THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



Entered According to Act of Congress, In the year 1881, by the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, In the Office of the Librarian of [Congress, at Washington.; 



Tortus, Rl a Vo: 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



EuiTORlAi, ;— 

 Use for the Dog Fish ; Col. James G. Benton ; Defending 



Fitsheulture ; The Creedmoor Meeting S3 



This Sfohthman Toueist :— 

 Crossing the Range ; The Quaint Ways of Dare ; Random 

 Notes iu the Adirondack*! ; King and Bartlett Lake ; 

 " The Recreations of a Country Parson ;" " The Forester 



School of Bathos." 64 



Natcka-L HisToav : — 

 The "Mocking Bird's Song ; Do Opossums Feign Death? 

 i: . ■. i . o:i::kc Climbs ; Cunning Squirrel; Robin's Foster- 

 Father ; Climbing Woodchuck ; Large Deer Horns 67 



Game Bab asd Gra :— 

 A Camp Hunt in Issaquena County ; Deer, Slaves and Vaga- 

 bonds: A-' Ancient Gnu; Letter from Missouri; Ohio 

 Game Notts; .Minnesota Chicken Season ; Maine Game 



Notes ; A " Still" Hunting Club ; Notes 63 



Ska and River Fibkbho :— 



On King's Lake ; Worms in Black Bass ; Fishing Trip to 

 the An Bauble; Fish Butchery in Indiana; BaBS and 



Tarpon : Large Chateaugay Trout 71 



FxsBcmvruKK :— 

 Be-bnilfling the McCloud Hatchery ; Fishculture at the 



Pww Exposition; The Rogers' Fishway. 72 



The KeKSRl :— 



The Too Familiar Fl<= as ; Preventives of Hydrophobia; An 

 Unusual Case ; The Cocker Nell ; Lowell Dog Show ; 



Notes 74 



A Hajlf Hona with the Magazixes : — 



Birds and Fire-Arms ; The Candidates' Still-Hunt; Fishing 

 at the Thousand Islands ; The Whalers of Natuckot . . . . 73 



Bxple and Tuap Shooting 75 



Kachting and Canoeing : 

 Madgeiaua; The Lake George Meet; For Inland Waters ; 

 New Publications ; Oconomomoc Yacht Club 76 



AXSWEBS TO OOEKESP. INDENTS 77 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



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 ents. 



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Address: Forest and Stream Publishing: Co., 



Noa, 39 and 40 Park Row, New York City. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Thursday, August '23. 



USE FOR THE DOG FISH. 



AN old saying has it that if a thing is kept seven years a 

 use will be found for it. The dogfish of the Atlantic 

 coast has been " kept" for centuries and only now has it been 

 utilized by man. This fish is of the shark family and it has 

 been the pest of the fisherman, devouring the menhaden, the 

 cod, haddock, mackerel and other valuable fishes, and tear- 

 ing uels. It has increased until it was a nuisance of the first 

 magnitude. The day of retribution has come. 



The menhaden Ushers of Maine have found but little use 

 for their nets this year and have been compelled to look to 

 other things for a living. The dogfish was one of the other 

 things. 11 is liver contained oil and his body could be made 

 into fertilizing material. They tried it and the idle menha- 

 den steamers are now using trawl lines and taking dogfish. 

 The trawls lave hooks with long iron shanks and the dog- 

 fish gnashes Lis teeth upon them in vain. The steamers and 

 Bail vessels instead of menhaden take from 30,000 to 50 000 

 of the dogfish per day and obtain one cent each for them. 

 The factories at Boollibay are turning this old enemy ot the 

 fisherman to use. His liver will help to grease their way of 

 life, or light them on the road, while Ms vile carcass will en- 

 rich their potato patches. Success to the movement to thin 

 out the dogfish. 



COL. JAMES G. BENTON. 



COL. JAMES G. BENTON, the well-known ordnance 

 officer and author of several works on gunnery, died at 

 his home in Springfield, Mass., last Tuesday morning, from 

 heart disease. 



