228 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



f Af-ril 11, 1884. 



Passaic County. K. J.— A meeting of the Passaic County 

 Fish and Game Protective Association was held last week in 

 Paterson, N. J. ; the permanent organization was efiected. 

 The secretary reported that Senator Griggs was unavoidably 

 -absent, but thai he had made some suggestions to the secre- 

 tary with a request to bring- them before the meeting. The 

 first suggestion was iu relation to the preservation of Ameri- 

 can song birds. The law at present prohibits the killing of 

 all song birds, but as it is a State law with only a small pen- 

 alty attached, it is very seldom enforced. The charter of 

 this city gives the Aldermen the right to pass ordinances for 

 the protection of song birds, and if the Aldermen could be 

 induced to take action iu this matter, the whole Paterson 

 police force would be compelled to make arrests whenever 

 they saw any person killing any song birds. Most of the 

 hilling of song birds iu this vicinity is done within the city 

 limits by boys and men who go out either for the sport of 

 killing or in order to get birds to stuff. In this manner hun- 

 dreds of birds are killed nearly every month in the year. 

 Mr. Griggs's suggestion was to ask the Board of Aldermen 

 to pass a stringent ordinance prohibiting the killing of song 

 birds. The secretary was instructed to "request the Board of 

 Aldermen to pass such an ordinance. Another suggestion 

 made by Senator Griggs was the printing in pamphlet form 

 •of the present laws in relation to the protection of fish and 

 game. The laws have been fixed up every vear by the Legis- 

 lature, so that it is only with the greatest difficulty that per- 

 sons can keep on the track of what is going on. The Senator 

 offered his services in the matter, and was requested to draw 

 up the compendium. A room for meetings will be procured, 

 and until that time the association will meet at the corner of 

 Cross and Oliver streets, where the next meeting will be 

 held on Friday evening of this week. 



AnnowHEAD ns Game. — I read with great interest the 

 article regarding the iron arrowhead found in the swan at 

 Chesapeake Bay. Mr. Erastus Keith told me that seme 

 years ago, a wild goose, shot near Lake Village, Indiana, 

 had an arrowhead imbedded iu the breastbone. 1 own a bow 

 and arrows from Washington Territory; the arrows are 26 

 inches in length, the iron heads are 2f inches long and £ of 

 an inch wide; the bow is very strong, covered with snake 

 skin, and is 38 inches in length, no mean weapon in the 

 hands of a brave. None of these arrows are barbed where 

 they enter the shaft, which makes me think the one in your 

 cut may have come from the remote north, and there may be 

 some among your readers who have seen such that are barbed 

 where they enter the shaft, as iron arrowheads are still used 

 by many tribes, and they may know the names of tribes 

 using such. As game escapes from white men with the best 

 weapons, there must be more that escape from the arrow of 

 poor Lo.— W. A. N. (Springfield, Mass., April 7). 



Game ds Iowa.— Latimer, Iowa, April 10.— Ducks, 

 geese and brant have visited us in large numbers this spring, 

 and a few of the hardy duck shooters that could lie in a 

 snow bonk where the corn was not gathered, met with good 

 access. Thousands of sandhill cranes are here now, but 

 they are very poor. Ducks have also proved to be in miser- 

 able condition, which is another argument in favor of the 

 abolition of spring shooting. Prairie chickens wintered 

 well, and there seeui to be more old birds than I .have seen 

 for several years, so that if there is any reasonable hatch the 

 shooting will be excellent next fall. Some curlew are to be 

 .seen. Our little favorite, the Jack snipe, has not put in an 

 appearance, but is reported as being plenty 100 miles south 

 of us. A great many pickerel have been 'speared and shot 

 along the small streams this .spring.— Raw. 



