rUJKJCiDJL Ai>L» OXXV.TJiV.iVl. 



I to shoot. The first contest, July 28, was won by the 

 Douifliana Field Artillery. The score of yesterday's Bhoot 

 ■! lows : 



500 yds. 5D0 yds. SI. 



Bradford \Vasliui|iU)tj Artillery at 



EiTiWiiv— L-mi-iLtiim FioM Artillery 89 * 3 — 5 ~ 



MoQlriiriy— Continental Guaras 2T 23 — 50 



Immediately after the rifle match the New Orleans Gun 

 Club hold a glass ball match for the Montgomery Cup, which 

 was won in July last by Mr. P. 0. Cousin by a score of 21 

 balls; Mr. Da Poute carried off the cup by the same 

 yesterday. Mr. Da Ponte has done some very good ahooting 

 here, botti in matches and practice, and has on two occasions 

 lately while shooting for pleasure broken 40 successive balls 

 out of SO thrown him from a trap. Au phhir. 



New Orleans, Feb. 3, 1S70. Pokte-Pli me. 



Omo—Ci7vinnali, Feb. 3.— The rifle team of the Cincinnati 

 Shooting and Fishing Club made the following score in their 

 pracl ice shoot to-day; 200 yards, off-hand: 



D Bile* -1 5 4 5 5 4 * 4 5 i 4 r, J 6 4 -tin 



W Caldwell i 4 4 4 4 5 5 4:, r, 4444 4-04 



W Hull B :i 4 3 4 4 4 5 5 3 4 5 4 4— 02 



A IvoeHler 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 11 4 14 4 5 4—112 



The following match then look place for the suppers. 

 OatdweU'd Side. 



W Caldwell 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 4 4-4t 



W Hflll 5 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4-43 



UHeuson 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4—40—124 



Pender's Side. 



4 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 5-44 



3 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 3^10 



4 15 4 8 4 4 8 5 3—39—123 



h Fender.... 

 MGIndelln.. 

 D T Disney. . 



0. 



BBOHlSAS— ffosi Saginaw, Feb. 1.— The thirteenth weekly 

 practice or the East Saginaw Amateur Kifle Club to-day 

 scored as follows ; 200-yard target reduced : possible 50 : 



Cunt W .1 Shaw 5 4 5045455 fi-41 



,.ykty S 44444544 4-42 



11(1 Hamilton S 3 4 5 4 3 4 4 4 5-40 



JTJIIoury 3 4 2 4 4 4 4 4 4—89 



HFCorbyn 3 4344334 3 4-35 



East Saginaw, Mich., Feb. 8.— At the thirteenth weekly 

 practice of the East Saginaw Amateur Rifle Club the follow- 

 ing score was made ; 200 yard target reduced ; possible^ : 



| .7 Shaw -.5 544 S 4553 5— 45 



CCVwfcuy 5 B 4 5 1 4 5 4 4 0—45 



HFCorbyn 5 4 5 3 4 3 5 4 4 4— a 



IX O Hamilton 4 44 4 54544 1—42 



J II Howry 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 5 5 4-41 



In shooting off the tie for the club medal the following 

 score was made : 



Yawkey 5 5 4 5 5—24 Shaw 5 4 4 6 4—22 



J. H. Howbt, Sec. 



California.— Capt. H. J. Burns, whom all our Eastern 

 riflemen will remember as one of the good fellows of the 

 California rifle team of 1877, is still bringing up the white 

 disk. On the 31st ult. he shot a match of 100 shots, off-hand, 

 at 300 yards, with a military match, against Officer LSurdick, 

 who claims a record of 92 in a possible 100 at this range. 

 The match took place at the Scuuetzen Park, Sau Francisco, 

 Capt. Bums using a Sharps Borchardt, and Officer Burdick a 

 Springfield Armory piece. The scores stood: 



Capt Burns 4 34 5 64545 4—13 544454554 4— 44— 57 



444454454 4—42 5 4444445 5 4— 43— S5 



5 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 5—45 3545 55 4 44 5— 44-S9 



4 4 44 5 5444 4-42 4444 5 5544 4-^3—85 



4 4 5 4 6 4 4 4 4 4-4'J 544444464 4— 42-84— 130 



Officer BnrdlCk.5 4444443 4 4-40 543334444 4— 33— 7S 



4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 t— SB 4 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 4—40-79 



4 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 2 4-40 444443344 tr-SS—TS 



4 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 3 -til S 4 4 4 1 4 3 5 4 4—30—70 



4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 3 4— 3S 343 43 3 444 5— 30— 75— 389 



Tubkish Rifle Practice.— The steamer Worman Monarch 

 has just taken out 25,000,000 cartridges for the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment in addition to the .50,000 rifles from Providence, R. 1. 

