Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 

 Six Months, $2. 



NEW YORK, MARCH 27, 1884. 



VOL. XXlI.-No. 9. 

 ) & 40 Park Row, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



In a Receiver's Hands. 



Opening of the Trout Seasons. 



Unheeded Lessons. 



Amateur Photography. 

 The Sportsman Tosrist. 



Between the Lakes.— vrn. 



In the Woods, and Out. 

 Natural History. 



The Deer of the Ottawa Valley. 



Tue Muskrat as a Fish-Bater. 



Bird Notes. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



The Choice of Hunting Rifles. 



The Performance of Shotgmns. 



Coming of the Birds. 



Two Mornings' Work. 



Soutb Carolina Days. 



The First Snipe 



Philadelphia Note?. 



Long Island Poaching. 



Rocky Mountain Ram and 

 Grizzly. 



The American Deer Family. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Long or Short Rods. 



The Pollution of Rivers. 



The Dowel Question. 



The Rainbo v Darter. 



Big Bass Lake. 



Vermont Fish Laws. 



The Bisby Club. 



It is Probably True. 



A Peculiar Fish. 



FlSHCULTURE. 



Non-Hibernating Carp. 

 The Kennel. 

 Nevv England Kennel Club. 



The Kennel. 



Disqualification of Jill at Cin- 

 chanati. 



Eastern Field Trials Club. 



Champion Knickerbocker. 



Robins Island Club. 



Fox Shooting and Fox Hunting. 



N. A. K. C. Derbv. 



St, Louis Dog Show. 



The Washington Dog Show. 



Clover Belle. 



New York Dog Show. 



Kennel Management. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting, 



Non-Cleaning Scores. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 



Boston Gun Club Tournament. 

 Canoeins. 



Rob Roy C. C. of Indianapolis. 



Knickerbocker C. C. 



English and American Canoeing 



Canoe vs. Sneakbox. 



A Pro i pt Acceptance. 



Large vs. Small Canoes. 



The All-Around Canoe. 



Local Canoe Meets. 



Boating Trips on New England 

 Rivers. 

 Yachting. 



The Petrel. 



The Gleam and Aueto. 



The Cost of Y T achts. 



Isis. 



The S. S. Norma, 



Some Final General Remarks. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



IN A RECEIVER'S HANDS. 



THE Yellowstone Park Improvement Company is in the 

 hands of a receiver. It is stated that the motion for a 

 receiver was made at the instigation of Rufus Hatch, who is 

 believed to be the largest creditor of the concern. Just what 

 the exact facts of the case are, cannot now be known, but, as 

 reported, it stands something like this: The application for a 

 receiver was made in Trenton. N. J., before Judge Nixon, 

 of the United States Court, by Charles E. Quincy, a stock- 

 holder and creditor. Mr. A. L. Love, cashier of the Steb- 

 bins Bank, of Livingston, Montana, which is a creditor of 

 the company fo the extent of $13,000 or $14,000, was ap- 

 pointed receiver, and will for the present manage the affairs 

 of the company for the benefit of the stockholders. 



The liabilities of the concern are stated at $210,000, against 

 ■which they have the hotel and furniture, which cost $150,- 

 000, some few horses and cattle, and some sawmills built on 

 Government land and used to saw for themselves" timber be- 

 longing to the United States. Rufus Hatch claims to have 

 advanced $112,000 out of the $130,000 expended upon the 

 project, and instigates these proceedings for the protection 

 of this claim. 



The readers of Forest ainD Stream are pretty well ac- 

 quainted with the history of this company, but we may 

 give some additional inside facts about it. Among the in- 

 corporators were a number of prominent men, but they were 

 only figureheads, and the real parties in interest were Rufus 

 Hatch, John Douglass, C. T. Hobart and Henry Douglass. 

 John Douglass is the brother-in-law of Senator Windom, 

 who made such a strong fight to have the Park given up to 

 the exclusive use of this company. It appears now that 

 these partners have fallen out, and John Douglass tells the 

 story of the final rupture as follows. After stating that 

 negotiations had been in progress to pull the concern out of 



its difficulties, and that Hatch had promised to await the 

 issue of the pending arrangements, lie continued: 



"The question of the settlement of the affairs of the company de- 

 pended largely upon the temper and intentions of the creditors. If 

 they were disposed to wait and be accommodating, there were two 

 parties, one living West on the Northern Pacific and the other in New- 

 York, who were ready to put up the $30,000 Mi-. Hatch demanded as 

 a condition precedent for his retirement from the company. These 

 two gentlemen were absent »n an extended trip and were delayed 

 thereon. I telegraphed Mr. Hatch, and received a reply from him 

 dated New York, March ti. Here it is. Read it for yourself. You 

 see it says, •Will wait ten days for a proposition from you.' The ten 

 days did not expire until last Sunday, and I now discover that Mr. 

