsworth, of West Bloomfield, N. Y. , who has been 

 called the father of fish culture in- America, as he was the 

 first to engage in it, whose experiments were successful 

 enough to attract attention. The screens were first used by 

 him in the fall of 1868, and by the writer in the following 

 season. 



They are not patented, neither are any of the other 

 inventions of this gentleman, who has devoted many years 

 to studying the habits of fishes, simply from the love of it, 

 as becomes a true angler, who, while he delights to kill his 

 game, has an eye to its increase and protection; and it is to 

 be regretted that his limited supply of w r ater, and its dis- 

 tance from his residence, combined with his poor health, 

 should have prevented him from further expeiiments for 

 the past three years; but as I will have occasion to refer to 

 his place again under the head of "Ponds and Water 

 Supply," I will proceed with a description of the screens, 

 their manufacture and mode of working. 



The race is, of course, at the head of the pond and 

 should have a fiat bottom and square sides of either stone 

 or plank; ours, at Honeoye Falls, have stone sides and a 

 bottom of hemlock boards; the depth of water at the upper 

 end is six, and at the lower eighteen inches. Whether this 

 sloping bottom is of any advantage or not, I cannot say, 

 but they were built so because some one recommended it as 

 being the best arrangement for a race where fish of differ- 

 ent sizes resorted to spawn, giving the small ones a chance 

 in water too shoal to be frequented by the larger fish, 

 which may be good in such a case, but our different sized 

 fish are kept in separate ponds. I have noticed, however, 

 that most of the spawn is deposited near the centre of the 

 race. 



Our races are four feet wide, and the frames for the hot- 

 torn screens are made of strips of inch pine, two inches 

 wide; the frame is made three feet long and the width of 

 the race, with a strip in the middle dividing it lengthwise 

 into two sections, each 32 inches by 21; these are covered 

 with wire cloth of eight wires to the inch; three strips are 

 then put on over the cloth, on the middle, and side strips, 

 so that they do not interfere with a flow of water under the 

 screens, and will not allow the screen to sag to the bottom 

 of the race. 



The upper screens are put on boxes made of inch stuff 

 six inches wide; they are made so that two of them just 

 cover one bottom screen, resting on the middle strip; they 



