344 
FOREST AND STREAM 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
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 Out door Recreation and Study : 
PUBLISHED B1 
Rarest md jf trmr\ ifflublishing 
17 CHATHAM STREET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK, 
[Post Oppice Box 2832.] 
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, 1 ' postage free. 
Advertising Kates. 
In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 25 
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, JULY 9, 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 or private letters of course excepted. 
Al l communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 
real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 
©bjection 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 tr. reactions, as it is the aim of this paper 
to become a medium of useful ana reliable informatioii 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 
tend 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. 
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE CUR¬ 
RENT WEEK. 
Friday, July 10th.—Hartford vs. Mutual B. B. C. at Hartford—Indian¬ 
apolis Trotting Association—State Agricultural Society, St. Paul, Minn. 
—Pigeon Shooting Tournament at Detroit. 
Saturday, July 11th.—Triton Rowing Association, Pamrapo, N. J.— 
Boston vs. Mutual B. B. C. at Boston—Atlantic vs. HartfordB. B. C. at 
Hartford—Beacon Park, Boston, Mass., races—Mystic Park, Boston— 
Utica Park Association—Scott County Association, Davenport, Iowa— 
Argonaufcas and Atalantas, Harlem River, 11 A. M. 
Monday, June 13th.—Boston vs. Athletic B. B. C. at Boston—Mystic 
Park, Boston— Utica Park Association—Rochester Driving Park Associ¬ 
ation—Yale vs. Harvard B. B. O', at Glen Mitchel. 
Tuesday, June 14th;—Boston vs. Mutual B. B. C. at Brooklyn—Mys¬ 
tic Park, Boston—Catskill Driving Park—Utica Park Association—Yale 
vs. Harvard B. B. C. at Glen Mitchel. 
Wednesday, July loih.—Boston vs. Athletic B. B. C. at Boston 
Beacon Park, Boston—Mystic Park Boston—Catskill Driving Park—G o- 
shen Driving Park Association, N. Y.—Society of Agriculture, White 
Plains, N. Y.—Fairfield County Society, Norwalk, Conn.—College re¬ 
gatta, Saratoga, single sculls. 
Thursday, July 16th.—Boston and Athletic B. B. C. sail for England 
—Mystic Park-Catskill Driving Park—College regatta, Saratoga, Fresh¬ 
men and Universities, races, 6-oared. 
FIGHTING CONVENTIONALISMS. 
T HERE is a vast amount of very absurd conventional¬ 
ism which wants combating. We impose upon our¬ 
selves in the United States certain restrictions, which, if 
they were not alone stupid in their character, are absolutely 
injurious in their tendency. This subject we have fre¬ 
quently written about, and it seems to us to be one which, 
if we would redress, requires constant repetition. Ex¬ 
pressed in its simplest form, it is “that we work too much 
and play too little.” All natural impulses within certain 
limits ought to be followed, and from it we may make this 
deduction, that although most of us do work hard, and 
have an inclination to play at times, we are afraid that the 
play will be hurtful to our business, because our clients, if 
we are lawyers, or our patients* if we are doctors, or oui 
congregations, if we are ministers, might not like to know 
that on a certain afternoon in the week we had been sailing 
in a boat, or taking our stand at the rifle range, or had 
played a game of cricket. 
This absolute narrow mindedness, which imposes chains 
and shackles on the brain worker, is most hurtful in its 
effects and exerts a kind of terrorism on those who are 
afraid of emancipating themselves. That certain inherent 
yearning that man has to find relief from pressure exists in 
every one of us. If not found in physical recreation it 
too often seeks to allay its cravings in dissipation. 
Brave, even heroic, are those who, arriving at the middle 
age of life, having devoted their best days to commerce, 
the law, medicine or divinity, do throw aside all recrea¬ 
tion, crush even the inclination towards it, and become 
martyrs to those false tenets which declare that a man shall 
toil all his life and take no breathing spell. 
We know that in England statesmen, lawyers, divines, 
far past the last period of human existence, to-day still un¬ 
dergo a life of work and toil which an American many 
years younger, in the same position of life, would break 
down under. Abroad men seem to mature later, and keep 
on ripening with advancing years, while with us mental 
and physical ills seem to carry away our brightest work¬ 
ers just when experience would have certainly given them 
that higher destiny which their early genius had almost 
attained. The secret of the premature waste of life in our 
own men is that they are afraid to seek opportunities for 
rest. 
Take particularly the case of the English clergymen. 
