204 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 8, 1886. 



not as large as a common knitting-needle, and grows slightly 

 larger up to the end) enlarges into a seed-pod, which grows 

 to the length of from three to five inches, and to about the 

 diameter of a clay-pipe stem. This seed-pod, if undisturbed, 

 floats on the surface until the seeds are fully ripe, when it 

 sinks to the bottom, and as the stem is very brittle is easily 

 detached. This seed-pod is also very brittle, and is easily 

 broken into fragments — a wise provision of nature, as each 

 pod contains numerous little black seeds, The seeds are 

 surrounded with a tenacious pulp, transparent and glutinous 

 extending the whole length of the pod ; and by averaging ten 

 pods, it was found that each pod contained about 412 seeds. 



The roots are similar to those of common lawn grass. On 

 the upper sides of the roots the spiral stem shoots up, and 

 beneath the roots a lateral stem (a rhizoma) shoots out — 

 similiar to that from the roots of a potatoe— on the end of 

 which grows a bulb about the size and shape of a small top- 

 onion. This bulb is the principal food of the canvas-back 

 luck. Ifundisturbed.no doubt a new plant is produced 

 from it. 



To find and secure these bulbs in water from three to eight 

 feet deep appears to be easy enough for the ducks; but so ex- 

 ceedingly brittle are the stems connecting therc with the roots 

 that I have found it very difficult to gather them in quanti- 

 ties sufficient for planting. Whether the roots themselves 

 die out every year or are perennial 1 am not now prepared 

 to say, but I have experiments in progress, which I trust will 

 enable me to determine the fact next fall. 



The canvas back ducks and the innumerable mud hens 

 begin to dive for the bulbs and to pull up the roots of the 

 wild celery about the 10th or loth of October, in Sandusky 

 Bay, Ohio,, but generally the bulbs are not all then fully 

 matured. They grow on until the heavy frosts come. The 

 seed-pods generally complete their growth about the 1st of 

 October, and continue to float on the surface, or near it, 

 until fully ripe, and until severe cold frosts set in. Then 

 they sink to the bottom, and to gather them then is a very 

 difficult task. It is almost necessary then to gather the seed- 

 pods during the month of October, and generally in the early 

 part of that mouth. If the proper means could be con- 

 trived I have no doubt that both seed-pods and bulbs could 

 be gathered from the bottom at any time before ice comes, if 

 the water could be found clear enough to see the bottom. 

 "With us at our club grounds (bays) the water is seldom clear 

 after the fall storms set in and the tops of the celery have 

 fallen to the bottom. As long as the tops stand up there is 

 little or no sea in our bays, and the water does not get roiled. 



To plant the seeds, the pods, I think, should be broken 

 into small sections and planted where the water is never less 

 than six inches nor more than eight feet deep. It is be- 

 lieved (it is so in our bay) that generally it thrives and goes 

 to seed the best when the water is pretty still and about 3| 

 o 4^ feet deep. 



It does not matter much how hard the bottom may be, 

 whether of clay, gravel or solid rock, provided there be, un- 

 disturbed by currents or waves, a deposit of mud from two 

 inches to two feet deep. I do not think the plant will thrive 

 in sand. It may do so, but, as yet, I have never seen it. The 

 common mud of the marshes, mostly formed from decayed 

 vegetable matter deposited on hard clay deep enough for the 

 plant to take root, and in water so still that the deposit of 

 mud will not be removed, is probably the best place to plant 

 the wild celery. I think warm water is best, and should the 

 lakes or ponds or marshes selected for the experiment be 

 very deep and cold, or supplied from cold brooks and springs, 

 it might be found best to look for some shallow bayous where 

 the wild rice and the lily-pods will grow, and where the 

 warm pun will have the most influence on the water, away 

 from shade trees and cold springs. If there be any set and 

 swift currents or swift tides avoid them if possible. If cur- 

 rents are moderate plant up stream. The current will then 

 help you scatter and extend your growth. 



The wild celery is exceedingly prolific and will crowd out 

 nearty all other water vegetation, although its leaves are 

 brittle and tender and the roots easily pulled up. 



It is difficult for me to give the best mode of planting the 

 seeds, roots or bulbs, when I have no experience myself in 

 the business. But I would suggest that several ways be 

 tried,, and among them the following : Drop some of the 

 seed-pods in the water and let them sink and bury themselves 

 in the mud, as nearly as they would naturally be deposited 

 as possible. Be sure that they sink to the muddy bottom. 

 Break the seed- pods up into small sections and scatter them 

 broadcast over the grounds selected. I think tUey will sink. 



