FOREST AND STREAM. 



53 



ish. Convicted poachers are forbidden to carry firearms. 



In the Grand Duchy of Hesse, where a property is very 

 much subdivided, shooting is made a corporate right, and 

 exercised for the benefit of the community. 



In Saxony game is considered public property when 

 found outside of preserves. 



With regard to Russia, it is stated that every landowner 

 there has a right to shoot over his own property; that close 

 time is observed; and, also, that in certain provinces a li- 

 cense is required. The Emperor, the members of the impe- 

 rial family, and those accompanying them, may shoot over 

 all lands in Russia without paying a license and without 

 leave of the owners. 



In the dominions of the Sultan game laws have never 

 existed, but certain police regulations apply to the killing 

 of game at particular seasons. Wild animals are looked 

 upon in that country as public property. The taking out 

 of a license to carry a gun enables its owner to shoot on 

 crown and also on private lands, except such as are walled 

 in. Shooting in the vicinity of the Sultan's palaces, kiosks, 

 powder magazines, and the like is prohibited. 



The game laws of Persia are very simple. Every per- 

 son, as a rule, shoots when and where he pleases, except in 

 inclosed gardens. The Shah has certain parks where wild 

 animals are taken care of, but nearly every creature ferce 

 natures throughout the country has been destroyed. This 

 is pretty much the state of things existing in Ireland. 



OUR EDITOR IN CAMP. 



WE are in receipt of a letter from our Editor-in-Chief, 

 Mr. Cha3. Hallock, dated "In Camp, Smith county, 

 Ya., Oct. 10," in which he says: — 



To-morrow night we shall be at "White Top," the high- 

 est mountain east of the Rocky Mountains. Shall attempt 

 its ascent, if not too stormy. We hope to obtain photo- 

 graphs of it and the surrounding scenery; also of the Natu- 

 ral Tuttael in Scott county, Ya., a week hence. I am en- 

 joying myself in a rough way among these mountains. 

 Our horses are sure-footed, and cross gullies, ravines, and 

 river-beds as though they were graded thoroughfares. The 

 nights are frosty, but the Autumn foliage is gorgeous— ra- 

 diant with its October tints. There is game in abundance 

 to be had for the shooting, generally from the saddle. A 

 flock of wild turkeys flew across the ravine to our left this 

 morning, from one mountain knob to the other, out of gun 

 shot range. Our barn-yard fowls are not that strong of wing 

 "by a long chalk." All the streams about are filled with 

 speckled trout, Salmo fontinalis. They spawn one month 

 later than in the Adirondacks. Any sportsman who wishes 

 a change from his customary stamping grounds would do 

 well to come to this luxuriant section of Southwestern Vir- 

 ginia at this season. There are no insects to annoy; the 

 snakes are in bed; the temperature not too cold, and the 

 inhabitants will appreciate the distribution of a little frac- 

 tional currency among them. Money of any kind is scarce, 

 but it is often difficult to get change for a five-dollar note, 

 even in the large towns. 



On my way hither I dropped off the train on a brief visit 

 to our Captain Taylor, at Nottoway, and found him sur- 

 rounded with a fruition of corn, tobacco, and garden truck, 

 enjoying his otium cum dig with the elegance and savoir 

 /aire of an old-time planter. His success has exceeded his 

 expectations. He will represent the Fokest and Stream 

 at the Memphis Bench Show and Field Trial on the 25th 

 inst., at which he is entitled to an honorable place as the 

 introducer of field trials into America. 



At Farmville I visited the English colony established by 

 Mr. J. S. Stanley -James and others, and found that their 

 settlement there had met with a cordial welcome from the 

 old residents, and their anticipations with a measurable 

 reward. Their energy will do much to develop the re- 

 sources of this section. Mr. James has just completed a 

 beautiful house, one of the finest in the* city. He has lo- 

 cated with a view to permanent residence; so have others. 

 Some of the colony, however, are merely sojourners, we 

 opine. These copy the architecure of the medioeval period 

 in the structure of their dwellings, which ure surrounded 

 by large estates of many hundred acres, cultivated to some 

 extent with tobacco and corn, and crossed by intricate 

 paths that are much walked over to reach the covers where 

 the grouse and the deer hide. The manse of Maj. Powell 

 is especially noteworthy, with its large herds of swine, 

 which it would delight the old folks at home to contemplate. 