Do we superarrogate to ourselves that our ministers are 
nearer to the eternal grace, are more solicitous for the wel¬ 
fare of their flocks, than our spiritual brethren on the other 
side of the water? But would an American clergyman dare 
to go on the ball field, or play cricket, or sail a boat, as 
does our Englishman? And pray why should he not? Is 
he not made of the same flesh and blood as all of us? The 
reason in nine cases out of ten why he does not is because 
a very blind and narrow community would first open their 
eyes, then chatter, next clamor, and he knows how terrible 
a thing it is to fight with his bread and butter. If he is a 
lawyer, who, by his unceasing toil, cares for the life, the 
honor, or the money of his client, does he seek a day’s re¬ 
laxation, and should his name be announced in a public 
paper as having been the leader of certain rational sports, 
the chances are, we regret to say, in the present most ab¬ 
surd state of public opinion, that neglect of duty, incom¬ 
petency even, would be laid at his door. Of course you 
cannot carry men out and force them to take rational and- 
reasonable recreation, but the slur and odium cast upon 
those who do now and then play, by the tyrannical force 
of public opinion, crushes out in them the very faintest 
desires they may have to amuse themselves. 
It is true we are getting somewhat over this condition of 
taboo so long imposed upon our professional men. It was 
a struggle first before those who were engaged in commer¬ 
cial pursuits could shake it off. It has been found that a 
banker can sail a yacht, or a leading merchant take his 
week’s shooting, and still manage his own business and the 
interests of others in a perfectly satisfactory way. A little 
bit of recklessness on the part of our professional men 
would be of service. Let the community gape and stand 
aghast for awhile, and it may do them good, for perhaps in 
the moment of astonishment they may compare their own 
general humdrum, plodding existence with the lives of 
those who do the thinking, writing, counseling, tending, 
and eten praying for them. No matter how obtuse this 
general public may be, it will find that in time it can be 
just as well served in the long run, perhaps better, by those 
who can both work and play. It is time that this Philis¬ 
tinism of public opinion, which prevents professional men 
from taking any amusement, in its narrow mindedness 
should be held in derision. 
A CALL FOR MUZZLE LOADERS. 
W E are in receipt of numerous letters from friends 
and correspondents in regard to the kind of rifle to 
be used at the coming International Match. Not only 
California, but all sections of the Union,show their interest 
in the match. Most of these letters urge that some of the 
riflemen at Creedmoor should use muzzle loading rifles, 
and that it is only by means of such arms that we can hold 
our own with the Irish team. 
A partizan of neither muzzle or breech loading rifles, all 
we have to say is, that those making American muzzle 
loading rifles seem to us to have been singularly indifferent 
to having their arms tested at Creedmoor. If muzzle loaders 
will shoot at long or short distances better than breech 
loaders, why are they not brought forward? We do not 
pretend to say that the winning rifle at Creedmoor, whether 
it be a muzzle or a breech loader, must definitely settle the 
claims of the particular system of arms, but we venture to 
affirm that American riflemen will hold in such high esteem 
the rifle making the highest score at the International 
Match that a rich harvest awaits the manufacturer of the 
successful rifle. With inducements of this character, one 
would suppose that innumerable rifle makers at home 
would have at least tried their arms at Creedmoor. The 
most perfect apathy has existed on the part of the muzzle 
rifle makers. From personal experience we can cite but a 
single exception. We know of a case where a most intel¬ 
ligent ccuntry gunsmith, famed for making a very excel¬ 
lent rifle in the western portion of the State, came to New 
York some three weeks ago, and tried his rifle at Creed¬ 
moor, and made a most creditable performance with his 
arm. 
As for ourselves, we must declare that we have taken no 
small amount of personal pains to encourage any attempts 
that have been made by makers of muzzle loaders to intro¬ 
duce tlieir special arms at Creedmoor: It is true we have 
received numberless letters from rifle makers and their 
friends, and we have forwarded innumerable copies of the 
regulations of the National Rifle Association, but somehow 
or other—certainly not from our fault—no results have 
been attained. Our experience so far has been, that 
though our country makers produce rifles which are 
miracles of skilful handy work,they are either ignorant or 
indifferent as to the other requisites necessary to bring out' 
all the best shooting qualities in their arms. Accurate 
measurements of distance they do not seem to care for, 
A few rods more or less they think will make no matter of 
difference. They are even inclined to smile in an incredu¬ 
lous fashion at the extreme care with which our most skil¬ 
ful marksmen load their arms. A few grains of powder 
more or less is of no moment to them, and as to the bullet, 
whether it be perfect in form or sweagcd, country rifle 
makers think has little to do with the accuracy of the flight 
of the projectile. 
