FOREST AND STREAM. 



53 



KA.Y SHOT CARTRIDGE. 



New York, August 3d, 1875. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



A short time since I had occasion to visit Newark, N. J., on business, 

 and having some spare time I thought I would step in and see, if pos- 

 sible, the mode of manufacturing the article whose name heads tbis com- 

 munication. I had heard something of it from my friends in Newark, 

 and was glad to have an oppertunity of inspecting its manufacture. It 

 may be well to state that the inventor, Mr. A. B. Kay, has for many 

 years been the leading gunsmith and dealer in sporting implements in 

 the flourishing city of Newark, and that from his conversance with guns 

 in general, he found that the shooting of most of them was far below 

 what it should be, hence his invention. He has shot, in the gallery at- 

 tached to his establishment, many hundred guns, which have been 

 brought there to be repaired or for the purpose of having them tried at 

 a target. The knowledge thus acquired that shot guns were uncertain 

 things at a target led him to invent and perfect the cartridge which bears 

 his name, and he thinks it is certain to give satisfaction to the sports- 

 man. In this I am inclined, to concur, judging from the comparison 

 between targets made with loose shot and those with the cartridge, 

 many of both kinds be'n^ preserved in his store to convince the doubt- 

 ers. Well, to resnme: I was met in the store by Mr. Kay, who intro- 

 duced me to his partner, Mr. Robert Kay, and several other gentlemen, 

 who had dropped in to talk on sporting matters. On stating my business 

 I was cordially invited te inspect the working; of the various machines 

 for making the cartridge. On the first floor is the boiler to supply steam 

 for working the engine up stairs. The latter is of Lilliputian propor- 

 tions, but of great power, to judge by the way it made things hum. The 

 buckram, of which the cartridge is made, is first cut into pieces of circu- 

 lar form by means of a large punch, and is then wet slightly to make it 

 pliable. While in this state it is put through a set of dies, which form 

 the disks into little cups. The dies are heated by gas jets, so that the 

 buckram is dried dnring the process, and are so constructed as to lay the 

 folds of the stuff -with mathematical precioon, thus securing regularity 

 in opening when shot from the gun. After this process these cups or 

 cases are taken to a little machine, which trims the rough edges, and 

 they are then ready to be filled, except those use4 for the long range 

 cartridges, which go through another process by which they have another 

 case put inside of them, reversed, and with a hole cut m the top. 



Now comes the machine. These casss are put one by one into little 

 cups made to receive them, and of which there are about a dozen. The 

 cups are on a revolving table, which stops as each cup comes under the 

 "charger," which fills it with shot measured to a pellet. Another stop 

 and the wad is put in, and after this it passes round until it comes under 

 the part of the machine called the "turner," which turns in the end of 

 the case similar to the way paper shells are crimped. The cartridge is 

 now complete. The beauty of the last machine is its perfect time. As 

 one cartridge is being turned in, another is receiving its wad, and still 

 another being rilled with shot. So nicely does it work that one could 

 watch it for an hour. It was designed by a Mr. Chapman, an English 

 gentleman, now resident in Newark, and who is at present perfecting a 

 double machine for the same purpose with the view of taking it to Eng- 

 land and starting the business there to supply our transatlantic cousins. 

 If all the sportsmen of the country could be convinced of the excellence 

 of this invention I have only to say that a very brilliant future would 

 open to Messrs. Kay & Co. One could hardly believe that guns 

 bored on the "double close" principle practiced by Messrs. Green, Pape 

 and others could perform as badly as they do. Mr. Kay has a great 

 number of targets, made with loose shot, by guns of such makers as 

 Purdey, Richards, Greener, Scott and others, but the use of this car- 

 tridge will be found necessary to perfect the shooting of even these, and 

 besides very inferior shooting guns may be made equal to the best by 

 the slight expense incident to the use of these cartridges. They are 

 made of two kinds— the "field" and the "long range" cartridges. The 

 first are intended to be used for ordinary shooting, for convenience in 

 loading and handling. They also increase the regularity of pattern. The 

 second may be used like Eley's wire cartridges, but with the advantage 

 which cannot be found with the . latter— that is, uniformity. All I saw 

 shot were as if the shot had been put in by hand, so regular was the dis- 

 tribution. What an advantage they would be for pigeon shooting! You 

 could "knock a bird endways" at fifty to seventy-five yards. Mr. Kay 

 reversed one or two cartridges to show what they would do, and they 

 acted like solid shot, tearing a hole in the target an inch in diameter; 

 very useful in case a bear or panther should be met. 



