

Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Tehmb, St a Year. Ill da. A L'opr. { 

 Six Months, $2. I 



NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 14, 1882. 



j VOL. XIX.-No. 7. 



t Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 



'Ilicrllli 



aiv devoted a 

 will not tie r 



correspondents, 



COBRESrO^DESCE. 



The Forest axd Stkkas: is I lie recognized medu 

 ment, instruction and information between Amcr 

 Communications upon the subjects to which its page 

 respectfully hinted. Anonymous eommutueaiKnis 

 garded, No name will be published except with ' 

 The Editors are nor responsible for the views of 



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CONTEXTK 



A Wai 



f-Tn 





TheH 



A Tex. 



■. i .. 

 Snake 



1 !AKP 1 



His 



of the T\ 



The ;: 

 Honni 







Shoo.i 



nga 



. Taclrei 



Sea and Rivet; Fishing. 



The Invitation. 



The California Salmon. 



The Vexed Menhaden Question 



The Spade-Fish or Paddle-Fish. 



Catfish. 



Sea Turtles Near New York. 

 The Kennel. 



Destroying Old Favorites. 



Don Juan. 



The Prairie Chicken Trials. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



The Teams at Practice. 



The Team Blunder. 

 Y. 



dCai 



The Amerie:i Cup. 

 Vixen and iilnn-^ie 

 vile: .-,i.i. ... ; . 



a September. 



SUCCESS IH OYSTER-CULTURE. 

 t \VR readers have beer, made familiar, through thereports 

 ^^ which have appeared in our, columns, with all that has 

 been done in the matter of experimenting on the fecunda- 

 dation of the eggs of the oyster. The last contribution to 

 this subject was from Prof. John A. Ryder, and appeared 

 in full iu our issues of May 2d and June 1, of the present 

 year. The experiments there described were a continuation 

 of those of Prof. Brooks. These gentlemen have demon- 

 strated that our oysters were not hermaphrodite, as was 

 claimed by naturalists for the European oyster, but that 

 they were l>i-sexual, and that the eggs could be taken and 

 impregnated in nearly the same mariner as are those of 

 (be fishes, and some oysters that were imported from Eli- 

 te purposes of study were pro- 

 to be bi-sexual. and that the 

 .ere at fault. 

 Rice, Fellow in Natural Ilis- 

 niversity. Baltimore, who had 



rope by Mr. Blackford for tl 

 nouneed by the professors 

 former European observers \ 

 This season Prof. Henry .1 

 tory of the John Hopkins t 



formerly paid much attention to this subject, came to Now 

 York and began a series of investigations in the laboratory 

 in Pulton Market, which has been rented and fitted up for 

 the use of students by the private enterprise of Mr. Black- 

 ford, has met with a success that promises to place oyster- 

 eidture among the practical industries. Heretofore the term 

 oyster-culture has been confined to merely taking small 

 oysters from one locality and depositing them in another 

 which is more favorable to their growth. This is properly 

 oyster -plan I .big. and not culture, as we understand and use 

 the terms. 



Former experiments have shown that it was merely pos- 

 sible to obtain a successful impregnation of the eggs and to 

 hatch them, but no onehad been able to keep the ''spat " as 

 the free swimming fry tire termed, more than six days, when 

 they died, chliei from wanl of food, or more likely from 

 lack of circulation. The minute Spat defied all attempts at 

 retention when circulation was attempted, and so the experi- 

 menters contented themselves with merely adding n small 

 quantity of water at, stated times, and thus gradually filling 

 the vessel in which the infantile mollusks were confined. In 

 consequence of Ibis, the water stood perfectly still for hours, 

 a condition which never happens in the places which oysters 

 inhabit: bene ■• they passed from life without the aid of an 

 oyster knife in the hands of a restaurant conchologist, and 

 without the accompaniment of pepper, salt, or lemon juice. 



