230 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 22, 1880. 



THE TEAM FOR IRELAND. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Tnax> and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural 

 History, Fish culture, the Protection of u ahe, Preserva- 

 tion or Forests, mi thk J KCtnCAMON in Men and Women of 

 a Healthy Interest in Out-Door Recreation and Study i 



PUBLISHED BY 



FOEEST AND STBEAltt PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



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r Inside pages, nonpariel type, 25 oenw per line s otttside page, 40 

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No advertisement or business notice of an immoral character 

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NEW YORK. THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1880. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, intended for publication, must be 

 tcoompanied with real name of the writer as aguaranty of good 

 faith and b,' ddress* : :i am Publishing Com- 



pany. Names will not be published if objection be made. Anony- 

 mous communications will not be regarded. 



We cannot, promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor US wtih 

 brief notes of their movements and transactions. 



Nothing will be admitted to anv department of thepaper that 

 may not be read wilh propvien in i tie borne circle 

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remited to us is lost. 



BP" Trade supplied by American News Company. 



Advertisements. — All advertisements should reach us 

 on or before Tuesday morning of each tveek. An ob- 

 servance of this rule tvill insure satisfaction to all con- 

 cerned. 



Removal.— The next number of the Forest and 

 Stream -will be issued from its new offices in the Times 

 building, Nos. 39 and 40 Park row. 



Notes.— Protect the nesting birds. Thousands of eggs 

 are stolen every year by nest-robbing urchins, who are 

 responsible in a large measure for tbe scarcity of the 

 birds. Wehave before called attention to the bird-eating 

 habits of the domestic cat. It ought to be understood 

 that a single cat will destroy more birds on a farm than 

 all the other kinds of vermin together. If you care any- 

 thing for the song bird, make way with the preying cat. 



There is reason to believe that the supply of wild rice 

 gathered next fall will be a large one. We have received 

 from Mr. R. Valentine, Janesville, Wis., a fine sample of 

 the seed gathered by him, and we are told that he has 

 made provision for securing a large harvest. Not a week 

 passes in which we do not receive letters of inquiry 

 about the seed. 



The potato sent by "Piseco" came to us in good con- 

 dition, and has been submitted by us to the inspection of 

 Mr. Peter Henderson, the well-known dealer in seeds, 

 and probably the best authority on the subject in the 

 United States. He pronounces it a fine, well-developed 

 specimen, and gives it as his opinion that if planted it 

 will grow. 



The letter on gold mining is at hand and will be 

 published at once. It represents a vast deal of labor, 

 and evinces the painstaking, careful manner in which 

 " Piseco " conducts his investigations. We may safely 

 affirm that our correspondent's letters contain the most 

 authentic and thoroughly reliable information about 

 Alaska ever published. " Piseco" is admirably fitted to 

 arrive at the true merits of the case, and he has entered 

 upon the task with the determination to put matters in 

 their true light. 



We publish to-day the first of a series of letters 

 from our Staff Correspondent at the Berlin Fishery Ex- 

 position. We shall give, in the Forest and Stream, the 

 most complete and intelligent account of this Exposition 

 published in America. 



A telegram announces the lower Saranao free from 



THE call which will be found in our Rifle Columns 

 or such as wish to goto Europe as members of the 

 American team, has the merit of being a prompt and 

 ready way of getting at the best men to send. Only 

 seven shooters are needed, but they must be of the best, 

 and willing to be molded into a company of coordinates 

 or factors to one grand result. The team will not do 

 credit to itself if it should win the matcli on a score un- 

 der 1,200, and the further above that figure it finds itself 

 forced the more creditable will be its victory. The plan 

 of selection is a mixture of the competitive with the 

 method of arbitrary appointment. It will be seen that 

 the choice in the first place rests with the clubs over the 

 country. They may sort out their best timber and aend it 

 forward for a final sorting over at Creedmoor. If thore 

 be more than the number of men required to go, a sharp, 

 decisive, winnowing process Will leave only the proper 

 men on the team. There should be no complaint at the 

 method of the team selection. It cannot be unfair to a 

 really good shot, and the right to reject a member of the 

 team, if it be felt that by some lucky mishap the wrong 

 man has put himself on the team, still rests with the 

 other team men. If in any of the out-of-town clubs any 

 man feels that he has not had tair treatment, or has been 

 in very bad luck, there is a chance open for one of the 

 three places which are to be competed for at Creedmoor, 

 and then in the final sorting on the 19th and 21st of May 

 he must show his ability to hold his own. The selection 

 of the captain is reserved by the National Rifle Associa- 

 tion, and while it is not certain at this writing whether 

 or not Col. Bodine can accept the position, the tender to 

 him shows that the committee, who have only the interest 

 of the team at heart, are bound to have a shooting man 

 at the head of the visiting body. 