I do not wish to be considered as giving any opinion in regard to the 

 merits or demerits of these cartridges, preferring to leave the same to 

 the judgment of those who try them; but they certainly seem to me to 

 be just the thing which is wanted, and I hope many of your readers 

 wtll give them a fair trial and report the same at an early day. We have 

 had arguments on boring and the Dittmar powder; will not cartridges 

 be an interesting subject? Yours truly, Choke Bore. 



Pittsburgh, Penn., August 14th, 1875. 

 Editor Eorest and Stream: — 



I noticed in your paper of the 12th inst. a gentleman of Cleveland 

 asking for information concerning chicken shooting in Iowa. I have 

 shot in Iowa for a number of years, and believe the best grounds in the 

 State are to be found at Garner Station, Hancock county, and extend- 

 ing on out to Angola, the terminus of the Northwestern Railroad. By 

 going back from the railroad a few miles, anywhere between the above 

 named stations, you can have as fine shooting as can be found anywhere, 

 and will always find a good class of farmers to stay with. Our party 

 will le t tve Pittsburgh August 3tstfor Garner; we will be in camp at 

 Twin Lakes, nine miles north of Garner, for four weeks., and will be 

 happy to entertain of the readers of your paper who may wander out 

 our way. Get off at Garner and mine host of the Eider House, big Bob 

 Elder, will pilot you out to Cottonwood Grove Camp. If not too lazy 

 when I get back, I will do what I have long been threatening— that is, 

 send you an account of our trip. Yours, j. 



[We know of some of our subscribers who will be more 

 than thankful for the information so kindly given. — Ed.] 



i Game Law of Ontario.— Moose, reindeer, or cariboo 

 ideer and elk may be killed from the 1st day of September 

 to the 1st day of December. Wild turkeys, grouse, pheas- 

 ant or partridges from the 1st day of September to the 1st 

 day of January; quail 1st October to 1st January; wood- 

 cock 1st July to January; snipe loth August to 1st May- 

 waterfowl, which are known as mallard, gray duck, black 

 'duck, wood or summer duck, and all the kind of duck 

 known as leal, from loth August to 1st January; hares or 

 srabbits from 1st September to 1st March. No person shall 

 have in his possession any of the said animals or birds, or 

 any part or portion of said animals or birds during the 

 periods in which they are so protected; provided that they 

 may be exposed for sale for one month and no longer after 

 feucli periods, and may be had in possession for the private 

 'Use of the owner and Ms family at any time; but in all 

 teases the proof of the time of killing or taking shall be 

 'upon the party of possession. It is enacted that no beaver, 

 muskrat, mink, martin, raccoon, otter or fisher shall be 

 'hunted, taken or killed, or had in possession of any person 

 between the 1st day of May and the 1st day of November. 

 toe penalties attaching to transgression of this law are as 

 follows: In case of deer, elk, moose, reindeer or cariboo 

 '$50, and not less than $10; in case of birds or eggs, $25' 

 Und not less than $5; in case of fur-bearing animals! $25' 

 ^nd not less than $5, ' 



\tu mtA Mivtr Mi 



FISH IN SEASON IN SEPTEMBER. 



Land-locked Salmon, Salmo gloveri. Salmon Trout. Salmo confinis. 

 Black Bass, micropterus salmoides, micropterus nigricans. 

 Striped Bass Boceus lineatus. Sea Trout, Salmo immaculutus. 



Bluefish, temnodon soltator. Weakfish. 



Trouting is permitted in Maine until October 1, and in Canada until Sep- 

 tember 15th. Salmon fishing with fly is permitted in New BrunswicK 

 until September 15th. Land-locked salmon and salmon trout in season 



till September 15th. 



. « . 



