462 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jaw 8, 1285 
a aR a wa a 
eC _.G RR 
maintain the industries of casks, barrels, and other wooden | A dose or two of pills, followed with quinine, restored the 
unprovided for, and we haye to confront a moreiformidable 
difficulty than a temporary hiatus, ; 
Pure pine forests are found almost invariably on poor 
soils, not because the pine will not flourish in rich soils, but 
because from the moment it has enriched the soil with 
humus to an extent sufficient for the support of hardwood 
trees, the seeds of those trees will assuredly be borne in from 
somewhere, trees of all classes will dispute the floor with the 
pine,coming up in openings made by fallen trees, crowding out 
the young pine seedlings, which make slower growth the first 
few years, until in the course of centuries the last of the pine 
giants pass to decay, leaving the floor in possession of the 
hardwoods, which enrich the soil at a much more rapid rate 
than the pines did. 
Asa consequence, whenever the lumberman strips a pure 
pine forest, he leaves a floor which has every chance of re- 
stocking itself, because the soil is too poor to tempt the settler 
to bring it under cultivation. 
But the great bulk of the white pine is distributed through 
hardwood forests, and following the removal of the pine, the 
settler comes in and clears up the land for cultivation. In 
stony, gravelly and sandy regions the humus, or decaying 
vegetable matter, gets used up in a few years, to the impoy- 
erishment alike of soil and settler, but this does not prevent 
its occupancy, and the consequent contraction of the forest 
area from which the timber of the last thirty years has been 
drawn. 
Pure pine forests, when stripped and left to nature, do not 
restock themselves with the same vigor as birch, maple and 
a host of other trees, among which may be enumerated the 
worthless jack pine of Northern Michigan, which only too 
generally usurps the pine area laid bare by lumbermen or 
forest fires. In the first place, the pines have only an occa- 
sional good seed year; in the next, their seed is edible and 
greedily carried away by squirrels in the cone before it is ripe. 
There is, moreover, a measure of irregularity in the natural 
reproduction of both the white and Norway pines for which 
it would be difiicut to assign a reason. The writer has been 
through whole townships of pine forest open enough for the 
growth of a young forest ou the floor at their feet—in fact, 
presenting exactly the conditions which the forester would 
produce by thinning for the purpose of fostering a fresh 
growth—and scarcely a plant of any age was to be seen, 
while other townships, a few miles removed, had their floor 
thickly stocked with young plants ready to spring into vig- 
orous growth on the removal of the old forest. 
Fires are a further obstacle to the restocking of pine clear- 
anees. The floor is left strewn with branches and trunks, 
and if a fire encroaches on it, the heat generated by such a 
mass of dead fuel dried in the sun entirely destroys the young 
crop. Maple and other hardwood seedlings may be burned 
down year after year and will send up fresh shoots; but 
although after a light fire creeping along the floor with little 
to support it, a young pine seedling from five to ten years 
old if scorched above ground will sometimes send up fresh 
shoots from the axes of the lower branches below ground, 
the general experience is that fires destroy the whole crop, 
leaving the ground bare until a few stray seed get wafted in 
on the wind, take root, and at a later period scatter their seed 
over the desert around them. Of the thousands of square 
* miles which have been stripped of their pine within the last 
twenty-five years, probably less than 10 per cent. is restocked 
with young forest, and of this a large proportion has been 
too thinly and unevenly stocked to admit of the trees grow- 
ing to tall, clear timber. 
The pine forests of twenty-five or thirty years ago were un- 
equal to the strain that has been imposed on them, If they 
lad been reserved and improved, they could haye been ren- 
dered equal to the support of such a strain; but now that the 
greater portion and the best of the area has been diverted to 
agriculture, and the remaining cleared area left to restock 
itself as it best, could under unfavorable conditions, the sec- 
ond growth, as it is called, may suffice to delay the evil day 
a year, perhaps, after the removal of the last of the old tim- 
ber, but can hardly be taken into account as a source of 
future supply. 
It is sometimes argued that after the destruction of the 
pine forests, the nation must manage to rub along with other 
timbers ag substitutes. The only tolerable substitutes for the 
general purposes to which pine is applied, are the other coni- 
fers, hemlock, spruce, tamarac, balsam, etc., and of these 
the supply is avery limited one—probably short of fifty 
billions—even the hardwood forests are fast passing to ex- 
tinction. 
