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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 16, 1885. 



DOUBLE-BlTTED AND SlNGLE-BlTTED AXES. — I first U«ed 



the double-bitted axe in 1858. and Lave a fair practical 

 knowledge thereof. It is no tool for boys, and it is more 

 dangerous than the single-bit even in the hands of one prac- 

 ticed iu its use. Witness Mr. Huraeston, living near Bellaire 

 in this county, who severed the nasal artery in his face two 

 weeks ago, the implement having glanced. This is not the 

 first accident of a similar nature which has come to my 

 knowledge. They are useful in trapping particularly. In 

 clearing land they give a special advantage, and in heavy 

 chopping they are thought to "swing easier" than the single- 

 bitt. A pocket edition, such as used by "Nessmuk," is a 

 good and useful tool, and I do not wonder that long usage 

 has convinced many old woodsmen that it is the best form 

 for their use. But I left mine w T itk Gus Hilton, of Kiugs- 

 bery, Maine, in 1858, and have since used preferably the 

 single-bitt.— Kelpie (Central Lake, Mich., July 7). 



Passaic: County. — The June record of the Passaic County 

 Fish and Game Protective Association is likely to strike 

 terror to the hearts of the poachers and law-breakers. One 

 person was sent, to jail for robbing birds' nests, two persons 

 fined $25 and costs for taking black bass with nets, and one 

 sent to jail for thirty days for a similar offense. This was 

 in addition to the investigation of a number of other cases in 

 which it was not deemed advisable to make complaints on 

 account of a lack of evidence. — Newark (A. J.) Gall. 



"Flirtation Camp" is a poor name for a good book. It 

 is "a sporting romance," but there is more sporting than 

 romance between its covers. The romance is slight, but 

 there is very good reading for any one who likes well-written 

 descriptions of shooting and fishing incidents. Mr. T. J. 

 Van Dyke, the author, is well-known as a graphic delineator 

 of field experiences. The chapters of "Flirtation Camp" 

 cover the out-door sports of Southern California. Price, 

 $1.50. 



"Cahoots." — Editor Forestand Stream: I am much pleased 

 to learn that Messrs. "Nessniuk'' and "Gause," with their 

 nail-driving muzzleloaders, are going to hunt cahoots. I 

 have always thought that they (the cahoots) were legitimate, 

 "food fer powder." As old 'Squire C. said to my father and 

 Sid. Harris when, in 1840. they started off in the stage coach 

 as delegates to the celebrated Baltimore convention: "Bring 

 me two or three skelps o' the scoundrels." — Kelpie. 



Black Ducks in New Jersey. — A few black ducks bred 

 in the big swamp on Long Beach south of Harvey Cedars 

 this spring.— Homo. 



\m mti Jjfiw fishing. 



Address all communications to the Fores! and Stream JPliHish- 

 irui Go. 



OIL FOR FISH LINES. 



SOME time since 1 asked the readers of Forest and 

 Stream for a good yet simple preparation that would 

 preserve a fish line, thinking 1 might hear of something 

 better than that I was using. Not haviug seen an answer, it 

 may be useful to some of your readers if 1 tell them what I 

 have used for several years past with a good degree of satis- 

 faction. 



Having used the Miners' Oil Company's finishing oil on 

 wood, and finding it to have great penetrating and preservative 

 qualities, it occurred to me that it might be a good thing for 

 a fish line, and I accordingly tried it on a twisted linen line 

 with satisfactory results, one of them being the nearly total 

 disappearance of kinks. I have since used it on all my 

 linee, except, of course, enameled ones. 



The oil is inexpensive and easily applied. You have only 

 to dip the line in the oil for a few seconds, let it drain, and 

 then stretch it between two trees or other objects, and pass a 

 woollen rag over it a few times to remove the surplus oil. 

 That is all. Lines treated in this way I never take from the 

 reel to dry, though it would doubtless be better to do so. It 

 would be well to repeat the oiling annually. 



