FOREST AND STREAM. 
261 
so fleet, that while evrey man naturally becomes a 
Alter dog s must Le employed in the chase, as still hunt- 
i yields hut meagre returns. See “Mortimer Kerry’s” 
Icle on the Zoology of the Northwest in our issue of this 
e k We shall some day receive from his pen, no doubt 
tatement of the kennels of the Cascades and the Coast 
\W* -—«— 
New Yoke, May 25,1874. 
iTOB Forest and Stream:— 
i your issue of the 21st inst. I noticed an article by “Jacobstaff,” in 
cli he inquires “How many of our sporting friends are there who 
e S een a rail, or sora, in the month of May?” As I have never seen 
in May alive it might be unnecessary for me to reply. While out 
tE nglish snipe at the head of Barnegat Bay, 1ST. J.,April 28tlr, 1874,1 
moreproperly the dog) came across two sora rail (. Porzana Carolina), 
of which I shot and now have in my collection. It was in fine plu- 
r e but very thin and rather under size. I also noticed that day two 
’jjjia ra il {Rallus Yirginianus). As an instance showing how close 
’e birds lie, I will state that the dog, coming to a point on one, my 
panion got so near as to thrust his hand forward, endeavoring to 
,p t h c bird, but failed. The dog seeming to comprehend the situa- 
, jumped forward and caught it in its mouth. The bird was in good 
uage and perfect condition. C. H. Eagle. 
THE EUROPEAN QUAIL. 
Bremen, Germany, May 8, 1874. 
roB Forest and Stream:— 
\ Finsch, the Curator of the Zoological Museum at Bremen, informs 
hat the migrating quail are found from the Cape of Good Hope to 
;hern Sweden. It is found in England, but not in Scotland. They 
caught in Italy in immense quantities, and could be procured in 
1 numbers only there. These birds, though not much sought after 
is place—indeed chey are not plenty hereabouts—are much esteemed 
aly as a food, and the South Germans prize them as cage birds on 
tint of the pleasant notes they sing. Dr. Einsch, who is a man of 
Und varied culture and scholarship, as well as of great reputation 
naturalist, tells me that, in his opinion, these quail would probably 
a great acquisition to our country, chiefly as they would carry 
■vithing of Bob Whitedom into colder Yankee land. 
A, Mohr, the great geographer and African traveller, as well as 
|htly sportsman, who has killed almost all game, from the elephant 
hippopotamus down, tells me these birds afford good sport, as they 
+ - alnable game birds. 
iche, in New York, could procure them. Is not the experiment 
i the making? Yours truly, M. Goldsmith. 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
' Department op Public Parks, | 
New York. May 31, 1874. f 
mals received at Central Park Menagerie for the week ending 
30,1874: 
o yellow-haired Porcupines, Erethizon epimnthus. Hab. Western 
id States. Aud. 
i Wild Cat, Lynx rvfus. Captured at Mussel Shell River, Montana, 
nted by Major General G. A. Custer, U. S. A. 
S- purple Galhnule, Gallinula martinica. Elew on board of vessel 
ast of Florida. Presented by Mr. Edward McCoull. 
i mottled Owl, Scops asio. Presented by Mr. P. S. Webster. 
. W. B, Conklin. 
lj, i ; i e wild cat (Lynx rufus) mentioned above, presented by General 
^ is “ow, we trust, at the end of his travels. This lively and pug- 
U8 animal seems to have given no end of trouble. At St. Paul’s he 
V lared to have cleaned out a whole express company’s office, having 
;; n bonds. Attempts were made to chloroform his catship, but he 
, ;d to be soothed by anesthetics. At last the cat jumped into a box 
an expressman was smart enough to clap a board on it, and wise 
eavy enough to sit on the improvised cover of the make-shift cage. 
Alt Paul Press, which gives an amusing account of the chase and 
., re, concludes as follows: “The gentlemen who participated in the 
ngadventure of yesterday, hope that General Custer will not ship 
lore Montana beasts to friends at the east, believing that this inci- 
;8 i enou gh to give the cat a name abroad, and to gratify any reason- 
nriosity as to what a wild cat will do when driven to extremities or 
.quarters.” 
head waters of that river. It is the intention of the com¬ 
missioners to thoroughly stock our lakes and rivers with 
these valuable fish, and with protective fishing laws we 
may reasonably hope to have an abundance of them in the 
future. 