 This twenty-live million cartridges is the last of the order for 

 cartridges from the Turkish Government, which the Win- 

 chester" shops in this city have been filling. In all, the Win- 

 chester Repeating Arms Company has supplied cartridges to 

 the Turkish power to the enormous number of four hundred 

 million. 



Folding Bullets.— Editor Forest and Stream : I regret 

 that Mr. T. S. Vandyke has misconstrued my article in re- 

 gaid to folding ballets, trajectory, etc. In speaking of low 

 trajectory, I mean flat trajectory or reduction of the trajec- 

 tory curve ; hence any 000 or 1,000 yards curve would, of 

 course, be flatter in proportion at 200 find 300 yards distance. 

 The gentleman also seems to infer that I had allusion to 

 hollow or Express halls, while I mean the solid projectile, 

 which, from its doubling over or folding property (upon 

 striking) makes a large and frightful wound, wdien we bring 

 to bear in addition its rotary or twisting action. The great 

 weight of ball also necessitates a longer barrel to insure perfect 

 combustion of the large charge of powder required to flatten 

 the trajectory in proportion to that of lighter balls with less 

 powder. The advantages of the small diameter and great 

 weight of bullet>ire apparent, i. e., less resistance by atmos- 

 phere, and the doubling or folding over of the solid cylin- 

 der, coupled with its boring effect, duo to axial rotation, and 

 disturbance of the equilibrium at the moment of striking. 

 I have had only a few experiments on .22 cal., and my con- 

 clusions are based upon the effects observed in this small 

 rifle, which produces large wounds by the clubbing or fold- 

 ing of the long bullet. I would like if others wohld experi- 

 ment with large calibre rifles. Wsi, J. Laud. 



Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 4, 1870. 



Jf? tmd §itet[ 



FISH IN SEASON IN FEBRUARY. 



Pompano, I'rachinot 



in i 



An Ocean Steamer and a Poodle. — Here is an odd 

 coincidence of names. Gellert, it will be remembered, was 

 the famous hound which saved the life of his master's 

 child from a wolf, only to be shot by that master. It is a 

 touching and beautiful story which will live a long time, in 

 spite of'the labors of Mr. Baring-Gould, who has taken the 

 pains to prove it a baseless myth, and has consigned it to the 

 William Tell catagory of tales ; 



As the Hamburg- American steamship Gelkrt was steaming 

 down the Elver Elbe on her last trip on January 8, a small 

 black speck was discovered in the distance on an ice-floe and 

 floating out to sea. It proved to be a black poodle. Captain 

 Kuhlewein gave orders to stop and back the engines, a life- 

 boat was lowered and manned, and the almost frozen little 

 beast, completely covered with icicles, was with no little dif- 

 ficulty brought on board and soon restored to his normal 

 vivacity. The sagacious little animal seemed to be accus- 

 tomed to good treatment and soon became a pet on shipboard. 

 He was christened in a formal manner by the captain and 

 "iven the appropriate name of Ice. He was taken back on 

 the Gelkrt to Hamburg on Thursday last and will be restored 

 to Ms homo if Ms owner can be found, 



BODTHEKK WATERS. 



ipur, Eptnephelpwnigritw. 



i.v ■- Trout (black bass), CenirorpriaUs 



Sniped Bass, or Kockllsli, Koccus 

 " , riyti, Pematomus saliatrix. 



Black BtA\, il:--rnj,!e_rv" w^cwi/i'd 

 .If. ptUHdus. 



Fish is Makket— Ketatl Pmoisa.— Bass, 25 oents; smelts, 15; 

 bluefish, lili i salmon, 35; mackerel, 18 ; shad, $1 ; white 

 perch, 15; green turtle, 12)^ ; terrapin, 1124 per doz. ; froatfiah, 8; 

 halibut, 18 ; haddock, G ; liiugush, 15; codfish, 6 ; flounders, 10 ; 

 sea baas, 15 ; eela, 18; lobsters, 10; sheepahead, 15 ; Bcallopa, 

 25 per quait ; soft clams, 30 to 75 per 100; whitefish, 15; pickerel, 

 15; salmon trout, 15; red snapper, 12K i smoked haddock, 10; 

 hard oralm, 30 cents per doz. 



WEIGHT AND STRUCTURE OF RODS. 



OUR readers will recall to mind several articles which we 

 published within the past three months on this very 

 interesting subject. These grew out of an editorial statement 

 that split bamboo rods were relatively lighter than wooden 

 rods of the same length and diameter. This statement was 

 challenged by the venerable rod-maker, Mr. William Mitchell, 

 and the comparative merits of bamboo and wood were fully 

 discussed. Mr. Mitchell was contemporary with Dr. Bethune, 

 Thad Norris, James Stevens, John Krider, the Conroys, 

 Genio O. Scott, aud dozens of other anglers win have long 

 since passed away, or are now on the decline of life, and was 

 well known to them. They relied on his judgment, his expe- 

 rience, and his handicraft, in matters piscatorial. It has been 

 our good fortune to receive occasional visits from this gentle- 

 man of late years ; and we are pleased to state that his head 

 has not yet lost its equipoise, nor his hands their cunning. 

