EtBC. 16, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



407 



Michigan Deer..— Detroit, Mich., Dec. 1.— Editor For- 

 est and Stream: The following from the principal sports- 

 men's outfitting point in the Upper Peninsula, of this 

 State tells its own story: Munising, Dec. 6.— During the 

 season just passed two deer himters, -who came here from 

 the lower part of the State, killed 2S4 deer within ninety 

 days. The saddles, which are wortlx on the average $5 

 each, were shipped out of the State. The hunters sub- 

 sisted almost entirely on the meat thoy killed and their 

 only outlay was for ammimition. Their net profit was, 

 therefore, nearly .$1,400. Other pot-hrmters at other 

 points have done the same, and in consequence garue in 

 the Upper Peninsula of Mchigan is growing scarce. 

 There is a law to prevent ship]oing deer out of the State, 

 but it is not enforced. There is a law to restrain hunters 

 from killing deer in the water with a light, but it also is 

 practically inoperative. So great has been the slaughter 

 of deer in the only parts of the State where they exist in 

 any numbers tliat the Legislature yvill be asked this 

 wiiater to enact still more stringent laws, wliieh will be 

 enforced by the local sportsmen's and game associations 

 which have been formed recently in nearly all the cities 

 in this port of the State. The statute asked for will be to 

 prevent the shipment of game out of Xhe JJpy^er Penin- 

 sula. The present law prohibiting tiie shipment of deer 

 out of the State can be easily evacled. It is very easy to 

 ship a deer to some point in' the State near the Ohio Ime, 

 then resliip it to any part of the countiy desired. Whole- 

 sale slaughter in the herds of deer that roam througli 

 parts of the Upper Peninsiila has heen no greater than 

 the havoc made among the finny residents of the small 

 rivers and creeks. Brook trout have been taken with 

 nets and sliipped away by the ton. Unless a stop is 

 speedily put to it the hunting and fishing grormds of the 

 Upper Penmsula will soon exist only in the memory of 

 the past.— F. I. 



Belgian Haues for Maine. — Editor Forest and 

 St7'ea7n: I intend introducing an alien hare uito the 

 covers of the coast of New liampshire, and should like 

 much to know if any of yom- readers have tried the Bel- 

 gian hare in New England or the Middle States. This 

 hare is of large size, is said to leave a scent that dogs fol- 

 low well, and breed every month, even in New England 

 during the wmtor months. I should be gi'eatly obliged 

 for any information in regard to this or any other hare 

 available for the chase in New Hampshire. The large 

 white hare (Lejms arncricamAs) has disapjjeared from the 

 sea coast of the State and all attempts at rebreeding have 

 been failures.— A. C. H. 



The West. — Nantucket, Mass. — I have just retiu-ned 

 from an extensive hrmting tiip through Minnesota and 

 Dakota, We had good success and found game quite 

 plenty.— W. K. F. 



MORE ABOUT RIFLES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



By your leave I desire to inalce a few commente on Mr. Romer's 

 supplementally reiJort on tlie Forest and Stream traject ory tests 

 contained in your iscue of Nor. 25. The hea^^ target rifles in the 

 test -wci-fMiot pvaetical Fportins: or hunting rifles, mainly on ac- 

 counr ' . -■ ' - ight. The sightinff and manner of loading is also 

 agaiL:, UKed for hnnting. For target play they ought 



to Tjc i-i : - -! :cessful, especially when fired from a shooting 

 house, .'-s 1:^ Uie .mstom in target matches with niuzzleloaders. 

 For open ait' sliuotiu.u- in all kinds of M'eather, the breechloader is 

 genei-ally oonsidei-cd the hcst gmn 



Now in regard to shot i\o. 5 of the Maynard series at 200yds., Mr. 

 Romer says it \\'as a flopper-, dropper, unaccountahle or s,-oose egg. 

 What is the proof? It struck the 50yds. screen SJOin. below the 

 mean horizontal line of tlie other siiots. At lOOyds. it was about 

 ■■'!iri. below. If the rifle was so aimed as to strike the oOyda. 

