April 20. 1880 J 



FOREST AND STREAM.] 



251 



T. Gladstone, Boonton, N; I. ; J. N. Lewis, Clarksburg, 

 N. J, ; Charles Heath, Newark, N, J. ; S. Dillon Ripley, 

 5 W. 37th street, N.Y. City ; C. Stirling, 44 "Warren street, 

 N. Y, City ; A. Belmunt, Jr., Uniovi Club, N. Y, Cily ; 

 James Benkard, Union Club, N. Y. City ; St. Louis Ken- 

 nel Club, St. Louis, Mo. ; Fred. Herzman, Greenpoit, N, 

 Y. ; H. F. Aten, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. ; L. II. Billings, 

 39 Broadway, N. Y. ; W. H. Holmes, Orange, N. J, ; T. 

 Forman Taylor, Colt's Neck, N, J. : G. T. Leach, Thurber 

 &Co's., N. Y. Ciiy ; W. J. Belden, Riverhead, L. I., N. 

 Y. ; "William Stanley, Broadway, N. Y. City ; Andrew J. 

 Baclie, Morristown, N. J. ; Jacob Pentz ; W. Bucking- 

 ham, Norwich, Conn; J. B. Dilley, Lake City, Minn. ; 

 W. A. Coster, Flatbush, L. I ; H. kail, Marlboro, N. Y. 



Notes.— We need not add anything to the communica- 

 tion of the Secretary of the Long Island Sportsmen's As- 

 sociation. He has presented the claims of thi3 part of 

 the State so conclusively that wo shall confidently look 

 for the Convention here next year. We heartily second 

 the views of our correspondent, and commend them to 

 the favorable consideration of the clubs throughout the 

 State, 



Th c articles on Dog-Breaking, published in our Ken- 

 nel columns, are plain, practical and to the point. So 

 say our readers, and the numerous compliments given to 

 them prove that a good thing is appreciated. 



The Connecticut Lakes country is becoming more 

 popular as its attractions are becoming better known. 

 The writer of the article in our issue of to-day is well- 

 informed, and the hints he gives should be followed by 

 visitors to that region. 



The article, " Lost in the Maine Woods," published in 

 these columns some weeks ago, has been extensively 

 copied by the press of the country. One reason of its 

 taking so well is that this losing one's way in the forest 

 is not an unusual experience, and the relation of our cor- 

 respondent's adventures recalls to mind other mishaps of 

 a like nature. 



W T e publish to-day other expressions of opinion about 

 the trap-shooting of pigeons. While holding very strong 

 oonvictions on the subject ourselves, and which we shall 

 not hesitate to fully express, we prefer at present to hold 

 our columns open for the fullest and most free expression 

 of the views of interested correspondents. We invite, 

 terse, concise expressions from our readers. 



A London angling society has just celebrated tiie anni- 

 versary of the death of Julius Caasar. Just what that 

 worthy did, that his death should be remembered by 

 fishermen in this Nineteenth Century, is quite beyond our 

 comprehension, unless our English brothers of the rod 

 bear in mind the days of their youth, when sunshine and 

 zephyrs invited them to the trout streams, while inexor- 

 able fate and an unrelenting tutor confined them to 

 "Caasar's Commentaries " and the intricacies of bridge 

 building in the time of the Gallic Wars, 



A sportsman is not necessarily a " Niinrod," although a 

 certain class of writers affect the word, probably with the 

 idea that it adds dignity to their books. This use of 

 strained language is offensive to one who finds genuine 

 enjoyment in field sports. A " Nimrod," to our mind, is 

 a blustering young fellow, trapped out in all the tog- 

 gery of a sportsman's furnishing store, who acts in the 

 field very much like an Indian in a war-dance. The 

 epithet Ls a derogatory one. Stick to " Sportsman," a 

 term which has of late years acquired new credit and 

 dignity. 