A hundred and fifty million cords of fuel annually, repre- 
sents seven millions of acres of land cleared for cultivation; 
for nearly all the fuel sent to market is produced by settlers 
in clearing land. This estimate of Prof. Sargent’s, reaching 
to a consumption of three cords per capita of the population, 
appears a high one; but the timber burnt on the ground to 
get rid of it must be fully equal to three times the amount 
sent to market. 
An acre of fair hardwood forest will grow twenty cords of 
fuel in sixty years—say one-third of a cord per annum, on 
which calculation nearly four hundred and fifty million 
acres, or seven hundred thousand square miles would be re- 
quired forthe permanent maintenance. Fortunately in the 
present fuel consumption, we have coal to take the place of 
wood iyel as the supply becomes contracted; but when to 
this rapid clearance of forest, estimated by the amount of 
wood fuel sent to market, we add the drain necessary to 
ware, we must be prepared to see the timbers most in demand 
—walnut, hickory, butternut, oak, ash, elm—disappear one 
after the other, until at no distant day a hardwood log will 
possess more value in the Atlantic States than it ever has on 
the prairies, 
It is quite true that over all the Atlantic States there is a 
great deal of hilly or stony land, which will never be taken 
up for settlement, or which, if taken up, will be abandoned 
in a few years; and this area, amounting to severa hundred 
square miles in the aggregate, may be relied on for a supply 
of timber of some sort. Some of these areas may be con- 
served and administered at trifling expense; but without 
some sort of systematic conservancy, the yield will decrease 
and the soil be impoverished, until it is incapable of support- 
ing anything but stunted types. From such neglected areas 
the nation can never draw a permanent supply of necessary 
hardwoods for all the many industries depending on it, For- 
ests can only be kept in condition by maintaining them fully 
stocked with growing trees. 
REVOLYER PRacticn.—Recent attention to the subject in 
the newspapers would seem to indicate that more than usual 
attention was being paid to the use of pistols as weapons of 
accuracy. Hvery year secs the crowding out of sight of the 
“guns formerly so proudly carried by the braggart and 
rowdy of the West. In the Hast there is still a tremendous 
battery of mischief carried about in the aggregate hip pocket 
of the foolish minority of the male population. It is safe to 
say, however, that this is not a growing habit, and that in 
the near future we shall sce the pistol put to its proper use, 
as a weapon of sport in times of peace, and in times of war 
a weapon whose uses have never yet been fairly appreciated 
by military men. There are now most interesting matches 
going on in the city in this line of marksmanship, and the 
rather over-confident French pistol experts had better beware. 
Mrixnesota VENISON is shipped to the Chicago market in 
great quantities, and we presume much of it finds its way to 
New York, The shippers are confirmed in their systematic 
eyasion of the non-export law, aud the Chicago marketmen 
encourage the dishonesty. Why does not Minnesota take 
pattern after Maine, and organize a game detective force? 
So long as the enforcement of the law is left to private and 
unofficial activity, it will not accomplish its end, 
Tae Micutean Assoctatron will hold its annual meeting 
at Lansing February 3. We hope to chronicle a full at- 
tendance. 
Che Sportsman Caurist. 
CAMP FLOTSAM. 
IX,— FISHING BY PROXY. 
Ww. slept until it was quite late in the morning of the 
second day in camp and were roused by the rapping 
of George on the tent pole at the door. His greeting was 
“Well, Captain, they’re here,” at the same time holding up 
a string of bass averaging two pounds apiece. He had taken 
them in an hour's time just in front of the tents with a spoon. 
The camp turned out to inspect them, and while breakfast 
was being prepared and the fish were cooking, there was an 
unpacking of tackle boxes and a jointing of rods. It was 
the only vent to the excitement, as fishing wasout of the ques 
tion without bait, and no one would use the spoon. We 
longed to try the fly, but a six-ounce rod ordered of Mitchell 
was unfinished at our departure and we would use nothing 
else, preferring to await its arrival, which we expected that 
day. So the camp subsided and took breakfast with a nor- 
mal pulse. No one seemed in a hurry to fish, but all turned 
in to put some extra touches to the camp by clearing a lawn 
in front of the tents. Then some letters were written, a 
cigar indulged in and after that some loafing. 