Live Quail fob New Jersey.— At a meeting of the 

 Board of Directors of the New Jersey Game and Fish Pro- 

 tective Society, held iuPlainfield, X. .]., on Friday evening, 

 April 11. the committee on distributing quail for stocking 

 purposes, reported that the birds had been liberated on farms 

 in the counties of Union, Somerset, Hunterdon, Middlesex, 

 Morris, Monmouth and Essex, where they will have protec- 

 tion and good cover to breed. Some 300 birds, cared for 

 during the winter months, were liberated. The percentage 

 of loss in caring for them since December was small, in com- 

 parison to that of fast year. Good results may be expected 

 from this plant if the game laws are. properly observed.— 

 Fox. __ 



A Maine Decision. — The following opinion has recently 

 been rendered by the Law Court of Maine: "Penobscot 

 County Case. — Thos. F. Allen vs. Benj. L Young.— Plain- 

 tiff nonsuit,' Rescript— It is the opinion of this Court that 

 if deer are killed during the time when it is lawful to do so, 

 it is not a crime to carry or transport the hides or carcasses 

 from place to place in this State during the time when it is 

 unlawful to kill them; that such a carrying or transportation 

 js not a violation of the statute for the protection of game. 

 Barker, Yose & Barker for plff . ; Davis & Bailey for deft." 

 This applies to the transportation of all game.— J. F. S. 



Game in Mt skegox.— Notes are scarce in this part of the 

 Country, but I will give you one that probably the Muske- 

 gon Sportsman's Club will be proud of. Game — quail, 

 ruffed grouse and venison— has been openly sold in this place 

 all winter, even into March. Let the State society appoint 

 some more missionaries. Personally, I do not feel much ag 

 grieved, as my sporting proclivities do not extend beyond a 

 fishing-rod; but I do nut like to see the laws so flagrantly 

 violated, even if I never shoot a bird. — A. P. S. (Muske- 

 I L i ch . . Apr i 1 2) . 



BEAKTESG at Chatham.— I promised to write you in re- 

 gard to branling. There are lots of brant here, but the tides 

 been very high indeed. We killed 87 the last week in 

 ii ; 1? the 3d of April; 17 the 4th, and this morning, the 

 5th, we killed 30 before 7 o'clock. These were killed' from 

 one box. April 7 we killed at one shot, with four barrels, 36 

 and got five more, making 41 brant in all, and got 

 back to my island home before 8 o'clock A. M. — I. G. C. 

 (Chatham, Miss., April 8). 



Pay for tue Mechakics.— In the clerk's office of the 

 U. S. Circuit Court at Trenton, N. J., in the case of Charles 

 E. Quincey V8. the Yellowstone National Park Improvement 

 Company, there was filed, on Tuesday, April 15, a petition 

 asking the Court tt) permit the receiver to borrow $7,000 to 

 pay the laborers, who have taken possession of the hotel and 

 fixings, and refuse to let the receiver take possession until 

 their claims are paid. Judge Nixon signed an order to that 

 effect.— L. N. C. 



Birds in Illinois.— We lost a good many quail last 

 winter, although there are some left. The duck shooting is 

 about over. The weather is very fine, and birds have gone 

 north. [ should like to see the spring shooting stopped, 

 especially for market.— L. G. (Lewiston, 111 . , April 3). 



Ducks Near Montreal.— Our spring duck shootiug has 

 just opened with prospects of very good shooting. One man 

 was out last Friday aud shot 54 yellow-eyes, 11 whistlers 

 and 4 geese; not so bad for these parts'— T ogee Bleue 

 (Montreal, April 8). 



Maksualltown. la., April 5. — Your correspondent in 



any with Mr. L. C, Abbott, our crack shot, spent the 



afternoon of the 4th on the "Snipe Bog,'' with the result of 



a small bag. It is rather too early, and the birds are wild.— 



L. T. D. ' 



Balem Mass. , April 7. — Woodcock are yet in our pas- 

 Lures. Some black ducks (A, ebs&Ura) noticed; also snow- 

 birds (-/. kyemoMs) and tree sparrows (8. rnordicola). We 

 look for snipe soon. — X, Y. Z. 



