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FOREST AND STREAM, 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
mniwuriau VU I/L L lit, I II I: rJLUXJSUTIUN OF UA3IE, VREBHRVA- 
tiok of Forests, and the Inculcation in Men and Women of 
A Healthy Interest in Out-Door Recreation and Study : 
PUBLISHED BY 
FOREST AM) STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
NO, 111 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 
[Post Office Box 3883.] 
TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 
Advertising Rates. 
Inside pages, nonparlel typo, 25 cents per line; outside page, 40 
cents. Special rates for three, six and twelve months. Notices in 
editorial column, 50 cents per line—eight words to the line, and 
twelve lines to one inch. 
Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if 
possible*. 
All transient advertisements must be accompanied with the 
money or they will not be Inserted. 
No advertisement or business notice of an immoral character 
will be received on any terms. 
*** Any publisher inserting our prospectus asabove one timo, with 
brief editorial notice oalHng attention thereto,and sending marked 
cepy to us, will receive the Forest and Stream for one year. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1879. 
To Correspondents. 
All communications whatever, intended forpublieation, must be 
accompanied with real name of thowvitoras aguaranty of good 
faith and be addressed to Forest and Stream Publishing Com¬ 
pany. Names will not be published if objection he made. Anony¬ 
mous communications will not bo rogarded. 
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 he admitted to any department of the paper that 
may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 
We cannot he responsible for derelicSon of mailaervice If money 
remited to us Is lost. 
i3T Trade supplied by American News Company. 
The End of Summer. —The current week closes the 
summer season, equinoxially and otherwise. Fashion 
is arbitrary, and all the endeavors of landlords to make 
their departing guests believe that the Indian summer is 
the most delightful season of the year to dwellers in the 
country ; that the gorgeous autumn tints are more engag¬ 
ing than the vivid midsummer verdure, and the air of 
October more hcaltn-giving than the zephyrs of July; do 
not suffice to prevent their flight when the stated hour 
arrives. This week the theatres and operas make their 
fall announcements, straw hats go out of elate, swimmers 
leave the brine, yachts are laid up in ordinary and fishing 
rods give place to guns. The blare of the liorn and the 
voice of the hounds awake the dells ; the programmes of 
v the rifle ranges are announced ; newspapers teem with 
advertisements of fall meetings of famous flyers, aquatic 
contt ! 4j a °f famous boatmen, and pedestrian matches be- 
tween 'ntf'ted walkers. Meanwhile lawn games are on the 
wane, andiSthe cricketers and base ball men gird them¬ 
selves for thermal contests of the October fields. Con¬ 
spicuous among events of the current month are the 
Brighton races, the Vpacket matches with the Irish team, 
the Haalon-Courtnoy thqat race, and the great pedestrian 
match at fAe Madison SqWe Garden. 
oaT\Con 
semi-annual Conventions of the\^eneral passenger and 
ticket agents are held'horfltis city, w>af eel as if a host of 
our friends had arrived irr-fowii, for wb are kept in con¬ 
stant communication with fii^se gentleilsen* to whose 
courtesy sportsmen owe bo muchl-mid, we rn&Yadd, who 
n turn owe much to the travelling sportsmen. The chief 
business before the Convention was the'^tgreemenP-npon 
a uniform tariff rate from New York to appoints ; ‘Aqd 
we are glad to be assured of the satisfaction expressed by 1 
the delegates at the revival of business throughout the 
country. The Convention adjourned to meet in CinHn- 
nati next Maroh. 
A WESTERN FISH CULTURAL ASSO¬ 
CIATION. 
SIR Rowland Hill.— Every reader of this paper, who 
receives his Forest and Stream regularly each week free 
of postage, oweB a debt of gratitude to the memory of 
the late Sir Rowland Hill, who died in Hampstead, Eng¬ 
land, August 27th, aged eighty-four. It is to the efforts 
of Mr. Hill, that in 1839 the reduction in postage rates, 
the abolition of the grossly unjust franking privileges, 
and other postal reforms were inaugurated. The results 
of his efforts are enjoyed by the civilized world to-day. 
Perhaps we cannot better realize just wliat our postal fa- 
cilties are than by a ttempting to pioture to ourselves the 
year 1879 without them, 
—The Piedmont Agricultural Society Fair will be held 
at Culpeper, Vs., Oot. Hth to 17th, 
A NUMBER of gentlemen who are prominently iden¬ 
tified with game protection and fish culture, in¬ 
cluding some past and present State Fish Commissioners, 
have signed a circular letter, in which they solicit co¬ 
operation in organizing a distinctively Western Fish Cul¬ 
tural Association. The effort is praiseworthy, and while 
we are by no means sanguine as to the great results which 
seem to be anticipated therefrom in keeping up the native 
fish supply of the West, the enterprise will receive our 
countenance and cordial support. As journalists we have 
had much to do for years past with the organization of 
combinations for scientific labor, and must confess that 
the results have not been such as to encourage a hopo for 
the success of effort applied in that way—whether we 
refer for example to the International Association, which 
Beems to have quietly breathed its last, or to the National 
Sportsman’s Association, whose deliberations at its last 
annual convention were confined to a single delegate! 
