72 
FOREST AND STREAM 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
Devoted to Field xnd Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 
Fish Culture, the Protection op Game,Preservation op Forests, 
and the Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 
in Ouv-eoqr Recreation and Study : 
PUBLISHED B7 
forest and ^treanj publishing (/fcomyrniy, 
103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK, 
' and 125 SOUTH THIRD 'STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 
Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 
A discount of twenty per cent* for five copies and upwards. Any person 
sending us two subscriptions and Ten Dollars will receive a- copy of 
Hallock’s “ Fishing Tourist,” postage free. 
Advertising Rates. 
In regular advertisiifg columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 2c 
cents per line. Advertisements on outside page, 40 cents per line. Reading 
notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in double column 25 per cent, 
extra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 
10 per cent, will be made; over three months, 20 per cent; over six 
months, 30 per cent. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1874. 
To Correspondents. 
All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 
correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub¬ 
lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 
All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 
real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 
objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 
Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are Solicited. 
We canncft promise to return rejected manuscripts. 
Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 
notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 
to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle¬ 
men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 
find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 
The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 
patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re¬ 
fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 
is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 
the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 
lend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise¬ 
ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 
terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department o the paper that 
may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 
We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 
money remitted to us is lost. 
Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 
CHARLES HALLOCR, Managing Editor. 
WILLIAM'C. HARRIS, Business Manager. 
REMOVAL. 
■ " — ■ - * 
The office of Forest and Stream will he removed early 
in April to the Iron Building, No. 17 Chatham Street, lately 
occupied hy the Staats Zeitung newspaper,, which we have 
leased for a period of years. This splendid location in 
Printing House Square we shall occupy jointly with our 
uopular daily contemporary the Evening Mail . 
-- 
TO ADVERTISERS. 
A S spring advances, dealers in anglers’ outfits note with 
satisfaction that a new impetus has been given to their 
business, and manufacturers of rods ; flies, trolliDg tackle, 
tents, camp kits, rubber goods, corduroys, fishing boots, 
etc., find their orders begin to increase. Sportsmen are 
already casting about for new fishing localities, and are 
carefully studying the routes, distances, and fares. Even 
the prudent paterfamilias , who spends t^e summer months 
in rural resorts, is selecting the place for his sojourn, and 
occasional advertisements for country board already appear 
in the papers. It is obvious that now is the time for those 
to advertise who would reap the greatest amount of benefit 
from the popular demand; and we can safely and conscien¬ 
tiously assert that, with the present circulation and social 
status of the Forest and Stream, no journal in the coun¬ 
try is so directly and eminently adapted to meet the requiie- 
ments of the parties designated who seek to be brought 
into communication, with each other. Our mail subscri¬ 
bers we know to be of wealth, intelligence, good social 
position, and leisure, who can afford to spend liberally for 
their personal gratification, and are satisfied with no goods 
but the best, and it is reasonable to assume that those of 
our readers who are supplied by the newsdealers ’are like¬ 
wise in great part of the same stamp. They are not a mis¬ 
cellaneous class, like those who support the daily news¬ 
paper or the literary journals, but each is, and must be, 
from the nature of his affiliations, a purchaser of those ar¬ 
ticles that lie employs for his diversion. One copy of our 
paper will therefore accomplish as much for the advertiser 
as a score or more of those printed for the general reader, 
the great mass of whom are occupied with their avocation 
in their daily struggle for subsistence, and have no time or 
money for outdoor recreations and the gratification of nat¬ 
ural tastes. We can if necessary produce unsolicited let¬ 
ters from some of our advertisers attesting to the value of 
this journal as an advertising medium, and expressing their 
surprise that a journal so recently established should bring 
them so many and lucrative returns in the shape of orders 
for goods. The Forest and Stream now reaches every 
State in the Union, and has subscribers in Canada, the West 
Indies, South America, France, England, and Germany. . 
But it is not to dealers in outfits alone—outfits for those 
who fish for profit as well as pleasure—that our paper is 
serviceable. Our sportsmen require maps, guide books, 
and time tables of the railway and steamboat routes that 
lead up to the wilderness resorts and fashionable watering 
places; and the hotels themselves should be indicated. 