—The largest haul of shad which has been made in 
Taunton River for twenty years, was taken Monday, May 
4th, by Obadiah Butfiington and his men, at the Col. Perry 
fishing ground, Dighton. One hundred and seventy of 
these shad weighed 530 pounds. 
—Salmon, shad, and alewives are beginning to make their 
appearance in the vicinity of Castine, Maine. George 
Devereux caught in his weir here a noble salmon, weighing 
27£ pounds, on the 6tli. It was sent by steamer to Boston 
for market. 
—For some reason or other no shad have passed the Co¬ 
lumbia dam, on the Susquehanna River this year, although 
the river has received the especial attention of those per¬ 
sons appointed to restocking it, and while other rivers, 
with scarcely an exception, exhibit in their increase of fish 
the success of the effort of the fish commissioners. The 
default at the Columbia dam is a source of much disappoint¬ 
ment to the Harrisburghers and other adjacent dwellers, 
not to say indignation, and the reasons are very unreservedly 
attributed by the local press either to the imperfect con¬ 
struction of the fishway over the dam, or the negligence of 
the commissioners in preventing the setting of nets and 
seines by Columbia fishermen below the dam, whereby not 
a single fish has been permitted to pass. The Harrisburg 
Patriot says:— 
“The probability is that if this fishway has been con- 
'Hintprl in stripf. RPnmYlnnpp with flip rpnnrt it ia q r.rvmnlotn 
foodland, Jp turn and (garden. 
-- 4 - 
HOW TO MAKE A ROSE GARDEN. 
-♦-- 
#4 
Journal is the Official Organ of the Fish Cultur- 
ists* Association. 
CALIFORNIA SALMON. 
/ Charleston, N. H., May 28, 1874. 
; roR Forest and Stream :— 
Jeg leave to enclose you a letter from Seth Green, rela¬ 
te tlie extraordinary rate of growth of the California 
on, 
..tv Rochester, May 22, 1874. 
ar stone :—Our California salmon hatched this 
. oi are nearly as long as the Bucksport salmon one 
'•j'y a? i * think in three months they will be larger 
T lfo Bl J ck 1 s P° 1 ’t’s. They beat all the fish for growing 
1 have had anything to do with. S 
f ° ur woB wisher, Seth Green. 
con i mation of the above letter, I may add that Mr. 
:: :'i ce y Donaldson told me that he had caught two Cali- 
! a 111011 in Lake Champlain this spring measuring 5 
bs in length. They must have been part of the lot 
ln Ble tributaries of the Lake in January, and the 
I ls cei ’t&inly astonishing. Livingston Stone. 
Calfornia aquarium car, which is to make the 
V? this season with a load of living fish, will be 
, ec by the Michigan Central Railroad. It is a bag- 
^ ^ ee t iong, with a broad tread, air brake, and 
P a form, which will qualify it for travelling with 
'J GS fl assen g er trains. It will be fitted up as an aqua- 
:^ at Charlestown, N. H., and will leave that point 
raciflc coast very soon. 
:.‘C. Edmunds, State fish commissioner of Vermont, 
W -T ace( ? 75 > 000 young salmon, all in good condition, 
ilv Liver, near Georgia station, and will 
•V ^ ace a hout the same number in the Winooski 
' 
Henry AI. Stanley, of Dixfield, fish commissioner of 
', a ? a . Aching house under his personal supervi- 
on v is Boin S finely. He has about 100,000 young 
Sibo T o 1 lle WlB soon turn into the Androscoggin, 
II 2,000 land locked salmon for the lakes at the 
structed in strict accordance with the report it is a complete 
failure. But there is yet time before the season is over to 
make the test that was promised by the comissioners. Since 
the present commissioners have grossly neglected their 
duty and the interests of the public let them immediately 
resign, and enable the governor to appoint others who will 
enforce the law. Water bailiffs can then be appointed who 
do not reside at Columbia, and whose interest w ill corre¬ 
spond with their duty in clearing away the obstructions and 
giving the fish free passage up the river. If it then be de¬ 
monstrated that this contrivance is a failure, no more should 
be constructed at public expense, - and the appropriations 
from the treasury should at once cease. A warrant for not 
another dollar should be issued. This important work can 
then be commenced anew under more rational and less sel¬ 
fish counsels. The people living on the Susquehanna, who 
have lost all patience with the petty expedients that have 
been adopted to prevent success, will not rest until the 
shad fisheries are as abundant and as profitable from its 
mouth to its upper waters as they were forty years ago. 