It seems impossible to secure complete unity of purpose 
or harmony of action between interests which are purely 
local or dissimilar, or to bring about individual compro¬ 
mises or concessions. Indeed, after so many years of ex¬ 
periment and endeavor, we are not positive that better 
results cannot be obtained from a division of labor. 
The American Fish Cultural Association composed of 
naturalists, fishermen, fish mongers, fish breeders, and oth¬ 
ers interested in the subject,is an institution which has ex¬ 
isted for many years. Its scientific discussions have been 
learned and useful, but its economic results have not been 
sensibly apparent. Transplanted fish we find cannot be 
made]to thrive in localities where they are not indigenous; 
nor can foreign animalB be permanently engrafted upon the 
fauna of another country. The Creator has managed the 
distribution of species, and man’s efforts to change their 
habitat can never be more than partially successful. The 
cisco, the whitefish and the lake trout will always he most 
at home in the great lakes; the basses, the perches, and 
the esocidae in the vast middle tier of States ; the shad, 
the salmon and the striped bass in the East; and the carps 
and the suckers in the warmer waters of the South and 
the great plains, On the Pacific coast is a system of fauna 
almost wholly distinct—barred out by an impassable 
mountain range. Nay more; all the combined science 
of fish culture seems unable to rehabilitate fresh waters 
which have passed within the precincts of civilization, or 
to produce by artificial propagation more than a flabby 
and insipid counterfeit of their natural denizens. 
We do not mean to assert that fish culture is a failure ; 
for as long as fish food can be produced, no matter how 
inferior in quality, or one single variety of our ichthyc 
fauna can be made to swim and thrive where nothing 
swam before, the efforts of persistent planters have their 
signal reward. Certainly the shad seem to have been 
measurably restored to our waters, and some other vari¬ 
eties of fish appreciably. 
It may be that a Western fish cultural association 
with Eastern representatives, may accomplish more than 
our Eastern association with Western representatives has 
hitherto done. It may prove, indeed, that merely annual 
discussions and the reading of the written experiences of 
a miscellaneous body of men more or less interested in fish, 
will lead to results of a more practical value than the daily 
business operations of individual breeders like Garliok, of 
Ohio, Houseman, of Illinois, Palmer, of Wisconsin, and 
Gerome, of Michigan. But on these points we have mis¬ 
givings. We are beginning to learn from the success 
of the Statos of Delaware and New Jersey, and of 
the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, that 
residents are more competent and better interested to 
look after their local affairs than non-residents are, and 
that their laws and contrivances for protecting game 
and propagating fish are attended with more satisfactory 
results than elsewhere; and taking our cue therefrom 
we may be excused for supposing that the fish culturists 
of Ohio, for example, are better able to look after then- 
own productions than are the combined and associated 
fish culturists of the Western States. 
It is true that the great basin of the Mississippi embraces 
many States of homogeneous interests, which its in¬ 
dwellers might wish to mutually watch over and foster ; 
nevertheless, we doubt if the deliberations of any Western 
fish cultural association, however constituted, will be able 
to iuld one jot of information or usefulness to the labors 
. and investigations of the United States Fishery Commis- 
siCwt, or proniote in anymore efficient manner the univer¬ 
sal work which is in progress and being undertaken 
throughout the country. Besides, after the eclat and en¬ 
thusiasm of tire firkin convention, and the pleasure of the 
social intercourse of Vlelegates, and the interchange of 
views, the interest will'- rapidly languish. Gentlemen 
who enlist in a public service cannot be induced to travel 
long distances from all parts 0>f the country, year after 
year, to attend representative meetings ; most of them 
cannot afford either the time or the money. They will 
want mileage, and good pay, just as State legislators do. 
The question naturally presents itself whether their 
labors could not be more profitably employed as local 
forces. Our advice would be to let each State False care 
of its own. 
Duties of Summer Ruralizing.—T he Christian Union 
has very pertinently said ;— 
It is a shame to us that when we go into the country 
we are not mindful of its people; that we concern our¬ 
selves so little about their life, and fail to give them that 
contact with the outside world which it is in our power 
to give, and which might stimulate and refresh them for 
the better performance of their toilsome work. It is im¬ 
possible to say bow large an influence might be exerted 
by the Christian culture of our cities upon the rural pop¬ 
ulation, broadening their scope and lightening their bur¬ 
dens, if every guest at our summer resorts did his or her 
part to this end. 