We are answering requests every week for informa¬ 
tion that ought to be supplied in our advertsiing col¬ 
umns, and’ which is as necessary to the inquirers as proper 
advertisements of the same would be remunerative to those 
inserting them. The yachting and boating season is also 
at hand, and demands will presently be made for stores and 
new sailing and rowing crafts of all descriptions. Dealers 
in all kinds of implements for out-of-door games, dealers 
in horses and carriages, dealers in flowers, seeds, and gar¬ 
den tools, all can use our columns to advantage, for we 
have departments especially devoted to the interests of 
each. Pisuiculturists can also be brought to the notice of 
those about to stock fish-ponds and streams, and, since much 
official and practical information relating to this growing 
and important branch of industry is now printed in this 
paper, increased attention will be attracted thereto. It is 
needless to specify farther, for those whose interests are 
involved in the subject-matter of this publication will 
doubtless see for themselves. That there will be large ac¬ 
cessions to the ranks of sportsmen, tourists, and rural so¬ 
journers the coming season is evident, for fish have not only 
. become much more abundant through the efforts made to 
propagate them, but the interest in natural objects is be¬ 
coming widespread and general. We would therefore ear¬ 
nestly strive to impress upon all dealers in the various lines 
of goods referred to the advantages which we offer and the 
favorable opportunity of the present time, for never has a 
paper been published in this country before that caters or 
appeals so directly to their several interests. 
THE INTERCOLLEGIATE REGATTA. 
T HE very general discussion that attended and has 
followed the selection of a course for the Intercolle¬ 
giate Regatta indicates a wide spread and lively interest in 
the manly sport of rowing, and makes it clear that every 
effort, to render it a high-toned as well as healthful pastime, 
will command the commendation and support of the better 
part of the community. Though not insensible to the 
weight of argument, pro and con , as respects Saratoga, our 
relations to students and public are such that we feel com¬ 
petent to take an impartial view of the case, and to judge 
of its merits dispassionately. As an alumnus we take a 
Collegian’s pride and interest in 1>he honorable emulation, 
prowess, and success of the students, while we also enter¬ 
tain a jealous regard for their welfare and good%ame every¬ 
where. At the same time twenty years of absence from 
Alma Mater has toned down our enthusiasm and permits 
us to survey the question calmly and from a more practical 
standpoint than the participants themselves. 
It seems to us that the mere choice of location—Saratoga 
or New London, Springfield or Winnipissiogee—does not 
enter into the merits of the case at all, and that much ink 
and good temper has been wasted in the controversy. We 
have no fear of the morals of collegians being damaged 
more at Saratoga than at any other place. The evil dis¬ 
posed can serve the devil in country as well as in tow r n; and 
so far as diversions are concerned, we believe that evil ac¬ 
cessories are more scattered at Saratoga than condensed, 
and that the great weight of respectability included in the 
summer population of Saratoga, and the critical eyes of the 
spectators, friends and relatives at the exhibition, would 
have their restraining influences upon the conduct of the 
students and command their dignity, circumspection, and 
self respect. As to bad men and demoralizing temp¬ 
tations, they are inseparable from great public contests of 
this kind; and it is just here that the real and tr ue issue reveals 
itself. The question is—with all the time, study, attention, 
and extraneous connections and associations that are neces¬ 
sary to make the intercollegiate contests an honorable suc¬ 
cess—^whether they are not prejudicial to the morals, 
scholarship, and future eminence and usefulness of 
students? indeed, whether these grand annual regattas should 
be held at all? The opinion of the College Faculties is divi¬ 
ded upon this point. If our readers will refer to the issue 
of Forest and Stream for August 14th, 1873, they will 
see that we raised this question then, and went so far as to 
obtain a categorical answer .from Prof. Hitchcpck of 
Amherst, which is published in the same number of the 
paper. The answer was more liberal than we anticipated, 
though it would fail to meet as fully now, as then, the 
changed conditions caused by tne enlargement of the Row¬ 
ing Association by the admission of Cornell and Princeton. 
Boating practice was first engaged in merely as a pastime 
and means of physical culture, and we believe we Were 
present at the launch from Brooks & Thatcher’s boat house 
in New HaVen of the first college barge that was placed 
upon any waters in this country. This was in the summer 
of 1850. Other Yale clubs were formed and other boats 
were built, and then came friendly rivalry and mile and 
half-mile dashes for victory. Directly other colleges 
created navies, and in 1852, on Lake Winnipissiogee, in a 
barge race between Yule Harvard, intercollegiate racing 
had its origin. The spirit of rivalry was nurtured and 
strengthened in the subsequent Worcester regattas and 
developed into full vigor and importance when the National 
Association was formed in 1871. The formation of this 
association was a necessary step and a natural consequence 
Racing will always be popular, so long as the sight of j n 
tense action on the part of man or beast excites our interest 
and awakens our enthusiasm. Boat racing, in itself con 
sidered, has especial attractions for men of natural and 
healthy tastes, for it brings into play those three cardinal 
virtues—courage, skill and endurance; but college racing 
has a charm peculiarly its own for those who refuse to in. 