 Mr. Mitchell still makes rods— wooden rods,— but only to 

 order, for gentlemen acquaintances, or for those who are re- 

 commended to him by friends. Strictly, he is not in compe- 

 tition with the trade, any more than the genial Thad Norris 

 was, in the quiet seclusion of his little workshop in a rear 

 room of his large and luxuriously appointed house in Logan 

 Square, Philadelphia. 



Mr. Mitchell, although an admirer, and sometimes a maker, 

 of split bamboo rods, is a firm advocate and champion of 

 wooden rods, and he has been willing to demonstrate his faith 

 and the pertinacity of his belief by making for us the most 

 beautiful wooden rod we ever beheld. He took for his pat- 

 tern our favorite Leonard split bamboo salmon rod which 

 measures 10£ feet in length ; and although somewhat shaken 

 at first by its delicate poise and pliancy, its well seasoned ma- 

 terial, and the quality of its general workmanship, persisted 

 in his shaving, turning, fitting, and weighing, until, after 

 some weeks of patient labor and contrivance, he triumphantly 

 entered our office with the pattern and the counterpart, and 

 majestically called for the post-office scales ! When he drew 

 the rod joints from their case we found an ash but ; three 

 joints, of ash, greenheart, and lancewood respectively ; and 

 four tips, three of which were of lancewood, and one of 

 greenheart. Thus, by combination, we had a full ash rod 

 with a lancewood tip ; a lancewood rod with ash but ; and a 

 greenheart rod with ash but. The test rod was the one of 

 ash. When compared with the bamboo it showed a like 

 amount of stiffness and pliability, the same dimensions under 

 the calipers, and the same length. On the scales it weighed 

 just half an ounce more than the bamboo. However, there 

 was no quarrel about the half ounce ; the difference in weight 

 was inappreciable and Mr. Mitchell had conquered belief, 

 prejudice, and even absolute fact. He had solved the prob- 

 lem, and demonstrated that a skilled workman could make a 

 wooden rod equal in all respects to a bamboo, with an addi- 

 tional advantage of cheapness, impervi'ousness to water, less 

 sensitiveness to temperature, etc. This was a black eye for 

 the notion that the supposed superior advantages of a bamboo 

 rod made them desirable at a superior price. In finish Mr. 

 Mitchell's rod was beautiful : the mountings light but strong ; 

 the parts nicely fitting, the reel seat easily adapted to the reel 

 plate, and the color of the rod a rich rosewood. One little 

 device was a greasebox in the but-end of the rod for anoint- 

 ing the ferrules, to prevent them becoming tight, or aid their 

 taking apart. Such a rod as the one in review, with a but, 

 two joints, and four tips can be made for $40, while an equal 

 bamboo would cost $75— an apparent difference of 38 per 

 cent. 



Those who have not made the construction of rods a study, 

 or watched the gradual improvement in their quality, will be 

 interested by a little resume of the history of the bamboo rod 

 in the United States, and the reasons why it was expected to 

 supersede the wooden rods : 



It is generally supposed that the bamboo rod was an Amer- 

 ican invention, but we can find no positive evidence that it 

 was. The first bamboo rod that we are cognizant of was owned 

 by Mr. James Stevens, of Hobokcn. It was a 12-feet rod. 

 lie brought it from England about twenty-eight years ago. 

 It was made to order by Mr. Blacker. Subsequently Pritchard 

 Brothers, now of Go Pulton street, this city, made an elaborate 

 one for the first Paris exhibition. It was a unique affair, aud 

 to be purely American, was striped like a barber's pole, in true 

 loyal colors, red, white, and blue: Fortunately for the credit 

 of American good taste, the rod was not sent. The Fritchards 



had previously made some rods. Since those days of compar- 

 atively inferior workmanship, great improvements have been 

 made. It is not necessary to mention hero who the best 

 makers arc. Our immediate object is to consider what was 

 the primary inducement to make a bamboo rod. Evidently 

 the belief that they were lighter, and could do the same work 

 as heavier rods. This impression grew from the handling of 

 a natural bamboo, the cane having all the elements required in 

 a rod, viz., strength, toughness, stiffness, lightness, supple- 

 ness, and uniform elasticity. But the bamboo being in one 

 pieco, was unwieldy. Wherefore they were cut into sections. 