I inclose for examination a piece of my black bass line, 

 oiled in this way, which I have used for three years, and 

 which has never been taken from the reel to be dried after a 

 day's fishing. It has only been oiled once, but I shall soon 

 oil it again. It has been over the rocks in the Susquehanna, 

 the Delaware, the Otter, Lake Champlain, etc. , and, on tbe 

 whole, has had a fair share of rough usage. The editor can 

 say what condition it is in after having been used so long. It 

 is braided silk, and though quite small, with a good sproat 

 hook at the end it is equal to any bass that swims, only one 

 has to be just a little careful. I shall change the ends this 

 year for the fiist time, though I have not yet done it, the end 

 sent being the one that has always been used. Petra. 



Mamaboneck, N, Y. 



[The line is a very fine silk one and is strong and equal to 

 any fair strain that a black bass can bring on it, — Eo.J 



THE "STRIPED BASS" LAW. 



Editor Forest, and Stream: 



My attention has been called to your article on the new 

 striped bass law. It has been criticised so severely by inter- 

 ested parties who do not seem to understand its meaning and 

 intent, that I deem it my duty to make an attempt at an ex- 

 planation. 



I drafted the law, as counsel to the Anglers' Association of 

 the St. Lawrence River, as an amendment to the Game Law 

 of 1879, solely in the interests of black bass and muscalonge, 

 without any intention or desire to interfere with "striped 

 bass." The bill as prepared was submitted to a member of 

 Assembly, a keen sportsman and an intelligent man, who 

 said our fresh-water bass need protection, and he then in- 

 serted the words "striped bass" where they tire now com- 

 plained of, and the bill was introduced as the member 

 amended it. 



All the objections mentioned in your editorial were dis- 

 cussed before the Senate Committee on Game Laws. It was 

 stated that the bill was intended for tbe protection solely of 

 the "striped bass," indigenous to the fresh waters of this 

 State, and that it did not affect "sea bass." 



It was argued that the State had no jurisdiction over the 

 sea, and it did not attempt to protect sea fishes, and that in 

 construing a sentence in which only fresh-water fishes were 

 named, taken in connection with* the evident policy and 

 ntent of the game laws, that the term striped bass, on proof 



of the existence of a fresh-water fish of that name, would 

 ipso facto exclude a sea fish. It was further stated that the 

 statute would be read according to the natural and most 

 obvious import of the language used, and that in the absence 

 of scientific or technical words, the words used would be 

 taken iu their natural and ordinary signification as appears 

 from the context or other parts of the law, and that the "B. 

 Unudits, the bass pwr ecccAMnee of salt water," although a 

 striped bass, is commonly designated a "sea bass" to dis- 

 tinguish it from a striped bass (Vide Vol. 3, Bulletin U. S. 

 Fisb Com., 436), and they could not be confounded in a law 

 designed to protect fresh-water fishes. 



The Angler's Association had no special interest in protect- 

 ing striped bass, and I made no objection to the committee 

 striking out the words "striped bass," leaving the bill as I 

 originally drafted it. but the Senate, after a full discussion 

 without any outside interference, ordered them to be rein- 

 serted. Still, the bill does not interfere with sea bass. 



Early in January the Angler's Association caused two 

 thousand copies of the bill as introduced to be printed and 

 circulated throughout the State, and each Fish Commissioner 

 was mailed a copy. 



I am not a naturalist and know very little about fishes 

 from a scientific point of view, but I do know this much, 

 that if the law is properly construed, traffic in sea bass is not 

 interfered with by any game legislation in 1885. 



F. M. Danaher, 



Counsel to the Angler's Asssociation, St. Lawrence River. 



Albany, N. Y., July 7. 



CAMPS OF THE KINGFISHERS. 



CARP LAKE, MICHIGAN. — VI. 



\\ 7" HEN we got back into the canoe the wind was blow- 

 V T ing a brisk breeze down the lake and it was easy work 

 for the skipper from there down to the village, but the fish 

 seemed to be out of humor with us and paid no attention to 

 the three nice speckled frogs trailing away astern. 