terest or concern themselves in the contests of profession- 
als. The intercollegiate race is a friendly, generous strug¬ 
gle between contestants representing the best elements of 
society, in whom, as collegians, a peculiar interest is felt 
They engage in it as a diversion, not as a business. They 
are actuated, not by mercenary motives, but by a generous 
rivalry, and are incited by that esprit de corps , which is so 1 
marked a feature of college life, to strive zealously for 
honors which shall redound to the glory of Alma Mater 
The throngs which darkened the shores of Lake Quinsi- 
gamond and lined the river’s edge at Springfield were com¬ 
posed of the elite of New York and Boston and the smaller 
New England cities, and gathered, for the most part, either 
because they felt a personal interest in the young gentlemen 
who composed the crews, or because they were friends and 
partizans of the colleges represented by them. The victory 
of the “Aggies,” at Ingleside, in ’71, and the time made by 
, the Amherst boys at Springfield, unprecedented then and 
now, served to attract a wider interest than had been mani¬ 
fested in the Yale-Harvard duel. And so it has resulted 
that the few interested spectators that formerly gathered to 
witness the occasional practice sports of college crews in 
leisure intervals of study, have grown into an aggregation 
of vast multitudes, and the Intercollegiate Regatta has come 
to be regarded as one of the great annual events. It is en¬ 
tirely beyond possibility to prevent these contests from at-' 
tracting general attention, or to exclude the attendance of 
the promiscuous public, however disreputable or contam¬ 
inating its components may be. We cannot exclude bad 
characters from theatres, and even in churches pickpockets 
often find a most successful field of operation. It is quite 
certain that the employment of professional trainers by col¬ 
lege crews, and the occurrence of matches between profes¬ 
sionals during regatta week on the same water as that rowed 
over by the collegians, has served to attract “sports and 
gamblers” to the races; but how can these results be 
evaded? How could they have been avoided?- College 
regattas were not instituted as public exhibitions merely to 
attract great crowds. The crowds are the natural conse¬ 
quence of the excellence of the contests and of the appre¬ 
ciation of the material that enters into their composition; 
and just so long as w T orldwide interest and eclat attracts 
thereto, so long must these objectionable features be 
endured. If morals are in danger, the only way to save the 
morals is to abolish the regatta altogether, or, at all events, 
by destroying its integral character, to divide the interest 
that attaches to it. Already the National Rowing Associa¬ 
tion has become a pouderous affair, and were it to embrace 
all the ^colleges • of the United States, we could readily 
imagine that a universal holiday might be the result—that 
' college discipline would be impaired, and that the studies 
of the curriculum would take secondary place to athletic 
exercises and training. The fact of a separate New Eng¬ 
land organization being desired, or even suggested, and the 
reluctance to admit Princeton and Cornell into the National 
Association, shows that it is fast becoming unwieldy and 
too comprehensive; and we believe it a safe prediction thai, 
under the present feeling and views of the Faculties of 
Colleges, there will be no more' Intercollegiate Regattas, as 
such, after the meeting at Saratoga. In another column, 
we copy from the Middletown College Argus a description 
of the Saratoga course and a survey of its advantages. 
POSSIBLE CHANGE IN THE TARGET 
SYSTEM AT WIMBLEDON. 
W E take particular note* of the remarks made in a 
late number of the Volunteer Service Gazette in re¬ 
gard to certain proposed changes in the English target sys¬ 
tem as used at rifle ranges. Where so much skill is evince 
by the leading English riflemen, (and they may-the counte 
by the score) the exact average of individual excellence 
may sometimes be lost, or difficult to determine where t e 
present system of employing the square target, with i s 
coarser divisions of bulls eyes, centres, and outers are to e 
considered a permanent fixture. , 
The present method of counting was, however, excee 
ing well devised. It was intended to give heart to the n e 
man, so that all possible hits should score something, an 
that approximate skill should be encouraged. As a genera 
school for soldiers, it is still we think the best, but for very 
skillful riflemen, it has undoubtedly its defects. Perhaps 
the originators of the system never thought that at sue 
long ranges, 1,000 and 1,100 yards men would hit bulls eyes 
time after time in succession. They did not imagine ra 
rifles would be so wonderfuily improved, and that human 
skill in marksmanship could accomplish such difflGG * 
The nuisance of ties is certainly making itself-felt at U 
bledon every year, and the patience of the men awai 
the decision of an important event is often > sorely taxe 
We give below some of the arguments used by the ^ 0 
tear Service Gazette, looking towards such a change, 
for ourselves we are satisfied with things as they are e 
at Greed 13 ! 00 ! ‘When in some five or six years to 