 The baronial castle of the Po wis brothers, who are well known 

 to the gentlemen sportsmen and cricketers of England, is 

 fashioned of magnificent logs that are plastered without and 

 whitened within, while its spacious apartment glows with 

 aneient armor, rare works of art, coon skins, and other 

 trophies of the chase that would do credit to their ances- 

 tral halls in England, a picture of which adorns their 

 rough-hewn mantel. I would like to describe their style 

 of life in detail, but forbear to trespass on their privacy. 

 Most generous is their hospitality, the measure of which is 

 large and overflowing — sometimes plain in its administer- 

 ings, sometimes enlivened by a dash of soda water. From 

 all I could observe, their ways are ways of pleasantness, 

 lAd all their paths are peace. On couches of luxuiious 

 bear skins they nightly stretch their limbs, while Judy 

 serves them faithfully at meals, dispensing corn pone, ham 

 doins and chicken fixins with a lavish but ebony hand. I 

 had the pleasure of knocking over a few quail, in company 

 with brother Dick one day, to grace the evening meal. It 

 was dark when I left their ranch. Turning my horse's 

 head from the door, I dove into the sombre woods and 

 bethought me of the "cricket on the hearth," just now left 

 behind. Of your whilom correspondent, Major Jacob 

 Wagner, in whose company I travel, I am compelled to 

 say, that as each day lightens our load of provender, so it 

 adds to the weight of obligation which I have to carry. 



Every comfort is provided that is possible when on the 

 constant move. I am enjoying myself famously, and hope 

 to recover strength to give you material relief from ardu- 

 ous duty after my return. H. 



*#♦+» 



An Untimely Fate. — That young man's face was ap- 

 parently calm and placid, and yet the close observer might 

 have noticed a certain vacuous, exhausted look about him 

 as he rather sank than seated himself in the car which bore 

 the riflemen from Creedmoor to the ferry. By his side 

 was his rifle, at his feet was his ammunition box, and in 

 his hand was a simple score book. Friends, comrades, 

 companions — rivals in the rifle contests — passed by him un- 

 noticed. Some said kind words to him, but no reply did he 

 vouchsafe. It was observed, too, afterwards, that when 

 the captain of his team, that grrm old chief, addressed him, 

 he threw around his words the tenderest inflections, but 

 the young man, as he pored over his score book, heeded 

 him not. There were men in that cai\ veteran soldiers, 

 who had seen many a loved comrade fall on the battle-field 

 and had made no comment, but who now looked with wist- 

 ful, pitying gaze on that young rifleman! The merry talk, 

 the gay laughter, was now hushed, and men only spoke in 

 low whispers— there was silence around him. Presently, 

 as if awakening from a lethargy, he plunged his hand into 

 his pocket and drew out a second score book, and from his 

 breast a third, and from various receptacles, even from his 

 hat, an infinite variety of score books. Now for an instant 

 that poor young fellow's eyes lost their lack-lustre gaze, 

 and flashed with unearthly fires; but alas! the struggle was 

 a short one— let it be hoped it was a painless one, for an 

 instant afterwards that dull guise of inanity, like a leaden 

 cowl, crept over his handsome features, and it was appa- 

 rent that his mental faculties were in a state of collapse. 

 Then his lips uttered some feeble sounds. Those who 

 were near him heard him murmur as he hurriedly looked 

 from score book to score book, for now he had quite a 

 library on his knees: "Elevation — wind — nineteenth shot 

 —outer— calibre— bullseye— weight of powder— sixty-five 

 degrees — inner — open bead — five hundred and one, no, two, 

 no, ninety-nine grains — Yernier— spirit level— alas! oh, my 

 poor mother!" Then the pencil which he held in his hand, 

 and with which he had been making figures on each of the 

 twenty-nine different score books, fell from his nerveless 

 fingers. 



That poor young man, who had once been strong and 

 virile, was now an imbecile and an idiot. Too many rifle 

 score books had wrecked that once noble intellect. 