With regard to the financial support of the team, the 

 $5,000 required to see the team through its journey 

 ought to be forthcoming at once. The National Rifle 

 Association Directors raised in the dull times of 1875 

 over $6,000 for the team of that year, and there should 

 be no trouble at all in raising the smaller sum at this 

 time of business " booms " and reviving prosperity. 

 While the committee particularly desire to have the 

 team members drawn from a wide radius, and have all 

 sections of the country represented, they wish also to 

 give opportunity for contribution of money support from 

 riflemen and friends of riflemen in all parts of the coun- 

 try . This is as it should be, and while no rifleman need 

 be deterred from competing for a place on any money 

 considerations, it is expected that associations able so to 

 do will do their share in the support. We will publish, 

 from time to time, names of contributors to the fund, 

 and all moneys may be sent to the office of the National 

 Rifle Association, 23 Park Row, New York, 



One thing is certain, that the team will find its visit to 

 Ireland a memory long to be preserved. The team of 

 1875 yet keep a vivid remembrance of the overwhelming 

 Irish hospitality which they enjoyed, and it is assured in 

 advance that the visitors of the coming summer will re- 

 ceive an equally warm welcome. 



— Lord Dufferin contributes a pleasant paper entitled 

 " Days in the Woods," to the April number of the Nine- 

 teenth Century. Canada's late Governor-General entered 

 into the spirit of woodland adventure, and this spirit he 

 has always happily communicated to his descriptions of 

 sporting expeditions. The present paper describes moose 

 unting in the New Brunswick wilds, 



— We publish elsewhere an opinion on the trap shoot- 

 ing of pigeons. Without now at all discussing the merits 

 of the case, we may remark that there is a wide differ- 

 ence of sentiment upon the subject, due partly to the 

 nonsensical attitude assumed by the Society for the Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Animals — a society which has ac- 

 complished a most admirable work, and which yet has 

 not escaped the tendency manifested by all similar insti- 

 tutions to bel ittle and demean itself by officious and med- 

 dlesome interference in matters wholly outside of its le- 

 gitimate field, 



— Thousands of acres of wild and cultivated lands have 

 been devastated the past week by extensive forest fires in 

 New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The country 

 about Tuckerton and Tom's River and Forked River, New 

 Jersey, has been swept over by the flames, and cranberry 

 bogs, strawberry farms, timber, dwellings, barns, and 

 live stock destroyed. The well-known shooting grounds 

 in that region have been utterly destroyed. The singed 

 bodies of thousands of quail and other game birds, and 

 rabbits, have been found on the outskirts of the burned 

 districts. Immense quantities of game have also been 

 destroyed in Monroe and Pike counties, in Pennsylvania. 

 Warm, dry and windy weather has prevailed in Vir- 

 ginia for several weeks past, and these forest fires there 

 are reported unprecedented in extent and damage. Tbe 

 fires in the Dismal Swamp have been raging for more 

 than a week. They envelop the whole Of Lake Drum- 

 mond. The cultivated sections of the adjoining country 

 are Overrun with bears, panthers, deer and smaller game. 



THE RESOURCES OF ALASKA. 



Sitka, Alaska, Jan. Ztfh, 1880. 



THE periodical disturber of our serene and tranquil 

 existence in Sitka, which twice each month gladdens 

 our eyes, once as her smoke is discerned on the horizon — 

 for we know at once it is the California, as nothing else 

 comes here— and again as she dips her flag in a parting 

 salute, paid us but a brief visit this time ; only one day, 

 and in that short compass the correspondence and busi- 

 ness of the month passed, and the one yet to be passed 

 had to be concentrated. Usually we have three days, but 

 a detention by a dangerous bar of six days in the Colunir 

 hia River deprived us of two of them. 