Our rifle-shooting record in this number gives Mr, 

 Lauritzen, of the Washington Club, a fine record of 210 

 at the long ranges, and strengthens his position on the 

 flattering list of American marksmen who are safe for 

 the high teens, with good prospect of reaching the 

 twenties, as he did last year with his unequalled 222 in a 

 match. It is matter of a pity that the harsh native-Amer- 

 ican rule should bar so reliable a man from international 

 contests, for although a Dane by birth, Mr. Lauritzen 

 haB long been naturalized. Custom unhappily joins with 

 Jaw, and puts the Presidency and a place on a national 

 •rifle team as about the only discriminations against a 

 foreign-born citizen as regards eligibility. 



Mucli of the matter published by the Forest and 

 Stream is well worth reproduction elsewhere. We are 

 gratified and complimented every week in the year by 

 such appreciative copying in other papers, This is edito- 

 rial courtesy which we always appreciate. Sometimes, 

 too, it happens that we unexpectedly find ourselves in 

 high places. An instance of this occurred the other day. 

 'We were looking over the April number of Soribners, 

 and became interested in an article describing the mules 

 Joi the Rocky Mountains, an interest, however, which 

 straightway abated when we found that the paper was 

 substantially one published months before in the FOEEST 

 AND Stream. The trappings were somewhat altered, 

 and the animal was bedecked with sundry new accoutre- 

 ments. But it was our mule, after all, and eminently 



worthy of his new place, too, we thought. It is noedlesB 

 to say that the editor of Sci'ibner's was as much aston- 

 ished to see in the Forest and Stream the original 

 article as we had been to see its reproduction in the pages 

 of his magazine. The Rooky Mountain mule is a decep- 

 tive creature. One knows not what to count on when 

 dealing with him. 



Civilized nations have passed and left no sign ; hut the Indian 



vill be remembered by two things at least— the birch burk canoe, 



which no production of the while can equal tor strength, light- 



iss, gracefulness, sea-going qualities, and carrying capacity, 



d the snow-shoe, which appears to be perfect in its form, and 



e three inventions which the ingenuity of man seems to be un- 

 tie to improve upon, and two of them are the works of sav- 

 ges, namely, the violin, snow-shoes, and birch-bark canoes. 



In this, Lord Dufferih is certainly not very compli- 

 mentary to the mechanical genius of the century, and 

 we would suggest as one reason why civilization has not 

 improved on snow-shoes and birch-barks to any great ex- 

 tent, the fact that there is very little to improve upon. 

 But for all that, it will hardly do to assert that the snow- 

 shoes manufactured in civilized parts are not in point of 

 strength, durability, pattern and finish far ahead of what 

 the aborigines turn out. Similarly, the birch-bark is an 

 excellent creation for the woods ; but the very fact that 

 the civilized sportsman takes more kindly to a Rushton 

 canoe, whenever he can get one, must be accepted as the 

 evidence of hard facts iu its favor. As a makeshift, give 

 us a birch-bark, and light the camp fire by the friction of 

 kindlings ; but as a matter of choice, send us a civilized 

 canoe and a box of matches. 