As we passed under the bridge I noticed the water looked 

 fishy near a small raft of logs moored to the bank on the 

 right, and as I had reeled up and quit fishing since passing 

 the point above, I suggested to Kit that she drop her frog in 

 just below the logs to see if mayhap there might be a bass 

 'lurking in the vicinity, not that 1 really expected a fish to be 

 there, but it is a good habit for a young angler to cultivate 

 (and an old one,"too), of always trying to cast in a likely 

 looking place for a fish. She did not feel quite sure a wood- 

 chopper's cast would place the bait in the spot pointed out, 

 so 1 took the rod and made the cast for her, and was a trifle 

 surprised to see a swirl and the line pay rapidly out almost 

 at the moment the frog struck the water. I passed the rod 

 quickly back to Kit with instructions to ' 'strike now !" as 

 the line was running under the raft and there was probabil- 

 ity of a hitch in the proceedings should the fish reach the 

 waterlilies on the further side. Then began a spirited trial 

 of main streagth on both sides, but our side proved the 

 stronger, and after a short, sharp tussle of not more than two 

 or three minutes a big- mouth of two and a half pounds lay 

 gasping in the bottom of the canoe, six bass for the "Chip," 

 while Bob and the skipper had only one villainous, sun- 

 baked long-face as our share of the day's honors. But I 

 don't believe Bob and I were set back any nor envious of 

 Miss Kitty's good luck, for in the course of the fish talk 

 coming down the lake 1 had sought to impress on the ama- 

 teurs, as one of the "rudiments," that no honest angler, no 

 true sportsman, can be selfish; nor does he or she ever feel a 

 pang of disappointment or a twinge of envy at the better 

 luck of a comrade, and to exult over another because we 

 may happen to take more and larger fish or bag more birds, 

 is clear and conclusive evidence that we are not fit to be 

 of the brotherhood. 



Others there are too beside these guileless girls, who claim 

 place in the ranks of the craft that may find a hint to their 

 profit in the above, for I have a notion that the first principle 

 of all true sportsmanship is unselfishness. A pig is better in 

 a sty than running loose in a camp. 



We pulled down to the little platform landing, tied the 

 "holler log" to a stake and walked up to the store to pay our 

 respects to neighbor Couturier, eat maple sugar and wait for 

 the mail and the Midlers. The big roomy store, with counter 

 on both sides, was a model of neatness and well stocked with 

 about everything one could call for, from a fish hook or a 

 paper of pins to a side o' bacon, a grindstone, grubbing hoe 

 or cross cut saw. The old man's arrangement of the post- 

 office department of his store was, however, a marvel of 

 economy and simplicity, consisting solely of a drawer under 

 one of the counters into w T hich letters, circulars, papers and 

 packages were dumped indiscriminately, with a charming 

 disregard to alphabetical order or any known manner of 

 distribution, and hunted over and handed out as called 

 for. But a country post-office draws custom as certainly 

 as a barrel of molasses draws "yaller jackets" and 

 flies, and this had probably more to do with brother 

 Couturier's hankering after office than the princely remunera- 

 tion derived from the administration of the postal affairs of 

 Provemont, which was for the fiscal year ending July, 1884, 

 exactly $60.31 as recorded in the "bluebook." But if the 

 pay was light the mail was lighter, for a No. 5 pouch 

 would no doubt hold all the matter received at the office in 

 a week, and the old man had little cause for complaint on 

 the score of being an underpaid drudge for Uncle Sam. 

 However, he is a kindly, square-dealing gentleman, and a 

 worthy one withal, and the "Kingfishers'" to a man and 

 woman, trust that he may continue to lick stamps at the old 

 stand for the mossbacks of that neck o' woods till his tongue 

 refuses to furnish the necessary moisture to make 'em stick, 

 and his head becomes polished in the (civil) service, albeit 

 the outlook is rather foggy for postmasters of the fourth 

 class— and all other classes— even though they may have 

 diligently shunned the rock of "offensive partisanship." 