 -o-m*» 



An Honok Well Bestowed.— The Geographical Con- 

 gress at Paris on the 12th ultimo awarded medals of the 

 first class to the Statistical Bureau at Washington, and to 

 Professor Hayden, the American geologist. This Congress 

 was a most noticeable gathering. It numbered eighteen 

 hundred members, from all parts of the world, every one 

 of whom was a more or less distinguished member of an 

 honorable society, college, or order, and the sessions of the 

 Congress were attended by the highest dignitaries of the 

 empire, President McMahon and suite lending their pres- 

 ence on the opening day. The Tuilleries, famous as the 

 residence of the third Napoleon, was the place of their 

 assembling, the sessions being held in the grand salle des 

 etats, capable of seating two thousand persons. This was 

 the body which honored Pro feasor Hayden with a gold 

 medal for his explorations in the Rocky Mountains, and 

 no higher compliment could be paid to the merit of his 



great work. 



■«♦»- ■ 



[CORRESPONDENCE OP THE FOREST AND STREAM.] 



THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOW- 

 DER. 



DURINGr a recent visit to the thriving and prosperous 

 little city of Wilmington, Del., I enjoyed a brief 

 visit to the celebrated powder nulls of Dupont &Co., 

 which are located about two and a half miles northwest 

 from Wilmington. As but comparatively little is known 

 about the manufacture of this important auxiliary of 

 sportsmen, and essential for modern warfare, a brief 

 description of how gunpowder is manufactured may not 

 prove uninteresting to your thousands of readers. 



The Dupont mills are situated in a lovely valley on the 

 banks of the Brandywine creek, and are surrounded on all 

 sides by lofty rock-clad and wooded hills. At first sight 

 the visitor cannot realize that these small, low, and odd- 

 looking buildings nestling so romantically on the water's 

 edge, are capable of making 37,000 pounds of gunpowder 

 daily, or about 11,000,000 pounds per annum, and yet such 

 is the fact. The location of the mills was selected by Mr. 

 Dupont, Sr., in 1817, in opposition to the strong personal 

 solicitation of Thomas Jefferson, who was exceedingly 

 anxious to have them located in Virginia, owing to a vari- 

 ety of prospective advantages, the improbability of the 

 neighborhood's ever being thickly populated , and the ad- 

 mirable water power. The original residence of the 

 founder of the mills— a little stone house, now incorpora- 

 ted within the buildings and used as a storehouse— may 

 still be seen. The manufacture of gunpowder was com- 

 menced here about the year 1819, with one set of mills, 

 embracing the best machinery then known. Year by year 

 they have increased in number, until now they extend 

 along the banks of the stream for more than a mile. 



In the first place, gunpowder is composed of three en- 

 tirely separate and distinct substances, namely — sulphur, 

 saltpetre and charcoal. It is not a chemical combination, 

 as is supposed by many persons, but a mere mechanical 

 aggregation of these substances in their varied but defini- 



tive proportions, no chemical union taking place until the 

 moment of their ignition. 



The first building visited was the coal mill, where a ma- 

 terial called coal dust is manufactured. The mill itself is 

 a large, grimy-looking frame building, completely filled 

 with clouds of impalpable charcoal dusts, through which 

 are barely discernible the sjhadowy forms of a series of 

 large octagonal drums or barrels, covered with sheep skins, 

 each of which revolve with a low, rumbling sound. Here the 

 grimy, black charcoal and the golden yellow sulphur are 

 mixed in their proper proportions, first separately, and 

 then together, in these barrels, with a number of iron or 

 zinc bullets, which the rapid revolution grinds to a very 

 fine powder. From here the coal dust goes to the compo- 

 sition house, which is a little building clasped, as it were, 

 in the very arms of the hillside, sunken deeply in the banks, 

 and sheltered and protected by its walls of heavy, solid ma- 

 sonry. Here the coal dust is weighed, and mixed in cer- 

 tain proportions with the snowy white and very finely 

 powdered saltpetre. The composition being mixed and 

 packed in bags, is loaded upon the miniature railroad with 

 its little trucks, which are moved by hand or horse motion 

 until they stop, and are silently unloaded at the dust mill, 

 wherein are more revolving barrels similar io those in the 

 coal mill. In these barrels the composition is placed, and 

 yet more thoroughly incorporated and finely pulverized 

 with great care, as now comes the first step of real danger; 