But what I think is the surest and best way to plant both 

 seeds and roots is as follows : Prepare a tin tube afoot longer 

 than the depth of the water ; prepare a plunger a foot longer 

 than the tube. Make the tube fj to 2 inches in diameter. 

 Place the seeds, or bulbs, or roots in one end of the tube; 

 run the plunger down close to them ; plunge the tube in the 

 water, and the pressure will hold the seeds against the 

 plunger until the tube reaches the bottom. Then gently 

 press the seeds into the mud with the plunger, and' your 

 plant is safely deposited just where you want it A little 

 mud or clay might be put into the month of the tube to pre- 

 vent the seed from falling out before reaching the bottom, if 

 thought best. D. W . Cross. 

 Cleveland, O. 



HAWKS AND GAME BIRDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your number March 25 I carefully read "Pood Exam- 

 inations of Hawks." Thinking the matter over 1 concluded 

 that the test was not a fair one for this reason : During the 

 summer months frogs, snakes, field mice and insects can be 

 caught by the hawks more readily than birds. But during 

 winter and cool weather, my opinion is, they live almost 

 exclusively on birds; and I believe they destroy more quail, 

 young and old, ten times, than are shot, to say nothing about 

 chicks. I also believe one quail, as an insect destroyer, 

 worth forty hawks. To illustrate, while 1 was walking over 

 a wheat stubble a year or so ago, a terrier dog started a covey 

 of small quail ; one attempted to hide and he caught it, and 

 before I could stop him maimed it so it died. I noticed that 

 its little crop was very full, and taking it to the house I ex- 

 amined it, To my surprise I did not find a grain of wheat, 

 but (if my memoiy serves me) some fifty or sixty insects of 

 small size and different kinds. Since then knowing hawks 

 to be their greatest enemies, I have waged war against them. 

 I have yet to see semething more to change my views. 



B. B. D. 



SCFF.OLK, Va. 



A Hawk-Catching Device. — Take a pole 12 or 15 feet 

 long and about 3 inches across at the top, bore an inch hole 

 through about two inches from the top; set the pole firmly 

 in the ground near where the quail feed. Get a light ladder 



which can be kept near at hand. Take a common steel trap, 

 one with the spring working under the jaw preferred; set it 

 on top of the pole; pass a strap or cord through the lower 

 part of the trap and through the hole in the pole, and fasten 

 it. A fanner to whom I told this plan caught six hawks 

 after the snow came, by setting traps on top of his stack 

 poles. The quail came there after grain, and the hawks 

 would alight on the poles to watch for them.— X. (Smith- 

 bura;, N. J.). 



As to Crawfish. — Looking over a file of Forest and 

 Stream the other day, I ran across the following in "Habits 

 of Crawfish," by Ralph S. Tarr, printed in the issue of Oct. 

 22, 1885: "In New England there are none (crawfish) except 

 in a river in the north of Maine, where one kind is found. 

 That such a large area should be uninhabited by these ani- 

 mals, while the much less favorable place, the Mammoth 

 Cave, has a peculiar blind kind of its own. is certainly re- 

 markable." It was, I think, during the summer of 1884, 

 that a number of specimens of Cambarus bartoni were taken 

 from a cold spring in G-rafton, Mass., and placed in the 

 museum of the Worcester Natural History Society, where 

 they now are. This is, I believe, the only capture in Massa- 

 chusetts on record, though of this I am not positive, being 

 too far from books to verify the assertion. The crawfish 

 were found, as before mentioned, in a spring at the head of 

 a small clear brook, in a similar situation as the "brook 

 species" Mr. Tarr refers to as being found iu Virginia. I 

 have found one species of Cambarus herein Florida. It was 

 taken from a "sink," and is pure white and nearly three 

 inches in length. Of its habits I know nothing. I kept it 

 alive for some time, but could not see that it took any food, 

 although I placed several small water beetles (Dytiscidai) in 

 its globe. I do not know to what species it is to be referred, 

 though it is probably not the Camhwrus bartoni. I hope this 

 will meet Mr. Tarr's eye. for, though the capture was pub- 

 lished at the time, he evidently has not seen it. — Henry A. 

 Kelly (Belleview, Pla.). 



Breeding of the Brant.— Sack ville, New Brunswick. 

 — Can any of your readers tell us where brant breed? They 

 leave here about June 10 and return Sept. 1 with their young 

 fully grown. Old salts who have sailed as far north as the 

 southern coast of Greenland claim that the brant, go 

 further north than that point to nest. — Stanstead. [The 

 brant breeds in the far north, and their nests have been 

 found by the naturalists of various polar expeditions. 

 Messrs. Evans and Sturge found it breeding on the island of 

 Spitzbergen, and it was also found breeding by Sir James 

 Ross's expedition at Parry's Island in latitude 74° and 75°. 