We spent the time pleasantly at the store till time for the 

 Mullers to arrive, but when they w r ere overdue an hour or 

 more the boat was headed up lake with the intention of 

 fishing along up the east side and across to camp by the 

 time the sun was down. It had clouded up during the 

 afternoon, and when we got above the point we encountered 

 a stiff breeze blowing down the lake dead against us. A 

 hundred rods made the case plain that fishing and pulling a 

 "holler log" against a hard wind at the same time was not 

 just the kind of recreation I had come to the woods after, 

 and the rod was laid inside and the fishing left to the girls. 

 And then ,the oars I had to manage that craft with were 

 enough to turn one permanently gray — six feet outside and 

 something more than a foot inside— an arrangement of lever- 

 age that would have taken first prize as a contrivance to 

 develop the bluest of profanity in the operator, unless he 

 happened to be loo utterly good for everyday use. While 



we were going with the wind it was plain sailing, but now 

 it was a labor that "caused ye honest, angler to sweat full 

 sore." Every few rods a fiercer gust than usual would strike 

 us, and the old dugout would gather sternway or barely 

 hold her own for a minute; and at such limes Kit would 

 put the rod aside and take the paddle with the laudable 

 intention of "helping Papa out," but who ever saw a green 

 girl who hardly knew the bow from the stern of a boat but 

 who would average one stroke in the right direction to three 

 in the wrong one? Kit's help was rather in the nature of a 

 hindrance, and she was gently informed that her services 

 were no longer required. Two miles of this kind of amuse- 

 ment wore the skipper out, and we went ashore to rest and 

 hunt up a spring or stream. 



Back in the canoe again greatly refreshed, a pull of a 

 quarter of a mile brought us to a trend in the shore that pro- 

 tected us from the wind till within less than half a mile below 

 camp, where we struck diagonally across, and just as it was 

 getting dark pulled up at the landing, and were soon dis 

 cussing a good supper that Al had kept hot and waiting for 

 us. Not a fish was taken coming up, but it had been a day 

 full of pleasures to the two girls, and that was ample eoui 

 pensation to the skipper for the warps and kinks in his 

 spinal column and the generally disjointed condition of his 

 frame, brought on by an overdose of recreation. 



The Mullers had not yet arrived, but an hour after they 

 drove quietly up on us in the dark. 



After supper the girls were hustled off to bed, and we five, 

 with Al for an interested listener, sat and talked the fire out, 

 a small blaze Ben had kindled as he said "to give the skeeters 

 a show to git their work in on us." 



Since it had come on dark frequent glimpses of lightning 

 were noticed in the west and northwest, and the sky was 

 overcast with dark clouds that rolled and tumbled over each 

 other, and grew blacker as the evening advanced, and now 

 as w r e sat silent and thoughtful around the flameless fire, 

 oppressed with an uncomfortable feeling of heaviness in the 

 sultry air, a growl of distant thunder away off over Lake 

 Michigan warned us that the old Mossback's change o' 

 weather was at hand, and this change in the weather condi- 

 tions had probably something to do "with the fish not biting 

 as we came up from the village. As a "change o' weather" 

 is one of the foundation stones in the beliefs of anglers con- 

 cerning the whims of fish in not taking toothsome bait or 

 deceitful lures just before a storm, we availed ourselves of 

 this time-honored screen behind which we are all glad to 

 hide in a case of "no luck," and laid our failure to get a 

 nibble along the east shore as we came up to the. approaching 

 war of the elements now manifested in an almost continuous 

 glimmer of light, and ominous mutterings fiom a bank of 

 inky-looking clouds slowly rising in the west. Take away 

 the good old-fashioned signs and omens and traditions 

 beloved of the craft for generations, and the angler is left 

 groping in the dark for a reason why the fish won't bite at 

 certain limes, and half the pleasure of the pastime is lost in 

 trying to get at the bottom of the mystery that is past find- 

 ing out. 