\m mtA Jtow ^izhing. 



THE ROD-PAST AND PRESENT. 



Ediior Forest and Stream: 



The article written on the "dowel question" in late num- 

 bers of Forest akd Stream are instructive as well as 

 amusing; and any apology for troubling your readers with 

 what may follow, is due to the truth stated in Mr. H. P. 

 Wells's excellent article of Feb. 21, wherein he justly arraigns 

 the followers of Walton for not writing more on what per- 

 tains to the art of angling and the implements used. 



But their silence is due, no doubt, more to the gentle, un- 

 obtrusive spirit which pervades this fraternity, than to' any 

 selfish motives or ignorance on the subject. 



Many years have passed since I have used a rod made with 

 dowels. My first departure from the creed of the fathers 

 occurred shortly after the debut of that most excellent work, 

 - "The American Angler," by Thad. Norris. 



The teachings of that eminent author were so plain and 

 thorough that I concluded to try my hand at rod making. 

 My first attempt was to reduce the unwieldy proportions of 

 a store rod which Iliad used some seasons. This rod was 

 furnished both with dowels and rings, such as were consid- 

 ered orthodox in those days. As I had made up my mind 

 to try the experiment of making a rod without dowels or 

 rings, 1 proceeded to remove both, but to my surprise on 

 putting the rod together I found the joints as "shaky as an 

 old window in a March wind. 



That experiment proved the use of dowels in rods con- 

 structed with badly made ferrules. To make a good ferrule 

 I soon found required more skill and tools than! possessed. 

 However, I believed that a perfectly fitting ferrule could be 

 made, and on the strength of that belief continued to make 

 all my ferrules, some fairly good, others bad, until I found 

 a brother of the angle, who had both brains and tools 

 enough to make ferrules of so perfect a fit as to leave noth- 

 ing more to be desired in that direction. 



Next, I replaced the old rings with standing guides which 

 I made of hollow wire. At first I made them large, but 

 when John Shields produced the enamel line— the greatest 

 improvement in lines the world has seen — I found that a 

 guide a little larger than the line answered every purpose. 



After experimenting with the construction of the standing 

 guides, I found that two perfectly round rings of wire sol- 

 dered together so as to form a _A_ shape with a piece of 

 metal at the base, thus constructed so as to be attached to 

 the rod by silk windings, gave the best results. These guides 

 have lately been improved both in fineness and finish by the 

 same party that makes the ferrules. 



With these ferrules and guides the amateur can construct 

 as perfect a rod as any professional, provided he knows how 

 to make the wood part of a rod. Last season I was gratified 

 to hear that salmon rods hud been sent to the East from Cal- 

 ifornia to have the rings taken off aud these guides put on. 



While on a fishing trip last summer, in the Provinces, I 

 was shown bamboo rods, made by our best makers, and 

 owned by resident anglers, that had been sent to Boston to 

 have these guides put on, and they expressed themselves 

 more than satisfied with the change. 



From some of the articles written by the angling fraternity, 

 and those anglers whom I had formerly met, living in the 

 Provinces, I had been led to suppose that the antiquated 

 "spliced rod" was the only one considered the thing in those 

 regions. But I was mistaken. 



Before closing, I will state for the benefit of those of the 

 craft who desire to make their rods, that the ferrules and 



fuides that I have found so satisfactory, can be had in New 

 r ork of Hawks & Ogillvey ; in Boston, of Appleton & Litch- 

 field, Washington street; C. F. Pope & Co., 33 Weybasset 

 street, Providence, R. 1., or of the manufacturer, A. Seekel. 

 409 Pine street, Providence, R. I. The ferrules are made 

 of eighteen per cent. German silver, finely finished and rein- 

 forced so as to admit the same size of wood above the joint 

 as below it, thereby obviating most of the danger of the rod 

 breaking at the ferrules. 