^ . » . — 



Highly Important if True.— We understand that the 

 celebrated Sibau Mobung, chief of the Treng Dyaks, 

 recently informed Heir Carl Bock, whom he encountered 

 during the latter's explorations in Borneo, that he fre- 

 quently cut off the heads of human beings of both sexes, 

 for the purpose of feasting on the brains, which, he 

 affirmed, were most excellent good eating. The palms 

 of the hands too, he stated to be toothsome morsels, 

 while the shoulders, on the contrary, he pronounced to 

 be bitter. An authoritative statement like this, of the 

 relative value of different portions of the human body as 

 food, is certainly not without interest ; but we could 

 wish that the information were more extended and de- 

 tailed. We presume that it is hopeless to call on any of 

 our readers for information on such a topic, but we have 

 two or three friends who could, if they would, present to 

 us their experience.. Old Bears' Ears, the Ree, fsr exam- 

 ple, if his hair still adorns his venerable head, and has not 

 become, since we last saw him, the ornament of some 

 Sioux lodge, could inform us as to the excellence of the 

 Sioux heart as a bonne bouche ; and Liver Eating Johnson, 

 if he still lives and moves and has his being on the plains 

 and among the mountains of Montana, could furnish val- 

 uable statistics as to the flavor of certain parts of the 

 freshly-killed Red man, It is sad to think how fast the 

 men who could have told us what we want to know on 

 the subject, are passing away. Bloody Knife went down, 

 with many another good man, in the fearful fight of the 

 Little Bighorn, and Tuckee-tee-lous, the Fawnee, has for 

 years been killing the fat cows in the happy hunting- 

 ground of his own people, that lies far beyond the shin- 

 ing western ocean. Our civilization — God save the mark 

 — has cut down the Red man to the ground. 



For the Benefit of Whom It May Concern.— Fish 

 ponds and newspapers are alike in that it is an exceed- 

 ingly easy matter to sink a fortune in either, but quite a 

 different task to get anything substantial back again. We 

 cannot number on our fingers the experimentalists who 

 have found their trout-ponds only expensive luxuries ; 

 the number of newspaper amateurs^is equally great. The 

 success of one journal always invites a crowd of emulous 

 imitators, who think that 'an investment in printers' ink 

 must be a sure and speedy way to fortune. It has been 

 the lot of the Forest and Stream, since Ub beginning, 

 seven years ago, to note from time to time the birth, 

 life and death of numerous sporting weeklies, whose pro- 

 jectors have found only after dearly bought experience, 

 that their sheets would not pass current for bank-not^s. 



We have watched each of these ventures with more or 

 less interest, and from the fitful vicissitudes of their 

 vexed existence, have not failed to draw the patent 

 moral. Among other prinoiplesjin the philosophy of the 

 newspaper world we have noted this, and we here set it 

 forth for the benefit of some of our f riends : A publiea- 

 cation which is made up principally of pickings and 

 stealings— mostly stealings— from leading journals in its 

 field, has an exceedingly uncertain tenure of life. Its 

 limited constituency of readers will inevitably in time 

 come to find out the source whence it draws its good 

 things, and following the rule in such matters, will pre- 

 fer the original to the weak imitation. The sheets which 

 batten on the Forest and Stream, stealing whole 

 columns bodily, are annoying for the time being, but, 

 like the pestiferous gnats and flies of summer, are sure to 

 disappear when the frosts come. There is some consola- 

 tion in that. 



Some of our correspondents now and then write com- 

 plaints of these papers, which not only quote their ar- 



ticles from the Forest and Stream without credit, but 

 affix the writers' signatures as well, thereby making it 

 appear that the writers themselves are playing double 

 with us by writing the same thing for two papers, This 

 is of little importance to us, and we only mention the 

 circumstance at the suggestion of our aggrieved con- 

 tributors. W r e can hardly hope to remedy the annoy- 

 ance, for such an undertaking as that would involve the 

 task of instilling into the befogged minds of these editors 

 a code of ethics entirely above their character and appre- 

 ciation. 

 So much for so much. 



AGRICULTURE IN ALASKA. 



Smithsonian Institution, Washington. | 

 April Uth, 1880, \ 

 Editor Forest and Stream : — 



" Piseco " was right in the statements of fact which he 

 made before, and as I declared ; why does he simply re- 

 peat those statements, and then leave the question ex- 

 actly where we left it — a difference of judgment, based 

 upon a mutual recognition of the same facts ? I admit 

 the potato now, as I did then, but I do not " acknowledge 

 the corn !" 