 . n 3.10in, lo^v, whei'e in the name of common sense would he 

 _-ci it, to strike' the 100yds. screen? About G.;30in. low if the gun 

 \v...-, accurate and not addicted to shooting spirals, as were some of 

 the other gims. Supposing Mr. Romer's "'about 6.30in." to be ex- 

 actly coia-ect, the sliot should lia ve struck the 30yds. screen o.lSin. 

 low. The error was then 3, 1-5— 3.10 or .05in. How many rifles in the 

 100yds. tests did not put one or more shots l-20in. above or below tlie 

 average of the other sliots? Tlio error is infinitessimal and of no 

 practical account. (Supposing again that about O.SOin. would pan 

 out by careful measurement G.20in. 'i'iien that shot would be an 

 exact average of all the shots fired from the gun. Supposing a 

 small error in measurement on the .50yds. screen and that the 

 figures should he S.loin. Then again would the shot he 

 an es:act average for tlie gun. It was not a iiopper, 

 a dropper, or an unaccountable. A goose egg it certainly 

 v/as. So liave many thousands of shots been ; but has not the hold- 

 ing, the sighting, the judgment of tlie shooter anything to do with 

 the making of goose eggs? We are fJistinctly toirt that the May- 

 nard rifle was removed from the rest after every shot. Isitim- 

 possilole that the gun might lia-^-e been aimed dilTerently for the 

 aiflEerent shots? Is it not rather impossible that it should have 

 been aimed exactly the same for any two shots? A -^ery slight 

 error of adjustment, such as might easily have been made with 

 plain open sights, would have caused the error of -S.lOin. on the 

 .Wyds. screen. Who among the readers of Forest and Stream 

 never nnwie an error of S.lOin. at 30yds.? If the test had been one 

 of accuracy, with no restrictions in regard to -n-eight, trigger pull, 

 and sights, there would have been very few practical hunting 

 rifles voluntarilj^ offered for the test. The test did, however, illus- 

 trate the steady shooting, which is one of the most important 

 elements of accuracy, of all the rifles entered. It proved beyond 

 the possibility of a successful contradiction, the positive inaccuracy 

 of all the ritles tested by shomng the variation of their curves. 

 Not a single rifle in the test made two curves alike. This variation 

 in curves is, then, a fair basis of comparison of the accuracy of the 

 various infies tested. The comparison made by Mr. Burns Ijetween 

 a muzzleloader and the MaynajcJ breechloader is a fair one when 

 looked at in this light. The difference of .0G4in. shows that the 

 muzzleloader beat the breechloader for regularity of curv^es just 

 that much in a range of 200yds. The bunching of the shots on the 

 screens is not a fair comparison between these two or any other 

 two guns in the t€st. 



NoEmsTOWN, Pa., Nov. 29, 1886. E. A. Leopold. 



Editor ForcM and Streom: 

 I was much pleased and insti-ucted by the article of Mr. Wilcox 



in a recent issue of your paper, as he CNadently understands what 

 he is writing about. I too have been brought up in an atmosphere 

 of gunpoAvder, ha ving passed much of my boyhood in the Canadian 

 backwoods, and my \asits to their solitudes have been very fre- 

 quent, so, as a natural result, I have seen and used a great variety 

 of firearms. As far as my observ^ation goes I fail to find in the 

 modern rifles the accurateness of the old muszleloaders. I agree 

 with Mr. Wilcox when he says that the charges of lead are too 

 heavy, but I should not, as l ie does, want the space in the cartridge 

 occupied usually by lead, filled up with powder. In my opinion it 

 is better to leave the po^vder charge as it is and decrease the 

 weight of lead as he suggests. The reason is tbatit is very difficult 

 to shoot accurately heavy charges of powder in an ofl'-hand position. 

 The recoil being felt at the shoulder before the ballet reaches the 

 muzzle must, of course, in some degree alter the position of the 

 rifle from the place it occupied at the time of pulling the trigger. 

 Tliis V ill certainly be more apparent as the powder is increased. 

 The recoil is not noticed in target shooting, as there is plenty of 

 titsie to firmly adjust the rifle to the shoulder and brace the bodv 

 to offer resistance. In bunting there is no time for thought about 

 this matter, and if there was. very few would be deliberate enough 

 to take advantage of it. Practically then, it is desirable that as 

 little powder and lead should be used as it is possible to do with- 

 out sacrificing too much the power of the arm. 



The flattest trajectory I e^-er &a\v was produced by a double 

 barreled mtizzleloading ride, manufactured by a German, in Belle- 

 ville, Ontario. This arm, which is still in existence, though some 

 twenty years old, had the barrels perfectly jfaralleL, that ia the 

 usis of the bore at the breeck was me same disiance apart as the 



axis at the muzzle, using a bullet about .33-cal. The owner was a 

 A'ery skillful hunter and killed plenty of deer both by stiU-hunting 

 and hounding into the lakes. Efe scarcely ever missed a shot and 

 had full eonfidence in his rifle. 