The camp was setting about ifs enjoyment in a very leis- 
urely sort of a way, and really there was no reason for haste, 
We had some weeks before us and we knew that whenever 
we felt inclined to take a fish we had only to pull out from 
shore and cast, and besides, there was an individual in the 
party who positively declined to begin his record with any 
rod save his Mitchell, and the rest were waiting for him. 
The day glided away to our 3 o’clock dinner, when every 
one answered to the roll call. After dinner we all went 
down to the outlet hoping to get the last isssue of Fornst 
AND STRBAM, which the office of that publication bad been 
notified to forward tous here, and to bring the expected rod. 
We found neither, and at nightfall returned despondent. 
We pulled up the creek through the dark shadows, getting 
aground a couple of times, and then burst into the flood 
ot moonlight which lay in rippling splendor upon the lake, 
lighting up islet and cove, and through which, more than a 
mile away, we could see the tents standing out in sepulchral 
whiteness against the black background of forest which cov- 
ered the hill behind. We sat long before the tents enjoying 
the dim far off landseape, until each had burned his fourth 
pipe into ashes, when we said good night, 
The next morning, with a dogged determination not to 
fish without that rod, we set out to cruise among the islands 
and ended by turning in at Sabattis’s. Having seen that we 
were heading for the point, he stood awaiting us by his 
canoe. A half-breed girl of eighteen peered at us from 
around the corner of the cabin, while a pretty doe-cycd, 
brown-skinned child of ten rap down to the water’s edge for 
a closer view of the strangers. The Indian mother was sick, 
and the Madame, who was with us, landed and entered the 
cabin to perform what kind offices she might. The sick 
woman, with all the stoicism and taciturnity of her race, 
would not speak; but at last, touched by the kindness uf her 
white sister, turned on her rude pallet with her face to the 
wall to conceal her tears. She had a high fever, and the 
Madame, returning to the boat, told David to come with us 
to the camp for some medicine. Sabattis, with puileless fear 
ofa doctor’s bill, mildly protested, saying; ‘““We are short 
of money down here.” But David followed usin the canoe. 
patient after a few days. During the remainder of the camp 
court was paid to the Madame. David brought her birds of 
beautiful plumage for their wings, and skins of minks which 
he had killed; the mother made her quaint and delicate bas- 
kets, while to us David and his young brother Alonzo 
brought live minnows by the hundred, 
Another day and another trip to the outlet followed, still 
no rod. Our bait can was alive with fine perch, a grand 
ripple was on the water, the Madame was anxious to fish, 
the rest were aching for a tussle, So we reluctantly yielded 
to their entreaties, and consented to go out for ‘only an 
hour” and show them how to strike and play the fish the 
correct way by taking two or three and then leavine them to 
get along alone, At tbe end of an hour wereturned to camp 
with eight large bass. These the Madame took, while we 
aided her by coaxing the fish about the boat. We did this 
by dangling a lively bait on a hook in the water, first on one 
side of the boat and then on the other. As we watched her 
draw in one after another, we resolved more firmly than be- 
fore to wait for the new rod before taking a hand in the 
fame. 
On our return to the camp we found a native, from a 
couple of miles.down the lake, who was awaiting our arri- 
yal to contract for some supplies. He had brought a jaz of 
fie sweet butter and half a dozen spring chickens nearly 
full grown. These were soon disposed of, and the latter 
turned loose to forage about the tents, where they soon be- 
came accustomed to their new surroundings, As night 
came on, the selection of a roost seemed for a time to be a 
matter of serious deliberation, The senior rooster called 
the group to order and a discussion began at once. Three 
were in favor of a small oak, upon one of the lower branches 
of which these perched themselves, but there was a bolting 
delegation, of which one was in favor of the adoption of the 
cook’s table, but the Madame interposed a veto. Then one 
left the tree and joined the rest, and an independent party 
seemed about being formed, but the minority came oyer, the 
split was healed, und all mounted into another tree. During 
the brief lives of those roosters we were awakened every 
morning before daylight by their attempts at crowing, and 
many a time, when roused from our slumbers, we wished 
them ¢/ masse on the gridiron, but relented with the day- 
break, for their doom was fast approaching. 