The following sizes can be had for fifty cents each, viz. : 

 ■.fy to i'i inch inside diameter. Guides are made in four sizes, 

 and sell at sixty cents per dozen, all sizes, and will fit the 

 finest fly-rod or heaviest bait-rod. 



To recapitulate. The history of the rod may be summed 

 up somewhat after this fashion. First, Ave have the pole 

 intact from butt to tip, as used by "the fathers." Second, 

 the pole cut in two or more pieces, probably for the con- 

 venience of transportation, or in some instances to avoid the 

 trouble of cutting a "mast" for each expedition. The 

 uniting of these pieces with strings constituted the "spliced 

 pole." Third, the uniting of the sections of a pole by fer- 

 rules which were so poorly made as to require some device of 

 the wood-worker to Uelp out what the metal-worker lacked. 

 This device consisted in adding a piece of wood below the 

 end of the male ferrule, and was called a "dowel." 



But 1 had nearly forgotten to mention a companion piece 

 of the dowel, credited to our English cousins. 1 refer to 

 those wire loops placed both above and below each joint for 

 the purpose of lying the joints together, and when a "pole" 

 is thus rigged out for action, it presents an appearance as 

 substantial and ornamental as that of an Italian team in the 

 streets of Florence or Rome, with the Jack harnessed to the 

 cart by rops and rags. 



Finally, instead of the larval state called "pole," we now 

 have that most perfect of all angling implements, the split- 



bainboo rod with short ferrules that fit perfectly, and guides 



that do not hinder or fray our elegant enameled lines. 



Therefore, at this stage of "evolution," I conclude that 



the day is fast approaching when the "pole," the "spliced 



pole, the ' 'doweled rod" and the ringed rod will be relegated 



to the past, as stage coaches, etc., etc., have been by the 



advent of the railroad, telegraph, telephone, and electric 



"g nt - n T Esprit Fort. 



Providence, R. I. 



AN OLD-FASHIONED ROD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Let me fully indorse Mr. Wells's articles about dowels, and 

 corroborate him by saying that I have an old rod, made 

 without them, which has seen hard service for twenty -five 

 years or thereabouts. I think it Was in 1859 that I went to a 

 gunsmith in Manchester, N. H., and selected the slenderest 

 bamboo rod that 1 could find, 20 feet long, and had If 

 cut into five lengths of 4 feet each, and put together just 

 as Mr. Wells describes! The three top joints gave me a 13- 

 foot trout rod for brook fishing; the addition of the next pile 

 made 16 feet, and was Occasionally very useful for wide; 

 shallow streams or mill ponds, and the butt; when added, 

 gave me a long pickerel rod. 



Of course I had no reel-seat, but a few feet of strong cord 

 or old linen line, and a few minutes' work, would fix the 

 reel firmly to either joint. 



The original tip came to grief against a stump, in an 

 alder swamp in Maine, while I was endeavoring to keep the 

 mosquitoes off with my left hand, and also trying lo avoid 

 getting over boot-tops in the mud. 



An old lancewood tip, from an older rod, was then spliced 

 ou and lasted foi some years, until it met with a somewhat 

 similar mishap, and was finally replaced by a foot of Whale 

 bone which I Worked down from one of the ribs Of an anti- 

 deluvian Umbrella) and Which is still capable of good work. 

 To lie sure, it is not a fly-rOd, but in most of Our mountain 

 brooks a fly -rod is of no use, and We have to depend on the 

 primitive mud worm. 



In all this long service only one ferrule has worn loose, 

 and that might be easily tightened if I did not always forget 

 it, so that when I get out ou a stream and put my rod to 

 gether I usually wrap that ferrule with one thickness of thin 

 paper. 



1 have not used the rod much the last six years, except for 

 trolling and bass fishing, as the charms of a light split bamboo 

 have caused it to be honorably retired, for" the good it has 

 done, but I mention it now in evidence of the truth of Mr. 