Those who have been demonstrating ‘How Net to Do It’ 
must give way to men of science and experience who can 
and will.” 
To us the difficulty seems to rest on local jealousies and 
rival interests, and to be but a repetition of the history 
of the Holyoke dam contest. We should like to hear 
Messrs. Reeder & Co. ’s version of the case. 
—Hackensack River was last week stocked with Penob¬ 
scot salmon, California black bass, and salmon trout. The 
river was thoroughly inspected, and the best spots selected 
for breeding purposes. If people will now only wait pa¬ 
tiently for three years this river will be filled with these 
kinds of fish, affording an abundant supply of cheap food, 
as well as furnishing attractive sport. No persons are al¬ 
lowed to catch, by hook or net, any of the above men¬ 
tioned species of fish for three years under a penalty of 
heavy fines and imprisonment. It is not the intention to 
stop shad fishing, but when salmon, salmon trout, or black 
bass are caught in the net they must be put back into the 
river, or the penalty will be imposed. 
Governor Parker is anxious that those who own ponds, 
or who have streams of considerable size passing through 
farms, will take measures to procure fishes to stock the 
waters. We are informed that in a few weeks there will 
be a supply of black bass at the hatching house in addition 
to trout, salmon, and salmon trout. 
At a late meeting of the New Jersey commissioners of fish¬ 
eries, arrangements were made for the distribution of nearly 
a quarter of a million fishes. Of these, trout, salmon, and 
salmon trout are now in the State hatching house of 
Bloomsbury. Application for fishes should be made to the 
commissioners at once, as first come first served is the rule. 
—Newark Courier. 
—What a huge maw great London town must have. In 
1870, by rail and by water, there came to London 118,402 
tons of fish; in 1871, 117,476 tons; in 1872, 99,868 tons; in 
1873, 118,337 tons. The railroads bring about one third 
more than the vessels. As to salmon, in the week ending 
May 9th, in 1873, 872 boxes of salmon came to Billings¬ 
gate; this year, 1,171 boxes. 
- ^ «> » - 
The uses of Ammonia. —Ammonia, or, as people call it, 
“spirits of hartshorn,” is a powerful alkali, and dissolves 
grease and dirt with great ease. For washing paint, put a 
tablespoonful in a quart of moderately hot water, dip in a 
flannel cloth, and then wipe off the woodwork; no scrub¬ 
bing will be necessary. For taking greasy spots from any 
fabric, use the ammonia nearly pure, then lay white blot¬ 
ting paper over the spot and iron it lightly. In washing 
lace, put about twelve drops in a pint of warm suds. To 
clean silver, mix two teaspoonfuls of ammonia in a quart 
of hot suds; put in your silverware and wash, using an old 
nail brush or tooth brush for the purpose. For cleaning 
hair brushes, etc., simply shake the brushes up and down 
in a mixture of one tablespoonful of ammonia to one pint 
of hot water; when they are cleansed rinse them in cold 
water, and stand them in a hot place to dry. For washing 
finger marks from looking glasses or windows, put a few 
drops of ammonia on a moist rag and make quick work of 
it. If you wish your house plants to flourish put a few 
drops of the spirits into every pint of water used in water¬ 
ing. A teaspoonful will add much to the refreshing effects 
of the bath. Nothing is better than ammonia water for 
cleansing the hair. In every case rinse off the ammonia 
with clear water. To which we would only add, that for 
removing grease spots a mixture of equal parts of ammo¬ 
nia and alcohol is better than alcohol alone; and for taking 
out the red stains produced by the strong acids in blue and 
black cloths there is nothing better than ammonia,- 
“Then took tlie generous host 
A basket filled with roses. Every guest 
Cried, “Give me roses!” And he thus addressed 
Ilis words to all: “He who exalts them most 
In song, he only shall the roses wear,” 
Then sang a guest: “The roses’ cheeks are fair; 
It crowns the purple bowl, and no one knows 
If the rose colors it, or it the rose.” 
And sang another: “Crimson its hue, 
And on its breast the morning’s crystal dew 
Is changed to rubies.” 
Then Hassan said: “The rose I sang 
Is either pale or red; its buds are lips 
Preparing for a kiss; its open flowers 
Are like the blush of bliss 
On lover’s cheeks; the thorns its annor are, 
And in its centre shines a golden star, 
As on a favorite’s a sequin glows— 
And thus the garden’s favorite is Pm rose.” 