Whether viewed in the light of economy, luxury or socia- 
bility, every camp should haye its poultry yard, ‘There will 
come times when every one is tired of fish, ham, bacon and 
salt pork; at such times a ‘‘briler” or two will fill the gap 
most wonderfully, The game is always at the door, keeps 
until needed, and is well nigh self-supporting, The member 
who sometimes gets tired of fishing and stays into keep 
camp, soon learns to appreciate the company of the bright- 
eyed cacklers, which are always scratching about the tents. 
And now came the first Sunday in camp. Who that has 
passed a summer in the woods cannot recall one by one those 
beautiful quict days, when guns and rods were left un- 
touched and nature held sway over all; when in her yast 
cathedral of moving trees and boughs and sun-lit waters, 
and amid her eternal rocks the great Mother opened her 
arms in benediction over her children and breathed upon a 
peace, like unto that greater one, which passeth all under- 
standing, Every camp takes with it some sort of literature; 
the sort depends on the tastes of its individual members. 
Our library consisted of Tennyson, a volume of Dickens 
and ‘‘Woodcraft.” On that Sunday morning we drew the 
latter from our camp kit, and leaving the rest to write and 
gossip, we set out to follow the blazes which marked the 
path that the old woodsman has laid out for the children of 
the summer. ‘‘Woodcraft” is itself the yospel of relaxation, 
the apostle of a new life; but it is the voice of one crying in 
the wilderness; it is the enthusiasm of the hermit and the 
song of the recluse. Fora party embarked on an extended 
outing its precepts areincomplete. Its methods of camp 
construction are for the few, The enchanting picture 
of a night in camp and that resumé of the five days’ outing 
of the party of four with the old woodsman are the experi- 
ences on the one hand of a lone camper, and on the other of 
a company occupying a shanty for a few days in the woods. 
The out-of-door methods are, in every wey, worthy of all 
acceptation for a fair weather camp, but of the indoor life 
of the camper through a week of storm—which every outer 
some time will encounter—when it is useless to try fly or 
bait, when there is no place of enjoyment or comfort other 
than the camp, of this part of the outcr’s experienca we find 
nothing in “‘Wooderaft.” tis a phuse of camp life which 
has, doubtless, often fallen to the lot of ‘“Nessmuk,” and it 
is a matter of no little curiosity to know just how he man- 
ages it with his open shanty tent. ; 
The recipes given in *‘Woodcraft” are a revelation to 
many who go into the woods expecting to do their own 
cooking. We modestly offer a suggestion on the subject of 
camp bread. We never carry yest powder with us into 
camp, but cream-tartar and soda instead. Stir one teaspoon- 
ful of soda and two of cream-tartar in a pint of milk; pour 
this into sufficient wheat flour to make a light, not very stiff 
dough; add a lump of butter half the size of a hen’s eg with 
a half teaspoonful of salt, mix lightly and flatten ont on the 
griddle to about a half inch in thickness; bake until one side 
is brown and thea turn. When done you will have a light, 
delicious short-cake, which will be almost daily in demand 
by your companions. Jf no milk be at hand, condensed 
milk thinned with water is as good as the fresh article, 
‘“Nessmuk” has rendered an invaluable service to every 
one who camps, be he a veteran or a tenderfoot, and ‘‘Wood- 
craft” should have a place in eyery camp library. Many 
have been the thoughts concerning the old woodsman which 
have crowded the brains of the toilers while building their 
summer camps. In our camp hung a pair of tongs—a new 
“kink” to us—constructed after his model, an ever present 
reminder of the veteran outer who wields the hatchet, the 
paddle and the pen with the same masterly skill, 
Sunday is never a lone day in camp, and the camper who 
passes its hours in fishing makes a great mistake. Those 
days of blissful rest are fraught with hours of peace and 
dreamy meditation which come not at other times, and he 
who loves the woods and waters will hail the day which 
brings more to him than all the rest, The next day was one 
destined to be the red-letter day of the camp. The long ex- 
pected rod reached us from its maker, and the camp 
pated about to inspect the treasure. It was a thing of 
eauty, an artistic conception, a masterpiece of the cunning 
hand that had fashioned it. A lithe and lively rod of lance- 
wood, with extry joints of shad-blow and a patent butt, 
without which no rod is arod, it was passed around, handled 
in mimic casting and pronounced perfection. It weizhed 
just seven ounces, and after that number of weeks of almost 
daily use, and after heing caught once pr twice in a short 
tee ' 7 
7 
— os 