With the lantern Ben and I made a tour of tbe camp to see 

 that nothing was left exposed that would suffer by a wetting, 

 and after a peep at the "hennery" containing our treasures 

 (Ben had so named the girls' tent on account of the "cacklin' " 

 issuing from it ever morning} which assured us they 

 had talked themselves to sleep, we sought the protection of 

 our mosquito bars, and soon the camp was in silence and in 

 dreams. A light sleeper in camp, I was aroused about mid- 

 night by a peal of thunder that seemed to shake the very 

 earth, and directly great drops of rain began to fall on the 

 tent — a pattering prelude to the grand symphony of the 

 coming storm, A sullen roar in the swamp up shore fore 

 told tne fury of the blow, and amid the crash and boom of 

 a hundred batteries of the heaven's artillery and an incessant 

 glare of lightning that lit up the heavens with zigzag streaks 

 of vivid electric light, the first movement of this sublimest 

 of unwritten oratorios, a heavy thunderstorm at night, was 

 opened. I lay there scarcely daring to breathe lest I should 

 miss a stirring chord in the storm music, waiting fur the 

 next movement to begin. It came a minute after in a fierce 

 blast of wind sweeping down across the open field from the 

 hills back of us with an areekrando hiss that threatened to 

 blow us all into the lake. With this came a pouring, driv- 

 ing rain, but the dry, sandy soil drank it up almost as fast as 

 it tell, and our well-stretched tent seemed as impervious to 

 the deluge as the back of a loon, although I looked every 

 instant for it to take its flight across the lake and leave us at 

 the mercy of the drenching storm. Jim and Muller were 

 now awake, but up to the time the rain begain to pour 

 down, tired and worn out, Muller had snorted and snored a 

 discordant accompaniment to the pealing thunder in bliss- 

 ful! indifference to the terrific war of the clouds overhead. 



1 began to feel solicitous about the girls, and lighting the 

 lantern, always at hand in the night, I slipped into a long 

 rubber coat, pulled an old waterproof wool hat tightly on 

 my head, and got out to take a look around camp, and see 

 how much of it was left. As I stepped out I heard Muller 

 say, "Jim, hadn't we better get out and see how everything 

 is going?" And Jim's sleepy growl, "Oh, lie still. Hick- 

 ory's out, and if anything's wrong he'll look after it." (This 

 is one of Jim's most charming traits of character— iu a 

 storm— a childlike faith that somebody else will "look 

 after it.") 



The first thing that caught my eye on emerging from the 

 tent into the glare of the lightning was a confused heap of 

 drenched canvas a rod from the kitchen fly that seemed to 

 have right smart of life in it. This proved to be the little 

 dog tent in which Al had preferably made a nest for him- 

 self, and a minute or two before it had blown down, and he 

 was floundering around under it, half smothered, trying to 

 find his way out. When I had found the opening he crawled 

 out, and in spite of the seriousness of the situation 1 could 

 not .repress an audible smile at the sorry figure he cut as he 

 straightened up, hatless and coatless, in the pouring rain. 

 Dodging into our tent, a poncho and hat put, him in shape 

 to face the storm, and going back we fished out his raiment 

 and bed clothing, and wrapping them in a rubber blanket 

 carried them to the big store tent, where a temporary bed 

 was arranged for the remainder of the night, 



Then 1 went over to see the girls and found them all awake 

 and talking in subdued tones about the terrible storm howl- 

 ing outside, and better pleased, no doubt, to see "Old Hick- 

 ory" than ever in their lives before, as they were nervous and 

 frightened, and afraid the tent would blow down on them. 

 Bui Ben and I had done our work well, and the tent stood 

 firm as a rock, and as the mouth of it fortunately faced east 

 everything was snug and drv inside. It was the first night 

 in camp for Miss Annie and* little Cora Muller, and I venture 

 it was an experience they will not soon forget. With a few 

 words assuring them that they might all go to sleep again in 