[Under the head of "Game, and If 'is/i m Season' 1 we can only sped 

 fy in general terms the several varie*ie.s, because the laws of States vary 

 so much that were we to attempt to particularize we could do no less 

 than publish those entire sections that relate to the kinds of game in 

 question. This would require a great amount, of our space. In desig- 

 nating game ive are guided by the laws of nature, upon which all legis- 

 lation is founded, and our readers would do well to provide themselves 

 with the laws of their respective States for constant reference. Otherwise, 

 our attemvts to assist tJiem will only create confusion. \ 

 » 



Fish in Market. — Fishing prospects have been more 

 brilliant during the past week than for some time past; 

 bluefish have "struck in" in large quantities, both in this 

 vicinity and off the capes in the Vineyard Sound; those 

 coming from the East are large, averaging ten pounds in 

 weight, while those taken in this Vicinity rarely exceed 

 five pounds; price 8 to 10 cents per pound . The supply of 

 Spanish mackerel is falling off rapidly, and receipts do not 

 verify the predictions formed early in the season of a large 

 supply. Up to this time only about one half the usual 

 quantity have been taken, and those now received come 

 from the Long Island shore; they sell at 40 to 50 cents per 

 pound . Large striped bass are arriving from Rhode Island. 

 We saw a lot of splendid specimens at Blackford's, Fulton 

 Market, twenty of them averaged forty pounds each, price 

 20 to 25 cents per pound. Halibut are worth 20 cents; 

 blackflsh, 18 cents; sea bass, 20 cents; eels, 20 cents; 

 sheepshead, 28 cents; frozen salmon, 50 cents; fresh mack- 

 erel, 20 cents each; green turtle, 20 cents per pound; soft 

 crabs, $1 50 per dozen ; frog legs, 50 cents per pound. 



— Our harbor and bay are swarming with little bluefish, 

 known as "snapping mackerel." They are taken off the 

 wharves with ligjht tackle and float, shrimp bait, in large 

 quantities and afford excellent sport, not only to the 

 gamins, but to complete anglers. 



— Weakfish are being taken between Bedloe's Island and 

 Gowanus. Several boats can be seen on the ground every 

 day. 



The Short Catch op Mackerel Accounted For. — 

 An old fisherman, who has followed the business for half 

 a century, (a pretty observing man, too) with whom we 

 were conversing yesterday, says there will not be any 

 great catch of mackerel until we have a storm, and after 

 that the fleet will get a good haul. Now, he says, when it 

 has been such a long stretch of calm weather, the mack- 

 erel are busy feeding on bottom among the rocks, and mix 

 in with other fish, schooling but little*. This accounts for 

 there not being any schools seen recently, the few mack- 

 erel which have been brought in having been taken on the 

 hook. A storm would stir up the water, and cause the 

 mackerel to school again and change their feeding ground. 



— Tho mackerel seem to have struck in along the eastern 

 coast of Nova Scotia. Quite a large number of moderately 

 large stops have been seen at the various coves along the 

 western shore of Halifax harbor during the past few days. 



—John W. Nicholson, Esq., of St. John, New Bruns- 

 wick, who is one of the very best salmon anglers in Ame- 

 rica, returned last week from a month's fishing on the 

 river Nepisiguit, N. B., of which he is partly owner. He 

 had his wife and family in camp, seven persons in all. 

 Although a poor season, Mr. Nicholson had not a blank 

 day; his best day's score was fifteen fish. Mrs. Nicholson 

 landed two slamon from her own canoe. 



—Gen. W. H. Whipple, U. S. A., Rev. M. W. Reed, of 

 Wisconsin, Rev. Mr. Heberton, of Columbus, Ohio, 'and 

 Cap. Miner, U. S. A., are among the anglers who have 

 fished the Nepigon this Summer, and all express their as- 

 tonishment at the size of the trout found there. Mr. Ver- 

 non is the name of the Hudson's Bay agent who has taken 

 the place of Mr. Crawford, at Red Rock. 



— G. H. Taylor, and four friends, of Columbus, Ohio, 

 Capt. Coxetter, of Charleston, S. C, and Mr. Higby with 

 a party of six from St. Paul, have just returned from the 

 Nepigon, Lake Superior. The average weight of 251 

 Nepigon speckled trout, {Salmo fontinalis,) from a score 

 carefully kept by Mr. Avery, of the Elgin Watch Co., 

 Chicago, in 1873, was a trifle over three pounds apiece. 