Bora in New Hampshire, in 1820, hs entered West Point 

 in 1838, acquitted himself with credit at the United States 

 Military Academy, and was graduated in 1842, receiving a 

 commission as Second Lieutenant of Ordnance iu the United 

 States army and served for six year3 as Assistant Ordnance 

 Officer at Watervliet Arsenal, New York. In 1847 he was 

 promoted to the rank of a Second Lieutenant, and in 1848 to 

 that of a First Lieutenant. During the two following years he 

 was engaged in important work at the Ordnance Bureau at 

 Washington, preparing a system of artillery for the army 

 and writing the Ordnance Manual. From 1849 to 1852 Lieut. 

 Benton was in charge of the United States Ordnance Depot 

 at San Antonio, Texas, and in 1853 served as Assistant 

 .Inspector of Arsenals and Armories. Going to Washington 

 in the latter part of that year he was engaged for several years 

 in making experiments to determine the model of a new rifle, 

 and during this time he was also a member of the Ordnance 

 Boird and the Instructor of Ordnance and Gunnery in the 

 Military Academy. In 1856, after fourteen years service, he 

 was commissioned a Captain. Serving with honor in the 

 civil war, being for three years in command of the Washing- 

 ton Arsenal, he was brevetted a Colonel iu March, 1865, in 

 recognition of his work in the Ordnance Department. In 

 June, 1866, Col. Benton was placed in command of the 

 United States Armory at Springfield, Mass., where he re- 

 mained until his death. 



Early manifesting a taste for ordnance study and apply- 

 ing himself with enthusiasm to that branch of study, Col. 

 Benton had acquired an extensive, thorough and practical 

 knowledge of all matters pertaining to that department, 

 and his services were constantly in requisition on military 

 boards and commissions. In 1867 he was a member of the 

 board on sea-coast rifle cannon, projectiles, carriages, im- 

 plements, etc., and in 1869 served as a member of a commis- 

 sion to consider the protocol of the International Military 

 Commission relative to the use of certain projectiles in war, 

 and also upon the results of the Perrine shell. He superin- 

 tended the arming of sea-coast fortifications from Charles- 

 ton, S. C, to Mobile, Ala., in 1«72, and a few months after 

 completing that important work he gave his attention to 

 the subject of determining the proper calibre of small arms. 

 During a portion of the year 1873 he was assigned to exam- 

 ine the manufacture and construcion of ordnance and ord- 

 nance stores in the various countries of Europe. On the 

 23d of June, 1874, he was made a full Lieutenaot-Colonel, 

 and in the first part of the year 1877 he was appointed to 

 adjust royalties to be paid by the United States on ordnance 

 inveniionj. After finishing this task he was directed, in 

 compliance with an act of Congress, to select a magazine 

 gun for the United States service. The commission of 

 Colonel was bestowed upon him in May, 1879. Col. Ben- 

 ton was an enthusiastic devotee of his chosen calling, and 

 asid^ from the every-day duties of his busy career he found 

 time to publUh several valuable articles on the subject of 

 ordnance. He was the author of "A Course of Instruction 

 in Ordnance and Gunnery for the Use of the Cadets in the 

 Unsted Stales Military Academy." 



London Dog Show. — Mr. Charles Lincoln, Superintendent 

 of the London Dog Show, which is to be held at London, 

 Ont., September 27, 28, 29 and 30, writes that exhibitors 

 from the States will be extended all possible courtesies by the 

 Committee of Management, and their stay will be made as 

 pleasant as possible. We have no doubt of this, for our Ca- 

 nadian cousins arenoted for their kindnesses to all those who, 

 for the love of sport, cross the line and stop in the Dominion. 

 We trust that the show will be a complete success, and 

 would suggest to all intending exhibitors that they do not 

 delay in filling up their entry blanks, and then sending thein 

 in as soon as possible. This will enable the management 

 to complete all their arrangements at an early day, and will 

 secure for the show its smooth running. 



. — .», . 



SpoKTSNtEN Tourists are invited to record their field and 

 stream experiences in the columns of the Forest and 

 Stksam. 



DEFENDING FISHCULTURE. 