 for were the attendant to neglect for a moment the regular 

 cleaning of the circumference of the barrels with a mallet, 

 to dislodge any adhering mass, it would become clogged 

 around the axis in its rapid revolutions, and produce suf- 

 ficient friction to cause an explosion. Such accidents, 

 however, but rarely occur, as great care is taken to prevent 

 such neglect upon the part of an attendant. After this 

 operation the composition is termed "dust mill dust," and 

 it is considered very dangerous. 



From the dust mill the dust mill dust is conveyed to the 

 rolling mills, two of which are always placed side by side 

 for economy in power. Three of the sides of these mills 

 are built of solid masonry, while the front and roof are 

 merely of light framework, built in sections. This is done 

 as a precaution to save the building in case of an explo- 

 sion, as then merely the front and roof, acting somewhat 

 as a mortar, are blown off. Between the rolling mills, and 

 connecting both revolvers, the huge water-wheel, almost as 

 high as the buildings themselves, slowly turns its busy 

 round, splashing the crystal water into a white foam and 

 throwing a shower of glistening water drops, sparkling in 

 the suns ray's, and agaiu falling to kiss the murmuring 

 stream below. Within the rolling mills we first notice two 

 large wrought iron wheels', or rollers, each weighing ten 

 tons, and revolving on a horizontal axis in a trough, their 

 bright, shining faces contrasting strongly with the black 

 dust adhering to everything else within the building. 



The dust mill compound having been well moistened, is 

 now placed within the trough; the huge rollers having 

 been previously stopped, are again set in motion, and 

 with a horrible, low, rumbling sound, their twenty tons go 

 plowing and crushing over the black mass beneath. No 

 one is allowed to enter the rolling mill while it is in motion, 

 as a single particle of foreign substance, such as gravel, an 

 old iron nail, or even a few grains of sand, would, in a 

 few seconds, blow everyone into eternity. This rolling 

 process continues about two hours, during which the pow- 

 der has to be kept well moistened, as it now contains all 

 the chemical and explosive properties of powder. The 

 powder is now hardened into perfectly homogeneous un- 

 equal sized cakes of a grayish black appearance, called 

 rolling mill cakes. From the rolling mill the cake is con- 

 veyed to the press mill, where it is run through a breaker 

 consisting of a double set of toothed rollers, which still 

 further break it into pieces of various sizes, which are 

 subsequently broken into pieces two feet square and one 

 inch in thickness. To produce this change the cake is in- 

 troduced into the press, which resembles a great box, 

 within which is arranged at equi-distant parallels a series 

 of hard rubber plates, between which the material from 

 the breaker is placed. An immense hydraulic Engine with 

 a pressure of about three tons per square inch, is now ap- 

 plied, and with a groaning, cracking sound, the tortured 

 powder is compressed up, up, until you almost imagine 

 that the press itself is going to give way. When in motion 

 this mill is justly feared more than any other in the yard, 

 the immense pressure rendering it much more danger- 

 ous in its effects were it to explode. The explosive shock 

 of one of these mills has been felt even in Philadelphia — 

 a distance of thirty miles — where window panes have been 

 broken by the shock. 



After remaining in this press for about six hours the 

 powder is taken out, when is resembles a very hard and 

 compact substance, or an odd kind of stone. After this it 

 is again run through a breaker with but one set of toothed 

 rollers, which grinds and crumbles it up. 



Next comes the graining mill, where we see a series of 

 rollers composed of zinc, and executed in the best style of 

 mechanieal art, through which the broken press cake is 

 run, thereby being thoroughly crushed into a very fine 

 powder. Now conies what is generally thought to be the 

 most interesting part of the process of powder making — 

 the sieving or arranging of the powder into its proper and 

 different sizes. By an ingenious arrangement of sieves of 

 different sizes, arranged in regular order, the powder is 

 passed over the sieves, gradually working its way into its 

 properly assorted boxes, called respectively, large grain, 

 fine grain, and meal powder dust, the latter being always 