 The ends of tho sections were finished with ferrules, which 

 added to their weight, and broke that continuity of pliability 

 which is indispensable to make a good cast. Also, being hol- 

 low, they lacked solidity and splintered immediately when 

 they broke. An iron cylinder which weighs a pound is 

 stronger than an iron rod or bar which weighs a pound, but 

 it is vastly more bulky. To remedy these and,other obvious 

 defects, the rod makers sawed the cane longitudinally and 

 glued the strips together. This made it a solid body ; and it 

 also brings us back to the issue whether a solid body of bam- 

 boo is really lighter than a solid body of ash and lancewood 

 of the same dimensions. Mr. Mitchell claims that the wood 

 is mors durable, more impervious to moisture, less sensitive to 

 changes of temperature, and therefore requires less care. It 

 is more trustworthy in the hands of the inexperienced, and 

 safer in the hands of the careless. A good bamboo rod re- 

 quires almost as much care as a good gun. Its parts should 

 never remain jointed together over night ; it needs to be wiped 

 dry after being wet ; should never lie out in the rain ; should 

 never be subjected to extremes of heat and cold. It must not 

 be racked or strained in the handling, but used witli an 

 equable movement. It should not be hung on pegs too wide 

 apart. If a man is careless of a good gun or rod, leaving it to 

 go to rack and ruin, a common affair would do him just a,B 

 much service while money would not be wasted. Granted 

 that there is no disparity between the best bamboo and the 

 best wooden rod, the latter is at least the most economical. 

 We congratulate Mr. Mitchell on his success ; we thank him 

 for his gift ; and shall be glad to exhibit it next June when 

 we visit the Lower St. Lawrence on our salmon fishing cruise. 

 By the way we reprint here for the benefit of several in- 

 quirers who seem to have '.overlooked it, a table of relative 

 weights and measurements, which, however, can be only ap- 

 proximate . 

 Length of Rod, Weight of Keel J?late. Total Weight. 



n feet lji ounces. 9 ounces, 



1W feet 2 " 10 



lifeet 1H " 12 " 



14 feet <iy, " 18 " 



16 feet 2k " 28 " 



16>jfeet 2% " 31 " 



Hfeet. „ 3 " 30 " 



W/t feet Sy " 40 " 



15 feet 3X " 4t " 



19feet iU » 60 <• 



Mfeet 4 '• 54 " 



HOW DOES A TROUT TAKE A FLY? 



SEVERAL weeks ago this question was started in this 

 paper by a careful reader of William O. Prime's delight- 

 ful boon entitled "I Goa-Fishing," and to him we made edi- 

 torial reply substantially as Mr. Prime has now stated in this 

 communication which follows. Since the discussion opened 

 we have received opinions from many of the best known 

 anglers and fish culturists in the country, and we are pleased 

 to say that all our writers save two have endorsed the original 

 views enunciated by the Fobest and Stbeam. Considerable 

 subtle information has been evolved by the discussion, and 

 we are glad, for the sake of the student, that it has not only 

 been somewhat prolonged in our own columns, but has been 

 extended to those of other papers, sporting and non-sporting. 

 We have noticed, with some amusement, however, that in the 

 effort to appear wise, or to champion what they covertly be- 

 lieved might be the strongest side, some of the writers in non- 

 professional papers have committed themselves directly to er- 

 ror and the utterances of nonsense. If these young men wish 

 to sift the debate to the bottom, and find the premises out of 

 which the debate grew, we will now give them an opportunity. 

 Let them read Mr. Prime's letter. If they have any conscion- 

 ability and wisdom to discern, they will sec the danger of Quix- 

 otic meddling with topics of which they know little. We 

 think all mature anglers will give Mr. Prime and the editor of 

 this paper the credit of having had little ground of difference 

 between them in the physiology or metaphysics of angling for 

 the past tMrty years. 



me. prime himself speaks. 



Editob Fobest and Stbeaji •. 



The discussion of this subject in your columns has wan- 

 dered far from the original question. Who ever imagined 

 that a trout flops a fly into his mouth with his tail ? Not I. 

 You are a capital editorial and practical angler, and tie a neat 

 fly. That idea, very nicely tied and cleanly cast, in your 

 editorial (Dec. 6), has provoked a number of sharp rises. 

 Now let us go back to the original question, for it is import- 

 ant, and so get some good out of the discussion. 



Surely no one doubts that a trout sometimes Btrikes a fly 

 with his tail, and sometimes rushes at it with his mouth. 

 The stroke with the tail, intended to bring the prey out of 

 the air and into the water, is analogous to a similar use of the 

 tail by many animals. There is nothing wonderful about it. 

 The only question is which attack of the trout is moat com- 

 mon, and what circumstances determine the trout in mak- 

 ing it. 



The discussion seems to have been roused by something I 

 said in " I go a Fishing." I desire, therefore, to say Ihat my 

 observation has been close and studious, fo very many years, 



