56 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Devoted to Field and 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 Oux-idor Recreation and Study: 
PUBLISHED BY 
parent mid jf iremt( £jnhlishing 
-AT- 
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 advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 25 
cents per line. Advertisement s 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 5, 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 Names will not be published if 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 cannot 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 HALLOCK, Managing Editor. 
WILLIAM C. HARRIS, Business Manager. 
NEW YORK STATE SPORTSMEN’S CON¬ 
VENTION. 
W E have received a visit from Silas M. Allen, Esq., 
of Oswego, corresponding secretary of the New York 
State Sportsmen’s Convention. The meeting of the sports¬ 
men of the State will he held this year at Oswego. The 
list of officers of the S. S.’s«C., is the following: Hon A. 
C. Mato.on, President; H. B. Klock, Syracuse, 1st Vice 
President; H. A. Richmond, Buffalo, 2d Vice President; 
John B. Sage, Buffalo, Recording Secietary; Silas M. Allen, 
Oswego, Corresponding Secretary; 8. M. Spencer, Roches¬ 
ter, Treasurer. 
A novel feature of interest will be introduced for the first 
time this year which will be of tlie utmost importance to 
all field sportsmen. It is. the intention of the officers of 
the New York State Sportsmen’s Convention to make the 
necessary arrangements so as to have an exhibition of dogs 
used only in the hunting field, such as pointers, setters, 
fox-hounds, beagles, cockers, &c., and if possible to bold a 
field trial of such animals as have a local or public record 
and reputation. The Association propose to offer premi¬ 
ums for the best bred, good looking, and well known per¬ 
formers in the field over game and on “fur.” The date 
of the meeting has not yet been fixed, but will most prob¬ 
ably take place in the latter part of May. 
The objects of this Association in giving premiums for 
first class dogs used by sportsmen is to improve the breed 
and working qualities of the animals, as the dogs used at 
the present day show very little of the characteristics of 
their ancestors, and if bred from, as they usually are, add 
to a race of mougrels which are at the present day count¬ 
less in the United States. The writer was informed by the 
oldest sporting editor in the United States that he traveled 
from Kentucky to New Y T ork, stopping at all places of 
note, and failed to see but five or six dogs which he would 
call good, staunch looking animals and fair performers in 
the field. This show of sportsmen’s dogs is a corrective 
step in the right direction, and we trust it will he carried 
out with energy and- spirit, and with experienced gentle¬ 
men as judges and referees. 
The convention will be held this year under the auspices 
and supervision of the Leatherstocking Club, of Oswego. 
The following is the list of officers; President, II. 0. Tur* 
nor; Vice President, M, L. Marshall; Treasurer, N. \Y, 
Nutting; Secretly, T. F, MUler, This club ba§ about 
fifty active members. 
FRENCH AQUACULTURE. 
RAPPORT PRESENTE PAR M. EMILLE CHEVALIER, CONCElt- 
NANT LA PLCHE FLUVIALE.—CONFERENCE FAITE 
AU JARDIN D’ACCLIMATATION, 1873, PAR H. 
DE LA BLANCHERE. 
S OME time ago, when noticing a recent report of M. 
Chevalier, on fish culture, we commented on the fact 
that it was in France that the first serious movement was 
made in pisciculture, and that if we were indebted to 
France and to Coste for the theory, the practical portion 
of the work seemed to be finding its :ullest development in 
other countries. M. Chevalier, the talented editor of the 
Chasse Illustre , a gentleman who, from the nature of his 
office, is peculiarly acquainted with pisciculture, represent¬ 
ing the fishery commissioners of the Seine, (we translate 
his words,) asks this question, “At Paris on the Seine, one 
of the best fish producing rivers in tlie world, from Asnieres 
to Port a l'Anglais how many fish preserves do you think 
you will find? Guess if you can. Only three.” 