 Love was appointed receiver ten days ago. Arrangements to secure 

 such appointment must have been pending when Mr. Hatch tele- 

 graphed that he would wait. The Stebbins Bank, with which Re- 

 ceiver Love is connected, is a creditor to the amoimt of $18,000, not 

 all of it debts due the bank directly, but on paper they have cashed 

 or bought, I further learn that Mr. Stebbins proposes to foreclose on 

 the property and assume control of the affairs of the company, leav- 

 ing us out in the cold, but he will discover that he cannot do this 

 easily, as we will fight for our rights." 



'■Who are 'we-' " 



"Well, there are a number of figureheads, of course, but Henry F. 

 Douglass, my son, C. T. Hobart, and myself, with Rufus Hatch, con- 

 stitute the 'we.' By the terms of a private contract entered into be" 

 tween Henry Douglass and Mr. Hobart on the one hand and Rufus 

 Hatch on the other, the latter was to receive 35 per cent, of the inter- 

 est in the Improvement Company, leaving 65 per cent, for the rest of 

 us, and this private contract, which will have to be made public soon, 

 is all we have to show for our right, title and interest in the company. 

 By the terms of that contract the three parties named bound them- 

 selves solemnly to stand together and protect their mutuality of in- 

 terest. No important measure to be carried into effect without the 

 consent of two out of the three." 



The Livingston, Mont., Enterprise says, regarding the sit- 

 uation at the Park : 



C. F. Hobart, agent of the Park Improvement Company, at Mam- 

 moth Hot Springs, is securing the claims of a few of the creditors, 

 by giving mortgages upon the company's chattels. To one a lien 

 upon the stock of liquors has been issued, and to another security 

 upon the piano at the hotel, and so on. The carpenteis who are 

 holding the hotel wish to be secured in the same way, but Mr. Hobart 

 told them he thought they had a good enough thing if they could 

 maintain it without any mortgages. 



It was supposed, at first, that this application for a 

 Receiver might have been made for the purpose of arousiug 

 sympathy for the broken down company, and thus in- 

 fluencing legislation at Washington in their favor. This 

 does not appear to be the case, however, and since it is seen 

 that the only sufferers are the speculators who went into the 

 scheme with their eyes open, we presume that very few tears 

 will be shed @n their account, If all that is said is true, the 

 only heavy loser is Hatch. 



It is to be hoped, however, that whoever manages it in the 

 future will have a little more regard for the rights of the 

 Government and the people than has been manifested by 

 Hobart and Hatch ; certainly whoever he may be he cannot 

 have less than they did. 



UNHEEDED LESSONS. 



WHAT is the lesson which the floods of the winter teach 

 us? A few weeks since, the sympathies of the country 

 were stirred by tales of the suffering along the Ohio River. 

 Now we learn that the valley of the lower Mississippi is a vast 

 inland sea, that farms are many feet under water, that stock 

 is drowned, that men, women and children are living on 

 rafts and in the lofts of gin houses; that, unless Government 

 aid is extended to these poor people, they must starve. This 

 aid should be sent them. It cannot be done too quickly. 



The tale is a pitiful one. It is also an oft repeated one. 

 But no remedy, except the ancient one of building dirt walls, 

 which are washed away as soon as the water reaches them, is 

 suggested. Occasionally a seeker for a fat contract at Wash- 

 ington proposes to wall in the river from source to mouth. 

 Still the destruction of the forests goes on, and will continue 

 until the burdens of the unhappy people who dwell on the 

 banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi become too great to be 

 longer borne. When the annual floods have depopulated 

 this great and once fertile and prosperous region, then our 

 sluggish legislators may be iuduced to take some action. In 

 the mean time, God help the poor people in the Southwest, 

 whose possessions are annually destroyed by the floods. 



Our law givers are slow to learn. They follow public 

 opinion, never lead it. And until the public sentiment shall 

 demand in unmistakable tones that our fields and hills be 

 reforested, the law makers may be trusted to do nothing. 