 Welles theory, that dowels are non-esseutial, and I also 

 fully believe them to be detrimental to the strength of a rod, 

 as 1 broke one of my split bamboos two years ago, just he- 

 low the butt ferrule, in the endeavor to disengage the hook 

 from a sunken log, where a malicious black bass had left it, 

 too deep under water to be reached by hand. 



Samuel Webber. 



Lawrence, Mass , April 5. 



TROUTING ON THE BIGOSH 



THE COLONEL'S STOltY. 



A HEAVY shower kept us in camp in the morning for 

 over an hour, and as we sat in our dry bough shanty 

 the Doctor turned to the Colonel and asked: "How did you 

 pass the day, yesterday, while we were Wading the stream V" 



"Jack and I took a few trout." 



"Lakers, I suppose; lugged them up from the bottom, 

 much as one pulls up a water-soaked stick that his hook has 

 fastened to, and can't tell whether it be sties i >> it until 

 it heaves in sight," 



"That uncertainly," answered the Colonel, "is what gives 

 variety to the sport." If variety is the spice of life, then un- 

 certainty is the salt which gives the relish. It is the uncer- 

 tainty whether it Will cost seventy-five cents or a dollar 

 a piece to raise turnips, which makes amateur farming so at- 

 tractive to the city merchant, and this reminds me that Cape 

 Cod is the most charming agricultural country in the world. 

 They are always sure of a crop, but there is the delightful 

 uncertainty before the spade is put in the ground«whether 

 it will be potatoes or clams. But you are wrong in your 

 guess, Doctor, we took some fine trout here in the lake. 

 AYe found a spring hole and fished it from the boat." 



I groaned audibly. There 1 had been, climbing logs and 

 forging through thickets, to reach a stream which I missed, 

 and merely to keep the Doctor company, getting Avet and 

 having no luck, while the Colonel aud his son had struck 

 good fishing from a comfortable boat, where we did not 

 even think of finding brook trout. "Where is this spring?" 

 I asked. 



"It is about six boat lengths to the east of the big sycamore 

 across there, and about the same distance from the shore. 

 After you had gone we rigged up our fly-rods aud rowed 

 across the lake on a voyage of discovery, and going along 

 shore carefully and casting ahead of the boat to see if chubs, 

 trout, or dace would rise, I hooked a small trout. About 

 twenty feet in advance of where he rose we could sec a slight 

 boi ling motion to the water, and I told Jack that we had 

 found a spring hole aud might get some good trout. I lft 

 the little fish go back in the water, and Jack was for rowing 

 right up where we could cast into the center of the spring at 

 once. I explained to him that such a course would frighten 

 all the fish in the pool as soon as the first one was hooked, 

 and that we had best stop where we were and fish carefully 

 all around the spring, and pick off those on the outside ti st. 

 He saw the point, and we arranged that one should take the 

 oars while the other cast, and as~soon as a trout was hooked 

 the boat should be pulled from the hole, so as not to disturb the 

 inhabitants of it by allowing them to witness the plunging of 

 their friends at the end of the line. After a capture we 

 would change positions. We worked in this way until about 

 9 o'clock, full three hours, and took iu that time thirty 

 trout, of which we returned to the lake twenty-one that were 

 under six ounces in weight. Here aie the others, tune trout, 

 whose united avoirdupois is four and a half pounds, just 

 enough for diuner." 



"It was too bad to put all those trout back," said Jack; 

 "they would have made a nice show and were big enough to 

 eat, every one of them, but father insisted ou it, aud that 

 settled it." 



"it is very hard," said the Colonel, "to make a boy under- 

 stand that all life is sacred and should not be wantonly de- 

 stroyed. The desire to kill seems to be part of our Anglo- 

 Saxon heritage. The Frenchman who said that when an 

 Englishman asked* hisTriend what they should do to enjoy 

 the "morning, was answered, 'Let us go 'and kill something, 

 struck many a bird with a single stone, and especially our 

 younger men and boys. ¥ot that boys iu all ages are not 

 the same, but I mean to say that the older we get the more 