When, after over twenty hours continuous work, 

 Idropped my last letter into an extra bag that just caught 

 the steamer, I felt that I had accomplished a great deal 

 of work ; but now that it is too late to remedy I find that 

 "I have left undone many things which I ought to have 

 done," and I fear it will be judged that "there's no good 

 in me. " My next mail will be largely composed of apol- 

 ogies, We have in Sitka many days which, gauged by 

 our feelings, are very long ones, but steamer day is not 

 one of them. Impressions formed by transient visitors 

 as to the normal condition of Sitka on that day are very 

 apt to prove erroneous. Everything is in a turmoil, and 

 we find that several days of subsequent rest are necessary 

 to enable us to settle down into our usual lethargic con- 

 dition. We have learned to appreciate the feelings of 

 Diogenes when he only asked that people would not ob- 

 struct his sunshine. It takes several days to re-acquire 

 the lost habit of reading newspapers, and before attack- 

 ing a formidable pile of dailies I usually take a few easy 

 lessons with Forest and Stream. 



Following up this custom, I was enjoying myself and 

 at peace with the world, when in your issue of Dec. 18th 

 I came across the somewhat patronizing and slightly 

 free and easy — for at times it runs into personalities — 

 letter of Prof. Elliott, in which he apparently brushes 

 away the various facts which I presented in my letter 

 published Dec. 4th, claiming, however, to simply show 

 my inferences wrong, while " cheerfully bearing witness 

 to the facts." 



Mr. Editor, those facts still stand, They have not 

 been squarely met, and until they are, I shall press them. 

 Against them he has opposed a series of theories and 

 prophecies, hypotheses, opinions and badinage, but not a 

 fact ! And he skillfully begs the question at issue, and 

 running off upon a new tack avoids obstacles which he 

 himself places in his path. Mine remain to be confuted. 



I am fully aware that in reopening this controversy 

 I run great risks. I am not an expert in the handling of 

 that mighty weapon of which the Professor in many a 

 hard-fought battle, when much ink was shed, has proved 

 himself a master, and so skillfully has he cut in quarter 

 and tierce that you, a bystander, have fancied that he 

 has pinked me, for you say editorially that "he lias made 

 good " the previous opinions advanced. Apparently he 

 did, but 1 think 1 can show that he failed to touch. Allow 

 me to place in contrast the opinions first advanced by 

 him, and which I undertook to show were erroneous, and 

 those which in his last letter he endeavors to sustain. 

 First set : " The agricultural possibilities of Alaska are 

 null and void," and he challenges the citation "of a 

 single instance whore an acre of ground has ever been or 

 can be successfully planted annually with a crop of either 

 corn, wheat, barley or potatoes," In his last he seeks to 

 prove the truth of tbe above position by arguments which 

 are based entirely upon a forced construction of the one 

 word which will admit of an argument, "successfully," 

 and sums up : "Therefore I say, and I think with entire 

 truth, that you cannot raise potatoes successfully in a 

 region where they will not sustain themselves from year 

 to year." And this in spite of the evidence I presented 

 by the citing of many instances where for man} r years 

 annual crops of excellent potatoss had been obtained from 

 many plots, some of which were of more than a single 

 acre in extent ; of my own assertion that 1 had seen such 

 plots under cultivation, and that at the time I wrote I was 

 enjoying their produce, I also asserted that during my 

 stay of, at that time, nearly four months (the Professor 

 was here but two days), we had been bountifully supplied 

 with excellent vegetables, twelve species of wliich 1 

 enumerated. 



I think tiiat had the Professor prolonged his stay, and 

 been forced, as we have been, to depend upon those " little 

 plots" of which lie speaks with such contempt, his opin- 

 ion would have been more correct, hence more valuable. 

 I will refer again to that large potato which the Pro- 

 fessor disposes of so summarily by the facetious title of 

 " Giant Alaskan Murphy." He indulges in prophecy in 

 regard to it and states " that in from six weeks to four 

 months it would have become a mass of decay " if I had 

 not eaten it then. I will not follow his "example and 

 treat an hypothesis as a proved fact. All that 1 oan say 

 positively about that particular potato is, that it was 

 not kept long enough to prove or disprove his assertion. 

 1 am able, however, to say positively that many other 

 large potatoes raised in the same plot, but gathered a 

 little later, are at this moment in excellent order, al- 

 though his longest period, "four months," has elapsed. 