—Messrs. Kitchen & Wilmot caught a few days since in 

 the Avon River near Windsor, one of the largest horse 

 mackerel ever taken in Nova Scotiah waters. Weight, 600 

 pounds; length eight feet seven and a half inches; girth 

 six feet six inches at largest part; tail two feet across. 



Menhaden Fishing on Long Island. — Greenport 

 August 24.— Last week, ending 2lst, moss bunkers were iii 

 the greatest abundance in Gardiner's Bay, and around Phim 

 and Gull Islands and in Plumgut. Indeed the Sound 

 was full of them as far as Fisher's Island. The fleet of 

 fishing vessels have seldom in former years had such suc- 

 cess in taking them. There were some thirty gangs out 

 and their catch averaged 200,000 each. One vessel got 



§ML fish T at hau K 0ne vessel latel y ^t at one haul over 

 200,000. Last week the Anna Homan got 300,000 in the 

 week's fishing, and the Agnes numbered 260,000, and some 

 other vessels probably exceeded even that number These 

 fish are at .once disposed of to the fish factories, receiving 

 aboat $1.50 per thousand. Each vessel carries a crew of 

 eight men, and is attended by a smaller craft called a "Car 

 away," in which the fish are placed as fast as taken bv the 

 gefnes ? and then, carried p the several factories, the chief 



of which is in Napeague Bay. The oil is there pressed 

 out and the remains of the fish packed in barrels or bags 

 for fertilizing purposes; and it makes a very strong man- 

 ure. Hundreds of men are here (Greenport) dependent 

 upon this business, and when such luck comes as that of 

 last week, they are highly exultant, and the proceeds of 

 the work fills their pockets, for use in the coming Winter. 

 One of these boats, last week, took a shark sixteen feet in 

 length. J. McL. 



The Fisheries. — The nuniber of fishing arrivals at this 

 port for the week ending August 25, was 79 — 46 from 

 Georges, 16 from the Banks and 17 from mackercling. 

 Amount of Georges cod brought in is 775,000 pounds, hali- 

 but, 40,000 pounds. Bank cod, 1,450,000 pounds, halibut, 

 107,000 pounds. Mackerel scarce as ever, only about 600 

 barrels having been landed the past week. 



Schooner Andrew Leighton, Capt. Olsen, arrived from 

 the Grand Banks on Saturday with 107.387 pounds fresh 

 halibut, and 10,000 pounds codfish. Her stock amount- 

 ing to $3,250. Time absent, four weeks. 



Schooner Col. Ellsworth, Capt. Howard, which has been 

 absent the past month on a voyage to the Bay of Islands, 

 Newfoundland, for salt herring, arrived home on Friday 

 lastj with no fish, it being early in the season. She reports 

 the Labrador fleet as doing very poorly. Twenty sail of 

 vessels belonging to Nova Scotia were returning home 

 without fish. 



Same good mackerel fares are now our greatest need. 

 The August cast has proved a failure, but September may 

 show a better result, at least we hope so. — Cape Ann Ad- 

 vertiser, August 26. 



— The Gloucester schooner Wyoming, on her last trip to 

 Georges Bank had a narrow escape from sinking, through 

 the attack of a swordfish. The sword was run through 

 the planking of the vessel some two feet, and in the strug- 

 gles of the fish brokeu off and remained in the aperture, 

 otherwise a leak would have remained sufficient to sink 

 the vessel. 



— The largest lobster which has been brought into the 

 Boston market for fifteen years was caught at Eastport, 

 Me., last week. It measured three feet five inches in 

 length and weighed nineteen pounds. 



New York. — Syracuse, Aug. 28. — Yesterday afternoon, 

 in about three hours, in Oneida River, near Bremerton, 

 and four miles below Oneida Lake, I took seventeen black 

 bass, and a lot of cheap stuff, on a trout fly rod, using my 

 trout leader and cast of small flies. That was an experi- 

 ment, but eminently satisfactory. I found I could "set" 

 the hook every time and the fish couldn't get a^ay. Four 

 times I took a pair of black bass, and once I took two 

 black bass and two rock bass — 12 fish at five hauls — and 

 got them all in. I had on four flies, and took all there 

 was room for for once. A. J. N. 