I have shot the weapon mvself at 50 and lOOyds. ^vithout any per- 

 centibie -ariation in the tlight of the b-.illet, using the same eleva- 

 tion for both distances. The owner claimed that he only took a 

 .slightlv greater portion of the front sight when shocting 10 rods 

 (all backwoods hunters measure liy rods). 1 never tired it fit that 

 distuiicc so I cannot say as to its execution at 200yds. range. 



As :!t) experiment 1 once tried to convert a smootli bore "Indian 

 Chief" gun into a I'ilie, as follows: I placed a. round bttllet inside a 

 piece of cork, on which were cut spiral cui'ves corn'orgmg toward 

 the point. The cork fitted very tight in the barrel, which was 

 about M-gauge and Sfiin. long. The shooting was very accurate at 

 short distances of about 30 or 75yds. 



So mncli for tlit- t.ld fil^ le of weapons, irat tliey have had their 

 dav, for no per.-on Inif a foFsU would carry one of them into the 

 woods ^vhcn he could iiave the modern j'epeater, even tf the others 

 do a little finer work. , 



There is no doubt but the present style will bo improved, if not 

 in mechanism in the manner of loading. 



I wish some of your readers who have time would try an experi- 

 ment Avii ha hollow iron cone, covered with lead to catch the 

 crooves of the rifle. It would be mucli lighter and not require so 

 much force of projection for an equal initial velocit>' as the lead. 

 It would also have the advantage of retaining its shape after 

 striking an object, thereby cutting a clean hole, which would let 

 the blood run freely, and also breaking all bone it struck. 



Toronto, Ontario. W. K. W. 



Editor Farcst and Stream: 



In your iasue of Dec, 3 "Maynard" says the guns made by the 

 Maseach usetis Arms Co., of Chicopee Falls, Mass.,Avotdd not shoot 

 well after licjng chambered for the Remington .32-10-12.5 cartridge, 

 claiming .'is the reason that the proportion of the powder and lead 

 was not right— too much powder. ^Mlowing t hat to be a fact, i. c, 

 tliat thoee rifles wouUl not shoot that ammunition, it by means 

 proves the ammunition at fault. I happen to own one of those 

 Remington .32- ■itl-lt.'o I'ifles and with it can do accurate sliooting 

 2C)0yds. and under— never fired it at greater distance— and ha\'e 

 killed squirrels, partridgeSj ducks and deer with it. 1 do not be- 

 lieve a more accurate rifle is made, either muzzle or breechloader. 

 I never shot one and have shot and owned a number. 



I once owned a Remington .4.5 and liad it chambered for Sharps' 

 special .45-103-550 cartridge, and that rifle never shot a little bit— 

 wasn't sure of hitting anything with it. I kno-\v a .40-60-210 single 

 shot Winchester that did most, excellent shooting, it was cham- 

 bered for the Remington .40-65-310 cartridge, and it does not shoot 

 as well as before. 1 do not claim that tliose charges vnU not pro- 

 duce good, accurate shooting. "VSTiy those guns did not shoot well 

 after being rochambered I do not know, but would like to very 

 mucli. TJie .43 Remington I never fired tiU after it was recham- 

 bered, so cannot spoak^for its good qualities before, though have 

 had very satisfactory results from four of same make that I have 

 owned. 



"Maynard" winds up by asking if different guns using same 

 cartridge kick differently? My experience is that they do. Two 

 guns that I tried, of like weight and dimensions, made by same 

 company, using same cartridge, showed a very marked difference 

 in that respect. My idea is that guns having deeper orquicker 

 twist kick more, all else being equal. Wells. 



3IEDF0RD, Wis., Eec. 8. 



Edil-or FojYst ami Stream: 



In regard to rifles, I used a new model Winchester magazine, 

 90grs. powder and ."OOgrs. lead, .4.5-cal. Anybody who wants to use 

 a small bore is at liberty to do so; but it will take lots of argument 

 to conduce me that a deer struck with a lead from that gun is 

 not more liable to die suddenly than if he were shot with a .38 and 

 a smaller charge of powder. Every man to his fancy, however. I 

 do not care to argue the case, as I have shot different rifles for 

 more than twenty years and know what suits me. Buck. 



"That reminds me." 

 200. 