 During the British arctic expedition (1875-6) Mr. Pielden 

 reports finding a nest with eggs in latitude 82° 30' N., and 

 subsequently many more were found.] 



Albino Grouse.— A friend writes me that R. B. Millard, 

 of Cornwall Bridge, Conn , caught an albino partridge last 

 fall, which he had mounted, making a beautiful specimen. 

 A hen, and by the way, are not albinos usually females?— C. 

 [Albinism is not known to be more common among females 

 than males.] 



Woodcock in the City. — A woodcock flew against a. tele- 

 graph wire in New street, just back of the Stock Exchange, 

 New York city, last Thursday afternoon, fell to the street 

 stunned, was captured, put into a basket and exhibited in a 

 restaurant; lived a short while and died. 



Hanover, N. H., April 4. — Cedar birds, robins and blue 

 birds have arrived in considerable numbers, although the 

 snow has not entirely disappeared. Crows spent the winter 

 with us, a rare incident. — E. C. 



§mh* §zg Hifd §ut\. 



Address all communications to fft* Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE TRAJECTORY TEST. 



THE full report of the Fohest and Stream's trajectory test of hunt- 

 ing rifles has been issued in pamphlet form, with the illustra- 

 tions and the tabular summary, making in all 96 pages. For sale at 

 this office, or sent post-paid. Price 50 cents. 



OUR TRAJECTORY TRIALS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In reference to the experiments made by your journal in 

 rifle trajectories, the London Field account of which is 

 copied in your issue of the llth inst., I would like to inquire 

 whether the .50-bore Bullard used in the competitive trials 

 was of the caliber advertised by the Bullard Repeating 

 Arms Co., on page vi of your paper as the ".50-115-346?" 

 And, if so, do you regard any American repeating rifle as 

 safe with a charge of 113 grains of powder? T say "Ameri- 

 can," because I have no acquaintance with any repeating 

 rifles that may be made abroad. 



In the next place, if you regard the Bullard repeating 

 rifle as safe with a charge of L15 grains, is such a cartridge 

 made by any of our factories? The catalogue of the Union 

 Metallic Cartridge Co. is not accessible to me, but the list 

 contained in the latest catalogue of the Winchester Repeat- 

 ing Arms Co. makes no mention of any such cartridge. My 

 inquiries, therefore, are two: First, is the Bullard ".oO-llo- 

 346" repeater safe; and, secondly, if it is, can a factory-made 

 cartridge be obtained for it? 1 have no interest in the mat- 

 ter except as an amateur sportsman. G. B. 



San Francisco, Cat., March 86. 



[Our correspondent should provide himself with a copy of 

 the pamphlet report of the trial, where he will find his in- 

 quiries fully answered.] 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Having but recently returned from the West, I note a 

 copy of your trajectory test in pamphlet form, and will say : 

 Riflemen seem to be well posted in this line and rather look 

 aside, as they say if one kind of ammunition was used in all 

 makes of rifles it might be of some use to a man who is 

 about to purchase a rifle for his own use; but instead, all 

 kinds of ammunition were used and the result of same is not 

 novel or instructive. Anybody knows, who has had any 

 experience with a rifle, that a heavy charge of powder and a 

 light ball will fly faster in the air, and of course with less 

 trajectory or curve, for a given distance, say 200 yards or 

 under. This is an important point in a hunting rifle, allow- 

 ing the sights to be stationary on rifle, as are invariably used 

 on the Pacific Slope, where the largest game of this 



country are found; and many an old grizzly, both mountain 

 and valley, have I made to chew the dust with my Wesson 

 rifle, caliber .45, 310-grain ball, 120 grains powder. 



m " F. Wesson. 



Worcester, Mass., March 15. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Since the publication of the results of your recent tra- 

 jectory tests the trouble with our .45 caliber Marlin rifle, 

 which you experienced at that time, has been the subject of 

 much comment, both in private letters to ourselves from as 

 far away as India, and of articles in the sporting papers. 



As this apparent inaccuracy of the rifle was entirely be- 

 yond our comprehension, we have submitted the identical 

 arm, No. 9,449, to Mr. George Joiner, of Brooklyn, a well- 

 known marksman, and requested him to give the rifle a fair, 

 impartial trial. Accompanied by Mr. Henry Vetter, an ex- 

 pert gunsmith and also an excellent marksman, he proceeded 

 to test the gun on Jan. 8, 1886, using the .45-85 cartridges 

 manufactured by the TJ. M C. Co., being the same ammu- 

 nition as was used in your tests. 