Prof. Rice was of the opinion that circulation of the water 



was the one thing needed to sustain the infants until such 

 time as they should come to anchor and settle down to a 

 steady and respectable mollusean life. Syphons had been 

 tried in vain. All who have attempted to use this principle 

 to maintain a flow of water have sooner or later found out 

 that two syphons will not balance each other, and that if 

 one of them sucks down and loses its grip it will not start 

 again without assistance, and a stoppoge or an overflow is 

 the consequence. Besides this, it was found that whatever 

 sufficed as a strainer to detain the spat was necessarily so 

 fine as to soon fill up and stop the How, 1 n pondering over 

 this subject, Prof. Rice happily thought, of strips of woolen 

 cloth as syphons, and on trial found that the capillary at- 

 traction was not only sufficient to give a constant flow, but 

 that the balance between the inlet and the outlet could be 

 maintained by them because of their ability to start them- 

 selves, and they also detained the oysters. 



With this apparatus he succeeded in passing two gallons 

 of water per day through a small drinking goblet, and kept 

 his embryos for fifteen days, nine days longer than they had 

 ever before been kept, when a business call compelled him 

 to leave them to their fate. W.e had the pleasure of drop ( ing 

 in on the Professor several times during the experiment, and 

 of taking peeps at the youngsters through the microscope. 

 and it did seem to us to be. cruel to abandon them to their 

 fate while they were doing so well and making such rapid 

 strides toward the dignity of wearing shells, and lying on a 

 block of ice in a window, under the gaslight, a, hope which 1 , 

 we have no doubt, found a place in each little bit of mol- 

 lusean protoplasm. 



No former experimenter has been able to bring the spat, to 

 the condition when it cleaves unto some hard object for bet- 

 ter or worse as long as it may live, notwithstanding they 

 have kept them alive for six days. At the mature age of 

 forty-eight hours one of Prof. Rice's infants, while under 

 his eye at the upper end of the microscope, reached out one 

 its tentacles and fastened to the glass slide right in the 

 oentcr ot the field. That this is the usual age for them to 

 anchor we doubt, because others of the same age did not do 

 so. It may be that, being a precocious juvenile, and while 

 passing under the instrument and happening to meet the Pro- 

 fessor's eye, it just tried to show off. and anchored beneath 

 his vision merely to attract attention. Be this as it may, 

 the Professor was so delighted that he rushed down the 

 corkscrew stair to Mr. Blackford's office, on the lower 

 floor, and announced the event as soon as sufficient breath 

 was regained. To fully appreciate the haste o. Mr, Black- 

 ford's ascent into the laboratory, and ids ineffectual efforts 

 to shake the hold of the adolescent oyster from it.- chosen 

 place, as well as the delight that, overspread the counte- 

 nance of Prof. Rice, one should have been there to see. 



Labrador.— Prof. Chas. Linden, of Buffalo, N. Y.. has 

 just returned from an extended trip to the coast of Labra- 

 dor. He reports a most pleasant and successful excursion, 

 the details of which will shortly appear in our columns. 

 On his way to and from Labrador, Prof. Linden met many 

 of the prominent sportsmen of the Dominion, among Iheth 

 J. I". Gregory. Esq., of Quebec, whose interesting notes of 

 a recent Florida trip are printed in this issue. Mr. 1). H. 

 Talbot, of Iowa, has also just returned from a Labrador 



ip. Mr. Talbot, went out with the Stearns party, and al- 

 though he was unable to penetrate into the interior of the 

 country, collected some valuable ornithological specimens. 



TEE RIELE MEKTIKG. 

 V V 1'1'H our next issue readers of the Forest and Stream 

 ' * will find the record of the matches of the tenth an- 

 nual fall meeting at Creedmoor, and in connection with 

 that meeting the story of the International Military match. 

 What the result of this great contest will be has been pretty 

 well forecast in the news of the doings of the two teams as 

 it has appeared in our columns. The Britishers are confi 

 dent, the Americans quite the reverse. A defeat may be an 

 advantage to the cause of rifle practice here, It certainly 

 will direct attention to the matter, and in the many explana- 

 tions which no doubt will be offered to explain the defeat 

 we may find the true difficulty, and the weak points once 

 noted their remedy is entirely a matter of time and labor. 

 America cannot afford to be behind in any matter connected 

 with small arms, and having made the better long-range 

 military rifle, there should at least be a dozen National 

 Guardsmen who will come forward and use it. 