"TTTHEPiE fishculture is a new thing- it may be well for 



» V those interested to reply to its ignorant assailants ; 

 or for a local paper to print laudatory reports of visits to 

 hatcheries. But for the Forest and Stkbam this sort of 

 thing is entirely out of place. Our readers are too well in- 

 formed of the merits of fishculture to appreciate an argument 

 in its favor, at this late day. They would regard it much as 

 an intelligent community would an article approving of the 

 steam engine as motive power, and recommending its use. 



In Canada there are a few men who have arrayed them- 

 selves against the fishculturists, aud ventilate their narrow 

 views in the newspapers. Our attention has been called to 

 their articles several times, but their talk w<.s abusive, and 

 we have not thought fit to notice it, and have wondered that 

 respectable Canadian newspapers would print such stuff. 

 The Telegraph, of St. John, N. B., recently had an editorial 

 article on the subject, wherein a correspondent was quoted 

 who asserted that "the people were of the opinion that on 

 rivers where hatcheries are established there had been asteady 

 falling off in the catch of salmon, and that they looked 

 at results in the light of cause and effect." 



To this Mr. Everett Smith, a former fish commissioner of 

 Maine and an enthusiastic fishculturist, makes a reply from 

 which we extract the following : 



" The planting of seed cannot render fertile waters barren, 

 and for practical results accomplished by fishculture as ap- 

 plied to salmon fisheries, I would call attention to the work 

 of the Department of Fisheries in Maine. 



" When the work of restocking the Penob-c ;t River with 

 salmon was begun by the Commissioners of Fisheries for 

 Maine, the eggs were purchased of Canadian officals. But 

 the salmon have greatly increased in numbers, owin; to con- 

 tinuous and systematic protection and artificial propagation, 

 so that now the Maine Commissioners are enabled to procure 

 from fish caught in Maine rivers all the eggs desired for 

 stocking purposes, and at a cost of less than ons-tenth forni- 

 ly paid for eggs purchased in Canada for the same purpose." 



That Mr. Smith is correct there is no room for doubt, but 

 it appears to us like using heavy artillery to kill mosquitoes. 

 The facts are too self-evident to need repeating. 



THE CREEDMOOR MEETING. 



IT does not at present look as though we were to have a 

 very extensive meeting at Creedmoor during the coming 

 month. Delays of various sorts will contribute to keeping 

 away competitors aud the paucity of the prize list may have 

 some effect. The problem which the National Rltle Associa- 

 tion must solve, if it expects to receive ihe lasting support of 

 the community, is that of getting all the members ot our Na- 

 tional Guard up to a fair level of scooting ability. The all- 

 comers' matches will take care of themselves. They wdl be 

 participated in by a certain number of lovers of out-door 

 sport, who find in rifle shooting one of the most exciting 

 and healthful of recreations. To encourage military rifle 

 shooting requires a certain amount of organized effori, and 

 the National Rifle Association can best make a plea for the 

 support it so seriously lacks when it can point to a record of 

 work done in the ranks of the military. The State authori- 

 ties of New York have lor some mystei ious reason seen fit 

 to frown upon rifle practice, thereby displaying their ignor- 

 auce of the uses aud management of the civilian-soldier ele- 

 ment. But the National Guard remains not only in this 

 State but throughout the Union where it is just taking form, 

 as it is in many of the States, it is important that a careful 

 system of practice at the butts should form a part of the 

 school of the soldier. 



We have little fear now that rifle practice will be aband- 

 oned. Within ten years past the Regulars have discovered 

 what they did not know about ritle Shooting, and have be- 

 come convinced that there is plenty of renin for improve- 

 ment. Enough knowledge of shooting and marksmanship 

 has been scattered here aud there among the militia forces to 

 act as a leaven for the whole mass. We are putiiug toge;her 

 a mass of record. We are formulating what may be called 

 the "expectancy" of a volunteer. We are getting a basis up- 

 on which we may stand, and call upon officers and men to 

 reach a certain standard, and falling below that we may 

 point to the statistics aud declare them derelict. The f unc- 