He returned the rifle to us (it is now in our sample rack) 

 with the following communication; 



Brooklyn, Jan. 10.— Marlin Firesirms Co.: Gentlemen— I 

 have made a trial of rifle ISTo. 9,449, as you requested, and I re- 

 turn the rifle with some targets made at 200 yards, at the 

 Union Hill range on the Sth inst. The rifle was to my notion 

 one of the best shooting sporting rifles I ever had to my 

 shoulder. The day was quite gusty and unfavorable for very 

 accurate shooting. The ammunition I used was .45-85 cart- 

 ridges of TJ. M. C. Co. make, which I took from a case of the 

 same standing in Schoverling, Daly & Gales's stock. If I could 

 have loaded them myself I am certain I could have kept them 

 in a four-inch circle. Truly yours, Georoe Joiner. 



New York, Jan. 10.— I was present at the testing of the 

 Marlin rifle referred to in above letter of Mr. Joiner, and cer- 

 tify that the shooting was done with factory ammunition, 

 .45-caliber, 85 grains of powder, 285 grain bullet, at Union Hill, 

 Jan. S last, at 200 yards range, and that the targets to which I 

 have put my name were made by Mr. Joiner as stated.— 

 Henry Vetter. 



We mail you an electrotype made from one of these targets 

 and respectfully ask, in justice to ourselves, that you publish 

 this communication and accompanying target. 



The Marlin Firearms Co. 



New Haven, Conn., March 30. 



[It is entirely possible that the rifle may have acted well 

 at Union Hill. It is certainly true that it acted in the man- 

 ner described at Creedmoor" during the tests. JNo rifleman 

 of any experience would jump from an isolated case of this 

 sort to a condemnation of a class of rifles. Our report of the 

 trial was one of facts only. The experiments at Creedmoor 

 were open to all, and invitations freely extended. Many 

 who were present saw the stubborn Marlin .45; several tried 

 it a few rounds, but it seemed entirely out of sorts, and we 

 were regretfully compelled to content ourselves with a single 

 round for the trajectory figures. We regret that there are 

 not more data about the Joiner test; whether the shots shown 

 in the cut are consecutive, and whether the circle shown is 

 the bullseye fired at or only a circle struck about a group 

 of shots, and what scale the cut is made to. We give space 

 gladly to the further report on the arm used in the trials. It 

 simply shows that after all there is a good deal of intelligent 

 cussedness about pieces of machinery at times, and a rifle is 

 no exception ] 



A TURKEY AND CHICKEN SHOOT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"Turkey and chicken shoots" are always interesting in the 

 country. Having but recently purchased a muzzleloader 

 rifle which the maker said would kill the turkeys, I con- 

 cluded that on New Year's Day last I would go to a turkey 

 and chicken shoot at Salesville and try it. My rifle was all 

 out of the shining fashion, to be sure, but I did not care for 

 that provided it would only bring me in the turkeys, reward 

 the ten cents a shot, and thus make the children smile around 

 the savory table. The day was mild, not much wind, a 

 little a times, aud we shot in an open field without any fire. 

 Besides my muzzleloader, there were two old German muz- 

 zleloaders on the ground which shot very well, but they did 

 not get any turkeys. There were present also the following 

 breechloaders: One Winchester, .44-eal, one Ballard, .38- 

 cal. ; one Remington, .32 cal., and one .32 Ballard. The 

 breechloaders did most of the shooting; they commenced 

 early and shot late; bang! bang! bang!" 



The turkeys were very small, larger than spring blackbirds 

 and most remarkable for flaxseed-shaped bodies, short pin- 

 feathers, and a wonderful display of very long feathers, as 

 if to say we are actually larger than spring crows. They 

 were decidedly of the genus ''ten cents a shot" and of the 

 order "turkey shoot." 



I will pass over most of the chicken part of the shoot. The 

 shotguns were engaged in this — chickens, or rather tough 

 hens, twelve rods distant and to kill dead, is generally the 

 rule— but to kill dead requires large shot, and these scatter 

 so much at twelve rods that killing hens at this distance 

 dead is not as easy as many suppose — not many were killed. 

 The shoot at turkeys opened in the morning by shooting off- 

 hand at their heads at fifty yards. I took no interest nor 

 stock in this shooting, but looked on. They, that is, all the 

 other rifles on the ground, after many shots got but four 

 turkeys at this kind of shooting. Thus ended most of the 

 forenoon part of the shoot, and you will see the breech- 

 loaders did not mow down more than a regiment of these 

 turkeys at fifty yards. The trouble was, you see, the heads 

 of these birds were not large enough; if they had been much 

 larger more meat could have been won for the family and 

 children at home. The breechloaders sometimes hit where 

 aimed. 