We beg to state then to our numerous friends, those de- 
sirious of having muzzle loaders fully tested,to direct their 
efforts towards inducing the manufacturers of such arms 
to place themselves in prominence, and we promise to give 
them every assistance in our power. As we have written 
before, if any one. can convince a member of the American 
Rifle Association, that in absolute shooting, any particular 
muzzle loader,coming within the regulations at Creedmoor, 
will make a single point on a score better than a breech 
loader, such simple proof will make him discard his Rem¬ 
ington or Sharp, or Ward-Burton or Ballard. 
It is puerile to attach any blame to our leading breech 
loading rifle makers for putting their arms in prominence. 
They would be worse than stupid did they hide their light, 
under a bushel. The mistake most of our correspondents, 
make is, to think that certain guns or any guns run Creed¬ 
moor. There are no restrictions; the range is open to all 
and every kind of arm. Only show, as we said before, the 
members of the National Rifle Association that any special 
rifle, whether muzzle or breech loader, can perform better 
than another arm, and such a weapon will be in instant 
demand. We would guarantee that if on any two matches 
at ranges over 500 yards, a rifle was used, manufactured by 
a maker whose name during the match could be concealed, 
which would beat all c thers in the match, it would find 
purchasers in sufficient quantity to keep the maker busy 
for the next year. 
We say then, bring on your muzzle loaders, urge on the 
makers to come and try them, or put them in the hands of 
experts,, so that we may see the practical results. The 
proof lies in the test. 
So that we beat the Irish team, we are indifferent as to 
whether the gun be a muzzle or breech loader. We would 
advise all our rifle friends to read the report of the last 
meeting of the Amateur Rifle Club. 
The Oswego Convention. —The Syracuse Journal of 
last week says of the Convention recently held at Oswego: 
Now that the Convention has passed, a proper inquiry is,, 
what was done for the protection of fish and game? The 
question is easily answered—Nothing. As a pastime for 
trap shooters, it was moderately enjoyable; but we venture 
to say that not one seine less will be drawn during the 
season because of any action taken by the convention. All 
through Central New York there have been most flagrant 
violations of laws protecting fish, but we do not know of a 
single instance, except one, where any attempt to bring the 
offenders to justice was made, and in the exception referred 
to the attorney of the sportsmen who brought the suit, 
failed to put in an appearance at the trial, and judgment, 
was therefore given to the defendant.-- Both fish and game 
are more indebted for protection to the Legislature, game 
constables and to informers, than to many of the clubs pur¬ 
porting to be organized for such a purpose, and until trap 
shooting ceases to occupy nine-tenths of the attention of 
such clubs, game and fish will continue to receive very little 
attention from them. 
The foregoing strictures accord exactly with the views 
we have repeatedly advanced in the same connection 
There is certainly an incongruity in an organization which 
calls itself an “Association for the Protection of G-ame” re¬ 
solving itself once a year into a convention of trap-shooters. 
The Association is in duty bound to abandon either its 
name or its practices. Individual clubs have the right and 
prerogative to select tlieir owm pastimes, but an aggregation 
of these clubs—effected for the express purpose of secur¬ 
ing, through the wisdom of combined deliberations; the 
best legislation for the protection of game and fish, should 
live up to its profession of faith and ostensible calling. By 
a neglect of these duties, and perversion of its avowed ob¬ 
jects, it cannot but lose its influence with those who have 
given it their confidence. An organization dignified by ihe 
title of “State Association for the Protection of Game,” is 
naturally regarded by people abroad as a purely delibera¬ 
tive body, similar in its composition and aims to the “Ame¬ 
rican Fish Culturists Association;” and from whose annual 
proceedings it would do well to take pattern. To compel 
the respect of law-breakers, our officials must at least wear 
the wig and gown, and not deliberately assume the motley 
and fanfaron of the ring. 
Changes of Troops in the Department of the Mis¬ 
souri. —To our numerous friends in the service on both 
sides of the Mississippi the following changes in the com¬ 
mands as to localities may be of interest: 
The 3d Regiment of Infantry, now serving in the De¬ 
partment of the Missouri, have recently received orders to 
move to the Department of the South. They will proceed 
by rail to St. Louis and from there to Holly Springs, Miss., 
where they will encamp till the fall. The 19tli Regiment, 
now in the South, have been relieved, and are now on their 
way to relieve the 3d. On their arrival in the Department 
of the Missouri, the companies of the regiment will be 
stationed at Forts Larned, Dodge, and Wallace, in Kansas, 
at Camp Supply, Indian Territory, and Fort Lyon, Colora¬ 
do. The 6th Regiment of Cavalry, now in Kansas, has 
orders to relieve the 5th in Ori?;ona, but the movement has 