In M. Chevalier’s report, which is a most careful and 
statistical expose of French aquaculture of a year ago, he 
cites the following facts, that salmon alone are worth to 
Ireland 7,000,000 francs, to England and Scotland 20,000,- 
000, but that salmon and trout fishing in France do not 
produce a money equivalent of more than 500,000 francs a 
year. A curious parallel is drawn between the consump¬ 
tion of game used in France derived from the country it¬ 
self and fish, France consuming about $18,000,000 worth of 
game, of which fully one third is derived from foreign 
sources. In a very interesting series of tables showing the 
quantity of fresh water fish used in Paris for the last seven 
years, it is shown that 1,500,000 kilograms of fresh fish 
supply all the inhabitants for a year, about one kilogram 
or two pounds eight ounces and a trifle more per head, 
whereas in London the supply is sufficient to allow each per¬ 
son to use 50 pounds. Salt water fish come, however, to Paris 
in much more notable quantity, the proportion being 
15,000,000 kilograms of sea fish to 1,500,000 of fresh water 
fish. M. Chevalier has not far to look for the reasons why 
fresh water fish are so scarce in France and how with a fresh 
water area of 210,000 hectares of ponds, and 258,000,000 in 
lakes and rivers, (the hectare representing 2,471 acres,) she 
produces so little fish food. This prominent authority 
states “that piscatorial economy for the last century has 
been so terribly neglected in France that her rivers are ex¬ 
hausted, her streams are consumptive , her brooks sterile, 
and her lakes and ponds unfruitful. The cause is 
the general indifference, the happy-go-lucky feeling which 
predominates, the out-pouring of poisonous substances 
into the French rivers from the factories, the waste 
of all natural advantages and tolerated poaching, winked 
at and sometimes even favored by the authorities them¬ 
selves. If the Fishery Commissioners of France have,” 
savs M. Chevalier, “given certain leases or fishing rights, 
they grant them for too short a period. Fishermen multi¬ 
ply, fish to their utmost during the brief time allowed them, 
and depopulate the streams.” He purposes that longer 
leases be given as is done in England where the lessee can 
economise his fish product, and is careful not to exhaust 
his hired fishing grounds during the first season. M. Chev¬ 
alier states that trout are now very rare in France. In 1870 
4,007 kilograms presented the total product in trout; in 
1871 it was but 2,564 kilos., and this same lessening of 
quantity is found in all other kinds of fresh water fish; 
even from want of care and judgment the crayfish are dis¬ 
appearing. M. Chevalier and the Commission he represented 
proposed that the government should adopt more stringent 
modifications of the French fishing rules of 1868. We only 
regret that want of space prevents our giving the more 
salient points of the changes proposed, believing that from 
their study our own Commissioners might receive many 
useful suggestions. 
The paper read by M. de la Blanchere before the Paris 
Jardin d'Acdimatation is quite a remarkable one, and its 
aim is to arouse more particularly the attention of France 
to riie subject of Aquaculture. M. de la Blanchere asserts 
most positively that if proper care was taken the rivers of 
France would produce au amount of food represented by 
300,000,000 of francs. Before the German conquest, at 
Huningue in Elsass, the government had a fish breeding es¬ 
tablishment, founded as long ago as 1836. Of course, its 
loss affects somewhat French pisciculture in that section 
of country, butM. de la Blanchere declares that since it only 
produced salmon ;and trout, if other piscifacturcs were 
founded their loss would not be felt. The mistake made in 
France, M. de la Blanchere informs us, was that attention 
was paid only to the sahnonidce y and not to other quite as use¬ 
ful kinds of fish. In speaking of this particular family of 
fish, M. de la Blanchere observes how difficult it is to deter¬ 
mine what peculiarity there exists in certain rivers to at¬ 
tract or repel salmon, the temperature of the water being 
excluded from the question. “No chemical analysis,” 
says our authority, “no matter how delicate it is can dis¬ 
cover what is the exact difference betwt en the water of one 
river and that of another. All we know is that a trout 
lives perfectly well in one stream and that in the other he 
is certain to perish.” We quote this paragraph, recalling 
some discussions in the Forest and Stream in regard to 
salmon in the Hudson, where Heinrich Hudson’s statement 
in regard “to great store of salmon in the (Hudson) river” 
was doubted, M. cle la Blanchere declares that rivers 
which once were thronged with salmon, owiug to the 
present condition of the waters in France, will not allow 
buUncw to live in them. lie slates that not oyer forty years 
ago Brittany abounded with salmon. In 1830, at Chateau- 
lin, salmon were caught in quantity; in 1861 only nine 
salmon were captured. At the beginning of the present 
century on the Allier the catch of salmon in the season was 
5,000; in 1871 only ten were caught. In 1787 fish food was 
taken in this river alone which would feed 1,500 people- 
now not even a smolt is seen.®In early times the Seigneural 
rights protected the rivers, and so they furnished food for 
the people. A compliment, and a merited one, is paid to 
the United States, where M. de la Blanchere says, “even in 
America, where their immense lakes afford feeding ground 
for myriads of fish of the best kinds, the quantity has di- 
minislied so much that in their practical way the Govern- 
ment and the people have set about it at once in order to 
repopulate their lakes and streams with fish. In the United 
States useful projects are never allowed to languish, and 
the impulse given to aquaculture has taken immense 
strides.” 