 From the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, where the 

 terrible effects of our criminal waste of the woodlands are 

 fast making themselves felt, will come the cry for protection 

 from floods which are annually more dreadful, and this cry 

 will be taken up soener or later all over the country. 



This protection must be on a scale commensurate with the 

 forces to be resisted. As well attempt to bind the ocean in 



fetters of brass, as to confine with levees the Mississippi. 

 when, swollen by the precipitation of half a continent, it 

 hurries toward the Gulf. We may curb the waters when 

 they are raindrops, or tiny rills, or springs, with some pros- 

 pects of success, but to restrain the Father of Waters when 

 once he has burst his banks, is impossible. 



The case is a plain one and demands attention from those 

 in power. Even if it were taken in hand today it would be 

 years before the full effects of the reforesting would be felt. 

 If some measures are not at once adopted by the Legislatures 

 of the different States and by the general Government to- 

 ward the establishment of forestry commissions, and an intel- 

 ligent and universal tree planting, the losses from floods will 

 each year become more severe, and portions of our territory, 

 once reckoned most fertile and valuable, will be deserted by 

 their inhabitants, and become mere waste laud. 



The people are slow to learn, but it seems as if the lessons 

 of the present year must have taught something to those 

 most nearly affected, if not to the country at large. Will 

 this lesson pass unheeded? Will another more severe be 

 required ? 



OPENING OF THE TROUT SEASON. 

 T>EFORE we go to press again, the trout season will be 

 -*-* opened in the State of New York. That is, it will be 

 legally opened all over the State, although in fact few 

 waters, besides those of Long Island, will be actually fished. 

 There are enthusiastic anglers who would fish on the coldest 

 day in mid- winter, if the season was lawfully opened on that 

 day, and who will fish Long Island waters on the 1st of 

 April, no matter how much the east wind may whistle about 

 their ears. Others, more sensible, will await the coming of 

 weather fit for angling, when they can cast their lines with- 

 out suffering, and we will wait with thorn. 



The fishing-tackle dealers are busy in filling orders, and in 

 showing the novelties in tackle that have been put on the 

 market since last year. In this line there is nothing particu- 

 larly worthy of note outside of reels. Several new reels are 

 out, and they seem to combine all that an angler can wish 

 for. We think there has been a great improvement in reels 

 within the year, and it would seem as if perfection had at 

 last been reached. The curbstone dealer in walking-cane 

 rods has not yet made his appearance. By the time the 

 angle worms get to the surface, and begin to bask in the 

 moon's cool rays, he will be out with his traps to sell to 

 boys with more pennies than j udgment, and who will show 

 their companions their "genuine Japanese fishing-rod which 

 shuts up into a bully cane." 



The trout exhibition at Blackford's, in Fulton Market, 

 will be up to the usual standard, and will repay lovers of 

 trout to inspect, Trout of all sizes, ages and colors will be 

 present from all parts of trout-bearing America, as well as 

 from some parts of Europe. Truly the 1st of April in New 

 York City is the anglers' holiday. 



Stocking Presekves. — We understand that Messrs. 

 Reiche & Bro. have furnished, during the past winter, over 

 two thousand live quail to parties who desired to turn these 

 birds out for the purpose of stocking their grounds. Of 

 these, it is said that more than one-half have died in 

 captivity, through the ignorance or neglect of those who had 

 them in charge. In many cases the birds were not supplied 

 with gravel, and in others no greens were given them, and 

 they soon succumbed to disease. The hints published in 

 these columns a few weeks ago should have been more 

 carefully observed. For Mr. Lori Hard's preserve in New 

 Jersey a number of English pheasants have been imported, 

 as well as a lot of English partridges, and arrangements are 

 being made for a large shipment of prairie chickens from 

 the West. All these moves are in the right direction and 

 it is to be hoped that they will be crowned with success. 



Woodcock in the City.— Last week a dead woodcock, 

 which had flown against the telegraph wires, was picked up 

 by a hackman in the Bowling Green in this city. Another, 

 killed in the same way, was found in a gutter in Canal 

 street. Both were large birds and in good order. In New- 

 ark, N. J., one was found dead on the roof of a piazza, having 

 evidently flown against the house during the night and 

 dropped down on to the roof, where it was found the next 

 morning. The last of the birds are moving along now. Many 

 have been here for nearly a month . 



"Woodcraft" is in an advanced state of preparation, and 

 will probably be ready for delivery in less than two weeks' 

 time. Judging from the enthusiastic letters which we re- 

 ceive about it, old "Nessmuk's" book is going to have a boom, 



