300 
suggestion, “Not to doubt or to disbelieve 
or to dispute, but to weigh and consider.” 
Do we go to the woods for slaughter? I 
trust not; for there stands the divine com- 
mand. We go to breathe nature’s pure air, 
to see the delicate tints of the trees, to hear 
the music of the waters, to sleep sound, 
to get strong and as appetite comes to kill 
the venison to satisfy it. Let us leave to 
the armies the science of the small bore 
smokeless rifle. It is a soldier’s gun and 
its use in warfare is honorable; but let us 
get back to the days of our grandfathers 
and take up once again the single shot 
sporting rifle, with its black powder and 
short range. It is the companionship of 
the woods we want, and not to slaughter 
the wild animals. 
Ex-Ordnance Sergeant, Baltimore, Md. 

OFFICIAL CONDEMNATION OF THE AUTO- 
MATIC AND PUMP GUNS. 
Dr. Joseph Kalbfus, Secretary of the 
Pennsylvania State Game Commission, in 
his annual report to the Board says: 
A law should be passed prohibiting the 
use of the pump gun, and of the automatic 
gun, recently introduced. Our law forbids 
the use of the swivel gun, which, in my 
opinion, is not to be compared for destruc- 
tiveness with the guns above named, espe- 
cially on the water, where there is no limit 
to the kill. These guns are also destructive 
in the field, for experience teaches that the 
great majority of men who carry pump guns 
continue to shoot at flying game long after 
there is any probability of killing it, fre- 
quently after even the possibility is passed. 
Thus many a bird and animal is seriously , 
wounded; yet, because of distance, is not 
knocked down and is lost to the hunter. I 
have a letter from a reliable man hunting 
in Pike county, who tells of the wounding 
of 4 deer within half a minute, by a man 
who carried a Winchester pump gun, 
loaded with buck shot. A buck, a doe and 
2 fawns, came in sight, nearly I00 yards 
away. The man opened fire, shooting at 
each one in succession, wounding all, and 
getting none. This is entirely wrong, and 
should be prevented by law. 
Here is another: 
Madison Grant, Secretary of the New 
York Zoological Society, writes in the 
society’s official bulletin: 
A new engine of great destructive power 
has appeared in the field to aid the forces 
at work in the extermination of our game. 
This time it is the birds that are to suffer. 
A shot gun which fires, ejects the dead 
shell and reloads in response to one pull 
of the trigger has been placed on the mar- 
ket. With it the skilful market hunter 
can wipe out an entire covey in the same 
RECREATION. 
number of Seconds that are now required 
for the discharge of the right and left. 
It may be difficult to prevent by law the 
use of these new automatic shot guns, al- 
though swivels and large bore shot guns 
have been interdicted in duck shooting, and 
pitfalls and snares barred in the chase of 
large game. A _ public sentiment can be 
aroused, and decent sportsmen can declare 
against the use of these new weapons; but 
only the law can reach the pot hunters. 
There is a crumb of comfort, however, in 
the fact that all these deadly devices in fire- 
arms bring rapidly closer the day when this 
State and all the other States will prohibit 
the use of lethal weapons, exactly as carry- 
ing of pistols; common throughout the 
country 50 years ago, has been stopped, with 
the entire approval of the public. 
In less than a generation the day will 
have passed when the American can wan- 
der at large over the landscape slaying all 
living things at will. Then, perhaps, some 
remnant of our game may be allowed to 
live in peace. 
_ Mr. Bennett, of the Winchester company, 
is busy trying to convince the public that 
my opposition to the automatic and pump 
guns is due to the fact that he withdrew 
his ad. from Recreation.. Has he also 
withdrawn his ad from the Pennsylvania 
Game Commission, and from the New 
York Zoological Society? If not why 
should these great institutions oppose the 
use of the slaughter machines P—Ep1tTor. 

THE POWDER HE LIKES. 
I have shot over 1,000 Robin Hood shells, 
loaded with that powder, and have loaded a 
large number in experimental trials. I 
greatly prefer the factory loads, however, and 
especially like the new Comet shell loaded 
with 34% drams Robin Hood and 1% ounces 
No. 7% chilled shot. I have tested Comet 
shells at the trap, and during a duck hunt. 
It surprised me to be able to kill ducks 
with No. 7% shot, that size being considered 
too small for duck shooting in these parts. 
I have had not a single misfire with Robin 
Hood shells, and the execution was all I 
could wish for. 
I killed a prairie chicken last fall at a 
stepped distance of 90 yards with one of the 
Comet shells mentioned. Five shot struck 
the bird and 3 went through it. I admit it 
was a scratch, for my skill will not enable 
me to make such shots often, but I after- 
ward tested the gun at go steps and it made 
a pattern that no prairie chicken could fly 
through and live. I am not bothered much 
by recoil, for I use a gun pad, but Robin 
Hood does not make the quick, jarring re- 
port of E. C. and L. & R. smokeless. The 
latter powder disgusted me after making 
150 shots with it. I noticed that the L. & R, 