LAST Jime I passed several days on a friend's estate in 

 Scotland, and though no ^ame was in season, it was 

 delightful to roam over the heather-covered liills and 

 study the habits and characteristics of the birds and bim- 

 nies.' Old Ben, the head game keeper, had been rmusu- 

 ally successful with his plieasants, having hatched out, 

 with the help of a dozen accommodating old hens, almost 

 a hundred nne young birds. The oldest, fotu- weeks out, 

 were allowed fidl liberty dm-ing the day, and kept their 

 mother hens continually clucking in alarm and amaze- 

 ment at then- friskiness and pranks. All grasshoppers 

 and bugs took their lives in their hands on approaching 

 these yomigsters, for with wings outstretched and regard- 

 less of all obstructions, they bore down on their quany 

 with a rush, each sbriving to be in tirst at the death. Even 

 the little chicks, mere balls of down, toddlying on then" 

 two-day-old legs through the feathers of the hen and in 

 and out the slats of the coop, waged incipient war on the 

 iiies. At night they had to be closely confined, for Brer' 

 Fox had no gun or trap to fear, and thinking of the 

 amount of leg muscle necessary for the coming winter 

 runs, accepted every chance for a square meal. The rab- 

 bits had been very troublesome, destrojdng the plants the 

 moment they pushed their green shoots otit of the ground, 

 and the farmers complained so mttcli that Ben and the 

 tinder keepers had, for the past ten days, shot and trapped 

 over forty dozen, which, however, seemed to mai:e no 

 impression on then numbers. 



The second morning I started out to see if I could lessen 

 the number perceptibly, taking old Ben as master of cer- 

 emonies and one of his assistants to manage the ferrets. 

 I had never shot any rabbits before except "jacks" out in 

 Wyoming, the occasional streak of fur seen while bird 

 shooting in New England not counting, and ferrets were 

 entirely new to me. We saw quantities of rabbits all 

 over the fields, but they were this year's, and being not 

 much larger than an ounce of shot, were undistm-bed. 



Coming on one suddenly, how he would drop his long 

 ears on his back and squeeze himself close to the ground, 

 thitdiing to escape your eyes, but keeping his own wide 

 open, and how soft and pleading they were! I never cotdd 

 shoot an animal after looking into his eyes. For that rea- 

 son I am glad I was not at Bunker Hill to obey that com- 

 mand, "Wait till you see the whites of then eyes and 

 then shoot!" I should have bolted. 



Reaching a warren, one of the ferrets was sKpped into 

 a hole, and, taking my position back twenty or thirty 

 feet, I waited. In a moment a head, and then a whole 

 rabbit appeared and sat still. I was amazed. He was 

 altogether too accommodating. Tliinking he would lam 

 and'so have a fair chance for life, I "shooed," and like a 

 flash he was back again in his hole. Ben was disgusted 

 and said, "Shoot the next one sitting or rvtnning, and shoot 

 close." In a moment, bang! went my gun at a head, and 

 Ben, running over to the edge of the hole, held up the 

 rabbit — and the ferret, both stone dead. I had shot a 

 little too close. F'lin. 



ExTBACT of a letter received by the U. S. Cartridge Co., Lowell, 

 Mass., from Hildebrand Fitzgerald, gun editor of the Jt6?)7, PhUa- 

 doMiia, Pa., date of Nov. 7, 1886: "I have no hesitation in saytag, 

 and you are at liberty to quote me (if you desire), that your shell 

 ia not only the best shell on the market, but the only waterproof 

 sheU, other shells being waterproof in name merely."— .^dv. 



^en mid ^mr gwhing. 



Address aU commmticattons to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



AMERICAN SILKWORMS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



For some time there has been an interest felt among 

 fishennen in regard to the possibility of procuring great 

 lengths of silkworm gut from the American silkworma, 

 winch are so much larger than the familiar Bombyx viori 

 or Chinese silkworm. 



As most of yom; readers know, the strands used by fish- 

 ermen for leaders, or casting lines, as our English friends 

 call them, and for the snells to which are attached hooks, 

 is the substaHce which the silkworm possesses, and which 

 if left to its o^vn devices Avould spin into a cocoon, envel- 

 tiping tlie chrysalis. For ages this cocoon has been appro- 

 priated by man — unreeled and woven into various silk 

 threads and textures. Anglers and physicians have made 

 another use of the unwoven silk. Just before the worm 

 is ready to spin, the silk is in a soft, gelatine-like mass. 

 By properly preparing the worm, cutting off its head, the 

 silk sacs can be removed, and, taken between the thumb 

 and forefinger of each hand, drawn to a considerable 

 leng-th. This must be stretched, dried, cleansed and pol- 

 ished, and it is ready for use, giving you a transparent 

 strand (if great strength and lightness, most valuable to 

 anglers, and to surgeons also for surgical purijoses. 