“The master from his open basket shook 
The roses on my head.” Bayard Taylor. 
TN answer to quite a number of letters from our lady 
friends, who have been interested readers of the arti¬ 
cles upon “city gardens,” etc., and who are desirous of 
hearing from us on the subject of garden culture of the 
rose, we are quite happy to comply with their request, and 
would refer them to the Forest and Stream for further 
instructions, thanking them for their good opinion as ex¬ 
pressed in their good wishes and letters of inquiry upon 
the subject of roses, rose culture, etc. 
First, the subject of soils best adapted for the successful 
cultivation of these very beautiful flowers is to be fully 
and practically considered and studied. The old idea of 
“a rose growing any and everywhere” is an erroneous one, 
and all those cultivators who begin with this idea will very 
soon find that although many kinds of roses will, like 
every other green thing, strive to live under disadvantages, 
yet more will die outright than live. 
You have determined to try and produce a fine rose gar- 
den, you say, and you will be able to accomplish this un¬ 
dertaking successfully if you carefully follow the direc¬ 
tions herein laid down. First, the soil. The best soil for 
rose cultivation—and the soil we have always observed that 
the rose thrives best upon—is formed from the base of a 
strong rich loam, composed of well and thoroughly decom¬ 
posed vegetable mould (which we call compost*) and cow 
and sheep-house manure, the older and more decayed the 
better. Never use in your composition for roses new and 
strawy manures, more particularly from the horse stable. 
You can, if desirable, form your rose manure for the suc¬ 
ceeding year’s use very easily if you note the foregoing 
rules, viz:—Make a good bin by driving four posts in some 
convenient place in the garden, forming a ten foot square 
space. Nail boards on the side of the same as high as you 
please, and into this bin deposit your charcoal dust, sweep¬ 
ings, and vegetable garbage in general, such as is found 
about every house. You will thus find you are making an 
accumulation of a rich and valuable compost, to which, at 
the time of planting, you add the materials that make your 
rose soil very rich. You can rarely make any soil too rich 
for roses. In very heavy, loamy soils, you will find two 
parts of clean silver, or beach sand, will much improve 
and modify your soil. In the preparation of the rose bed 
I always prefer the “old Scotch method,” as it is called; 
that of thoroughly trenching the rose plat, be it large or 
small. This should be done by first spreading the before 
named soil or compost six inches deep over the rose gar¬ 
den, always, if of good size, and with a flat tined garden 
fork, thoroughly digging and incorporating the same with 
the garden loam. Let this bed be eighteen inches to two 
feet deep. You are carefully to guard against giving your 
rose bushes a poor, meagre soil. If you do so you will 
learn it only when too late, for almost every rose, when 
planted in good soil, will yield you a fine, fully developed 
double rose, but in a feeble, meagre, starved soil you have 
yellow leaves, shrivelled twigs, and single roses. I have 
seen most unlooked for results from bad rose culture, and 
it is a folly most unmitigated yet frequently committed by 
many of our fair rose culturists, who must break them¬ 
selves of this habit if they would be successful. It costs 
no more labor, and but little more care, to cultivate to per¬ 
fection the rarest varieties than it does to produce a hand¬ 
ful of starvelings, unsightly and worthless. Keep this fact 
well in mind all ye who love to look upon, to pluck, or to 
wear a bouquet of splendid fragrance. 
Some will find but little room for what may be called 
liberal or extensive trenching. Such as find it necessary to 
plant roses upon lawns in small apertures, cut in the green 
sod for this purpose, should be careful to dig deeply and 
manure highly, not omitting to add pulverized charcoal to 
their rose compost. Well rotted soil, if old and mellow, 
is an admirable addition to rose culture, and I have grown 
remarkably fine roses of the very choicest and most tender 
kinds upon a basis of rotten sod. The sod from an old 
pasture yields you a very fine, rich mould, and you can dig 
it up and with a knife slice from it an inch of just as good 
soil as can be had. If inclined to be heavy add sand and 
charcoal and old rotted cow dung, and plant your roses 
upon this, in the ground or in well drained crocks, and you 
will find that you will have as good a show of roses as any 
of your neighbors. If you do not, then our own oft-tried 
experience will be found at fault. You will therefore have 
*This compost heap is very valuable to every one who would have good 
rose bushes. It is made from sod clippings, sweepings of the house, and 
such general accumulations of the house and yard as may be found in 
every really neat family—known in household words as the “refuse 