Some unfortunate occurrences have taken place iu con- 

 nection with the visit of our British friends, but much of the 

 bad luck which now seems to surround our home team his 

 been of their own bringing on. The doings of the past 

 month have not encouraged in the breast of an impartial and 

 critical observer any very high hopes of an American vic- 

 tory. As against a straggling few thousand Natiouai 

 Guardsmen who have given little or ncx' to no attention to 

 rifle practice, there should be no doubt of the position of a 

 compact organization of volunteers, who for over twenty 

 years past have had several hundred thousand men giving 

 much care to rifle practice. Yet for all this, there is no 

 reason why the disparity should not be made up by renewed 

 effort, and not as we now see, have the gap made wider by 

 carelessness, over presumption and a disregard of the plain- 

 est precepts of good marksmanship. 



Death of James Chfbbi— Wc regret to learn of the re- 

 cent death of Mr. James Chubb, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. 

 Chubb was well known to scores of shooting men. and this 

 brief note will recall to many of our readers red-letter field 

 days spent in his company. Mr. Chubb was an expert shot, 

 and a sportsman of long and varied experience. He was a 

 skillful taxidermist; a beautiful pair of quail mounted by 

 him are before us as we write. One by one the old guard 

 are passing away, and their ranks are growing thin. The 

 younger men who are taking their places may well imitate 

 such examples of manhood in the field as was that afforded 



bv lie- HIV of .billies Chubb. 



An Interesting Test. — It is reported by our Philadelphia 

 correspondent that a resident of that city, who has been 

 fined through the action of the West Jersey Game Protective 

 Association, proposes to appeal, and test the constitutionality 

 of the law under which his fine was imposed, If the gentle- 

 man has the time and money to spare we hope that he will 

 carry out his expressed determination. The more eases car- 

 ried up to the higher courts the better the results. 



Mr. George Dawson's Retirement from the editor- 

 ship of the Albany Eirtiing Journal marks the close of a 

 notable newspaper career. His connection with the Journal 

 has extended over more than half a century— a long time 

 for active and continuous labor in any calling. He was 

 first given employment on the paper when it was edited by 

 the now venerable Thurlow Weed, with whom, from boy 

 hood to the present, hour, Mr. Dawson has enjoyed an un- 

 broken friendship. The period of editorial service covered 

 by these vears was a most momentous one in the history of 

 this nation and full of political crises, in all of which Mr. 

 Dawson has taken an active and influential part. It is said 

 that few men have declined more political offers than he, 

 Now, having arrived at an age— he is over seventy— 

 when most men, although their physical and mental 

 vigor be unabated, naturally seek to throw off the 

 burdens of active life, he has formally withdrawn 

 from newspaper service to enjoy a well-earned leisure. 

 Mr. Dawson, as all readers of this journal know, is an 

 ithusiastie angler. He has been wittily referred to as one 

 who "gave life to factions and death to fish.s." We do not 

 know now many of the famous Canadian salmon rivers he 

 has fished, nor for how many summers he has made extended 

 angling trips. We trust thai there are many noble fish yet 

 to be brought to gaff by his skill. In the pleasures of these 

 angling excursions the readers of the Joui ml have usually 

 participated, Mr. Dawson having written several series of 

 charming letters from the woods. In 1876 a number of these 

 papers were collected and published in a handsome volume 

 underthe title "The Pleasures id' Angling." a book of which. 

 we have found, it is now difficult to obtain a copy at the 

 bookstores. The volume is an excellent model of angling 

 literature — the finished work of a mature man and a graceful 

 writer, natural and unaffected in style, and brimful of senti- 

 ments which are shared by all genuine followers of the 

 craft. 



' Amateur Photography. — Among the many specimens 

 of photographs, made with the portable amateur outfits, 

 which we have examined, none are more interesting than a 

 number sent to us by our well known correspondent. "Ap- 

 pe-kun-uy." One of them is a view of an Indian's aerial 

 sepulchre, such as was described in the sketch, "Old Eagle 

 Head's Sepulchre," in our issue of July 27, 



The Forest and Stream Prize offered at the conven- 

 tion of the New York State Association for the Protection of 

 Fish and Game has been awarded to the Onondaga County 

 Fishing Club, of Syracuse. The particulars will be given in 

 our next issue. 