"Piseco "has passed just one season in Alaska. He 

 has arrived at his honest self-opinion iu regard to the 

 agricultural capacities of Alaska ; he agrees with me in 

 the main, but he says I am in error over the pota- 

 toes. Well, here is the opinion of an honored, culti- 

 vated officer, Capt. George W. Bailey, United States Rev- 

 enue Marine, who has passed four seasons in Alaska, 

 closing with October, 1879. I select Bailey's name out of 

 twenty on my files, because he was just such a man as 

 " Piseco "—a " Captain in the Navee," an honorable, ele- 

 gant gentleman : — 



Regarding the resouroes of Alaska, and it being able to give 

 support to a large population, I have only to say that, so far as a 

 sailor's opinion goes, it is folly to talk of such a thing in connec- 

 tion with Alaska north and west of Sitka. Instances have been 

 cited wheve people have lived in part from the production of the 

 soil in more nothern latitudes. In some parts of this territory, 

 the southeastern, no doubt the hardy vegetables could be raised, 

 but hardly in sufficient quantities to support a large population. 



Here I am sustained exactly in the broad, liberal view 

 which Capt. Bailey gives of the subject. I have not said 

 anywhere that potatoes could not be raised in Alaska, but 

 I do say that this individual raising of a potato at Sitka 

 "seven inches long," etc., proves nothing in a practical 

 way. I said in 1874 that Alaska could not encourage 

 agricultural settlement because she did not hold out a 

 single sign of encouragement. Why, these little patches 

 of potatoes at Sitka and at Kodiak in Alaska are pre- 

 cisely, in their application as illustrations of agricultural 

 progress and capacity in Alaska, like the appearance of a 

 stray hair here and there on the top of a shining bald 

 head ! Yet " Piseco " sees the hair aforesaid, and there- 

 upon declares] that more will come if they are cul- 

 tivated ! 



Let me call " Piseco " to a moment of reflection over 

 these facts. First : Alaska is not a new country ; it has 

 been thoroughly looked over and tried by Russians for at 

 least seventy years prior to our acquisition of it. These 

 Russians mad6 energetic, intelligent and persistent trials 

 of the resources of the soil everywhere throughout 

 Alaska. It was to their direct self-interest to do so, for 

 it was both a matter of necessity as well as that of luxury 

 to have, grain, beef and vegetables at then- posts of duty. 

 No more intelligent agriculturists than these Siberian 

 farmers were (and are to-day) can be found in America. 

 What was the result of this long, patient, interested at- 

 tempt by the Russians to raise then- own vegetables, 

 grain and beef in Alaska ? It resulted in failure, practi- 

 cally. They had to go down to California, and establish 

 a settlement on the Russian River there for the end in 

 view. Comment is unnecessary. 



Second ; The fact that the climate last season was such 

 as to grow good potatoes must not be used to predicate suc- 

 cess at Sitka this year. Indeed, if " Piseco " follows his 

 potato through the coming season, he will bear us out 

 in saying that no dependence can be placed upon the 

 crop : the chances are nine to one against a good season 

 this year, since it was favorable last. One successful 

 planting in four years is about the rule at Sitka. Let me 

 quote Captain Bailey once again to reinforce my argu- 

 ment : 



There are.no doubt, people who, saCslled with a mere exist- 

 ence and willing to live upon the productions of the water and 

 beaches, and what vegetables they could raise in this inhospita- 

 ble clime, might eke out a more comfortable existence than they 

 now do. Such might consider Alaska a paradise. But the repre- 

 sentations of some persons, who have described Alaska in glow- 

 ing terms, I consider to be wrong, as they might induce the im- 

 "i "•.:": "I -orrkT^. wli'j v.-mikl ],,,t ho >-;iii?l:e'l afror ?s>ifndiEfj; 

 their all in getting here. The suplus population of our large 

 citios can find better homes than can be found in Alaska, in some 

 of our Western States and territories, where a milder and more 

 fruitful cllmateis to be found. Until the latter are crowded with 

 settlers, it is unwise and unjustidable. in my opinion, to try and 



Induce immigration to Alaska Alaska has been claimed 



as :i grazing country for sheep as well as cattle, but only by those 

 who have seen the beautiful grass growing in summer, and with- 

 out taking into aocount that nuriug the greater part of the year 

 this beautiful grass is covered with snow. It is only in the neigh- 

 borhood of Kodiak that grass can be cut and cured iu sufficien 