A very interesting fact cited by M. de ia Blanchere is in 
regard to the methods to be employed to assure the pres¬ 
ence of salmon, or in fact of any other fish in a river, that 
is, to be certain to give them the food best adapted to their 
nourishment. He mentions the case of the Mayenne, where 
extensive canal works had to be carried on. Of course 
the quantity of lime and stone thrown into the river de 
stroyed the wafer plants and minor animal growth, and 
salmon would not live there. Some one conceived the hap- 
py idea of endeavoriag to acclimatize the food necessary 
for the salmon, a kind of cyprinoids, and once these fairly 
established, the fish came back and throve. 
Speaking of the Apathy of the French in regard to pisci¬ 
culture, M. de la Blanchere declares that it arises mainly 
from the ignorance developed in the lower classes, especial¬ 
ly among those living near the rivers, and he asserts that 
the more educated people are unwilling to make any efforts 
to enlighten their benighted brethren. 
Our authority insists on the necessity of awakening pub¬ 
lic interest in regard to pisciculture, and he ends by declar¬ 
ing that a law should be passed in France, a trifle arbitrary, 
perhaps, “that all running water, great or small, whether 
navigable or not, should belong, from its source to its 
mouth, to tlie State,” and that when that day should arrive 
France would, from aquaculture alone, be worth 300,000,- 
000 of francs more than she is to-day. 
NEWFOUNDLAND. 
ITS INTERIOR AND INTERNAL RESOURCES. 
T HE island of Newfoundland, whose area is four times 
that of Belgium, and which contains 13,000 more square 
miles than Scotland, is to most men quite a term incognita. 
It is generally known that a peculiar breed of dogs comes 
from there, a : -d some persons have an indefinite idea of its 
cod and seal business; otherwise information is very limit¬ 
ed, and but dim notions exist as 1o its geography and na¬ 
tural resources. It seems a remarkable fact that although 
it was the earliest discovered land in America, and has ever 
since been the resort of thousands of fishermen, it was only 
as recently as 1825 that the first roads were made from St. 
Johns, the capital, to the outlying settlements. We had 
supposed until now that the universal ignorance that pre¬ 
vailed as to its interior capacities and topography was due 
to the apathy of its people; that its lack of development 
arose from lack of enterprise; that the adiacent waters of¬ 
fered such inducements of gain that no one would go inland 
in search of minerals or for purposes of cultivation. Often 
have we reasoned that alittleY r ankee enterprise was all that is 
needed to fructify the waste places and make the wilderness 
to bloom and blossom as the rose. Alas ! for human vanity 
and human fallibility ! Tlie mystery is all made clear now, 
and tlie great problem of the terra incognita is solved. The 
truth is that the interior of Newfoundland is naught but a 
vast plutonic waste, where no vegetation exists and where 
no roads can run. Its mineral wealth of copper, nickel, 
lead, iron and ochres, is great, it is said, arid certain to he 
developed at no distant day; but with the exception of a 
belt of land four or five miles wide that encircles the island 
and borders the sea, a belt covered with a fair growth of 
spruce, pine, juniper, fir, and witch-hazel, all else is deso¬ 
lation and barrenness, No Indians live in the interior, nor 
is there a house north of Bonavesta Cape, anywhere to 
be found after one passes a couple of miles inland from 
tlie shore. All the land is rocky and rolling, great waves 
succeeding waves of granite, with bogs and marshes inter¬ 
spersed, which afford a living to reindeer, foxes, wolves, 
bears, otters, beavers, martins, and musk rats, and form the 
sources of rivers that flow in all directions. Each one of 
these rivers abounds in salmon which can be caught with the 
fly, though it is believed that angler never tossed fly to them, 
and nearly all these rivers, it seems, are indicated in 
Hallock’s “Fishing Tourist.” They are rapid, dashing 
streams, flowing with impetuous current, up which no boat 
can push its way; but in tlieir contracted channels the In¬ 
dians spear large quantities of salmon. 
These are about all the facts that can be told of the in¬ 
terior of Newfoundland, and we gather them from no less 
an authority than Michael Carroll, Esq., for fifty years a 
resident of the country, and the only man who has written a 
correct account of ihe interior of the country. It was he 
who surveyed the route for the overland telegraph wires, and 
in the course of his explorations traversed the island athwart 
and across. It is believed that liis surveying party is the only 
one that has ever explored the interior, 
Of the other industrial resources, of the island there is 
I a more Miming account, Mr, Carroll \m furnished u J 