Thousand Islands, Aug. 28.— The hotels at Alexandria Bay 

 are full, and the fishing reported much better than last month. 

 Black bass do not take the fly at all, this is accounted for 

 by the fact that the surface of the river is literally covered 

 with eel flies, consequently the fish are gorged with them; 

 however, many are taken still fishing with minnows. Many 

 muscalonge are being taken now upon the St. Lawrence, 

 ranging from two to forty-five pounds. S. 



New Jersey. — Kinsey's Ashley House, Barnegat Inlet, 

 August 28. — Bluefish scarce. Weakfish ditto. Striped 

 bass are getting more plentiful, blackflsh and sea bass very 

 thick and running very good size, from 1 to 4 pounds, are 

 taken daily from the stone pile in front of the house. 



We quote the following catches, all taken on the slack 

 tides each day. 



August 24.— L. A. Oakley, of Elizabeth, 57 blackflsh 

 and sea bass; A. W. B. Crane and D. Benedict, of New- 

 ark, 40 blackflsh and sea bass. 



August 25.— H. Swansboro, H. M. Vreeland and Judge 

 Derby, of Cranford, N. J., 20 sea bass; Gen. L. A. Oak- 

 ley, 35 blackflsh and sea bass; Crane and Benedict, 72 

 blackflsh and sea bass; J. N. Kane, 20 striped bass, weigh- 

 ing 42 lbs.; Nelson Soper, 32 lbs. bass (striped.) 



August 26.— Vreeland and company, 30 sea bass; Crane 

 and Benedict, 82 sea bass and blackflsh. 



August 27.— Crane and Benedict, 56 sea bass and black- 

 fish. 



August 58.— Crane and Benedict, 25 blackflsh; J. "W, 

 Starns and E. D. Beach, of Troy, 8 blackflsh. 



Messrs, Crane and Benedict attribute their success to 

 having employed the well-known fisherman, Dad Parker 



K. * 



Pennsylvania.— Bucks County, August 25.— The black 

 bass have been very lively on the Upper Schuvlkill. Send 

 any one to Paulin's Bridge, Perkiomen Station, Mont- 

 gomery County, Pennsylvania, Reading Railroad, for 

 black bass, 25 miles from Philadelphia. Two and three 

 pounders are common, and you never fail to make a bas- 

 ket, w. C. H. 

 f California Salmon— When to Take them with a Fly.— 

 Three or four years ago our Eastern anglers would have 

 given considerable for the information so kindly furnished 

 us in the following letter. The prevalent opinion among 

 them then was, that the Pacific salmon would not rise to 

 the artificial fly, and asseverations to this effect were made 

 repeatedly by anglers who had thoroughly tested the rivers 

 (they said,) without reward. They had gone there, it 

 seems, in the Summer months, at the season corresponding 

 to the salmon season of Canada. Hallock's "Fishing 

 Tourist," published in the Spring of 1873, informed these 

 gentlemen that they had experimented at the wrong time 

 of year; that the seasons there were different from the sea- 

 sons here; in fact, that (we quote,) "the Pacific salmon can 

 be caught with the fly at any time after the Fall rains com ! 

 menceP This accompanying letter, it will be seen, corrob- 

 orates that statement, and makes the way easy for any of 

 our anglers who desire hereafter to fish for the California 

 salmon with fly. This journal, in the course of its publi- 

 cation, has given a great deal of information on this sub- 

 ject which, if culled, would be of great service; but here 

 our readers have the whole story in a nutshell :— 



San Francisco, August 16th, 1875 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



An enthusiastic friend of mine, who, somewhat ltee myself does a 

 great deal more talking on the fishing question than fishing-he because 

 he is lazy, with lots of time on hand, ana I because I have no time-said 

 to me, "Why don't you let us Eastern fellows know all about your salmon 

 fishing in time; tell us when to come, etc., so that we could get ou| $qw 