Because, however, a man is a tiller of the soil, and Na¬ 
ture is in a sense his taskmistress, he need not on that 
account have any the less keen appreciation of her 
charms. If hitherto he has only valued clouds as store¬ 
houses for the spring and autumn rain or the summer 
showers ; if the mountains have been nothing more than 
reservoirs for the rivers that turn his mills or bear his 
produce down to market; if the valleys are only conve¬ 
nient outlets to the world beyond ; if the bird’s voice in 
Bpring has no meaning beyond its prediction of an ap¬ 
proaching season of work ; if the early violet has only 
the same significance; if 
“ A primrose by a river's bnm 
A yellow primrose [is] to him, 
And nothing more," 
then let him awake to the fact that a wonderful world 
exists all around him into which he has never as yet 
gazed. If lie will but look, the clouds will take on new 
and beautiful shapes ; the mountains will clothe them¬ 
selves in ever-changing hues ; the rivers will dash and 
sparkle with new life at his feet; the valleys will fill 
themselves if not with fauns and dryads, as to the imag¬ 
inative Greek, at least with the myriad tones that harmo¬ 
nize into nature’s symphony ; and the birds and the flow¬ 
ers will speak to him, if he will but listen, of the munifi¬ 
cence of nature and the countless uses to which her gifts 
may be applied. 
The true milk of human kindness flows out with the 
utterance of every word above spoken. It is to some 
such noble mission that a portion of the work of Forest 
and Stream is devoted each week. We constantly en¬ 
deavor to infuse into the mind of every farmer and 
farmer’s child, that interest and love for natural objects 
which a habit of study and investigation inspires; and 
we find reciprocal pleasure in receiving from attentive 
and constantly studious readers the weekly contributions 
of items and observations which help to fill our Natural 
History Department, and add so much to its value. City 
people who spend the summer in the country can see 
more readily the charms and beauties which there sur¬ 
round them, because their sense of enjoyment is keener 
through the novelty that meets them everywhere; and 
they are apt to appreciate their surroundings more than 
residents do who are accustomed to see them every day. 
What we all need to learn, however, is to make the most 
of the good gifts which the Great Giver has so bounteous¬ 
ly bestowed, by elevating our tastes and stimulating our 
capacities for enjoyment. 
Courtesies from Contemporaries. —When we came 
out a mopth ago with a clarion crow from the top rail 
of our front fence proclaiming that we had donned a new 
set of type and inviting our friends to examine us, we had 
no idea that the notes would resound throughout all the 
land and that our newspaper contemporaries would take 
up the call and re-echo it from North to South and from 
East to West, as we find they have done. The congratu¬ 
lations and praises which we have received are so spon¬ 
taneous and evidently sincere that we have been quite 
taken aback, as seamen say. Throughout a long period 
of journalism covering twenty-seven years we have never 
noticed such positive tokens of esteem and good-will. 
Evidently our friends have our welfare at heart. One of 
them, the Catocton Clarion , a Maryland paper, has be¬ 
come so interested in us that the editor has actually taken 
time to count the articles we have printed in a single six- 
months’ volume. His enumeration has gratified a natural 
curiosity of our own, and as it may also interest others 
we give it as we find it in his paper, to wit 
Answers to correspondents, 1,009 ; editorials, 195 ; fish 
culture, 88; game protection, 100; game bag and gun, 170; 
kennel, 198; miscellany, 69; natural bistory, 179 ; new 
publications, 20 ; poetry, 19 ; rational pastimes, 98; the 
rifle, 157 : sea and river fishing, 122 ; brief notes, 100; 
woodland, farm and garden, 38; yachting and boating, 
340, [Chess not enumerated.] 
Our own estimate would be still larger, but the above 
is acknowledgment enough, The subjoined fifty notices, 
so promptly given, afford a fair measure of popular opin¬ 
ion. They are only about half of all we have received, 
and doubtless very many others have escaped our atten¬ 
tion. It is gratifying to find that our friends are so 
numerous and so earnest, and that they are found in the 
remotest villages of all sections as well as in the promi¬ 
nent cities. For a paper to acquire so wide a celebrity in 
the country as ours has done in the short space of six 
years is something unusual. It is this wide circulation 
which gives a paper its influence and insures its perma¬ 
nent support. We feel positive that no other journal of 
any character whatever, of the same circulation, is so 
widely scattered at home and abroad. Forest and 
Stream circulates not only in every State, Territory and 
Provinoe of America, but in thirty different foreign coun¬ 
tries. It is now in its seventh year. 
May success and continued prosperity attend all of those 
contemporaries whose courtesies have been so cheerfully 