Communications from Dr. Garlick, Dr. Sterhng and 

 others added to my interest in this subject, aside from 

 difficulty ex]3erienced in trying to obtain good quality of 

 gut frora Spahi, and I determined to endeavor to raise the 

 American silkwonns and inform myself if they could be 

 reared in any numbers and give us a desirable product. 

 I regret that I cannot say that my experiments, on the 

 whole, gave a satisfactory result; but I give my experi- 

 ence, or method of rearing the worms, hoping it may 

 interest or be of profit to some one and perhaps lead to 

 better success. I wiU first say in brief that I found it 

 perfectly possible to raise the worms in great numbers; it 

 requires no expensive apparatus; they grow, thrive and 

 attain a great size. If one desires to obtain the cocoons I 

 should imagine no obstacle. I would suggest that experi- 

 ments be made with the cocoons by those interested in 

 silk crdtm'e, and if they unreel readily and produce desir- 

 able silk for weaving, the worms can be raised, I believe, 

 successfully. 



Upon investigation I decided to try and obtain only two 

 kinds of moths, the Platysamia cecropia and the Telea 

 poleplievius. I was told that it would be diflicult to raise 

 the iarvge of the former, but that I would have no trouble 

 with the latter. Contrary to this Dr. Garlick has written: 

 "The cecropia can be raised as easy as yotmg chickens." I 

 found it only required care and patience to raise either. 



In an article wi-itten by M. Trovelot in 1867, he pathet- 

 ically says: "At fii'st the undertaking seemed A^eiy sim- 

 ple; but who will ever know the dtSiculties. the hai'd- 

 shijjs and discouragements which I encotmtered. This 

 worm (the Telea polephemus) having never been culti- 

 vated, of course its habits were entirely unknown, though 

 aU my suocess in my undertaking depended very much 

 upon 'that knowledge." It was five yeaa-s before *M. Ti-o- 

 velot succeeded in raising any number; but at the end of 

 that time he had "not less than a million, which could be 

 seen feeding in the oj)en ah* upon bushes covered with 

 net — five acres of woodland were swarming with cater- 

 pillar life." We were more fortunate and succeeded in 

 procurmg all we desned the first year. We v.^ere siu*- 

 prised, however, to find upon trying to obtain informa- 

 tion in regard to the American silkworms how httle has 

 been written upon the subject. We found that nearly all 

 the printed matter dated back to M. Trovelot's statements 

 in the articles before mentioned, published in the Ameri- 

 can Natnixilist, March, April and May, of 1867. 



By persevering we OA-ercame the chief and first diifi- 

 ctdty, which was to obtain the cocoons from which to 

 hatch the moths to produce the worms. Fi-om dififerent 

 naturalists and collectors we obtained eighty cocoons of 

 the cecropia and twenty-five of the polepnemiis moth; 

 th-e latter we paid twenty-five cents each for and had 

 much trouble in procuring, in consequence it is said of 

 then- being extremely difiticult to find. This cocoon is 

 attached to a tree by a slender thread of the spun silk, 

 usually spun rormd the stem of a leaf, the first strong 

 wind is apt to detach it from the tree, when it falls to the 

 ground, and among the usual deposit of dry leaves it is 

 not usually discovered. The cocoon is about two inches 

 long and one inch in diameter, is cylindrical in shape, 

 with both ends round and closed, the color is a very light 

 gtay, similar to that of a wasp's nest; the cocoon is 

 shaped and appears much Uke that of the well-known 

 Bomhyx mori, diftering chiefly in size and color, the 

 fibres of this cocoon seem specially tough and strong. 



The cocoon of the cea^opia is considerably larger, being 

 from three to f otu' incheslong, an inch and a half in diam- 

 eter and pointed at each end. It is apt to be somewhat 

 angular, but is not uniformly so, the textme is loose and 

 spongy, the fibres when held in the sunlight are exceed- 

 ingly glossy and appear of considerable length, but being 

 open at one end I am not sure that it wotdd unreel as well 

 as the cocoon of the polephemus and so be useful to silk 

 growers, but for our purpose this could make no differ- 

 ence. 



We kept the cocoons in a cool place, an upper room of 

 the house away from the fire, and moistened them occa- 

 sionally — our idea being to foUow the com'se of nature 

 as nearly as possible, and not wishing them to hatch too 

 soon and so tiring forward the worms before the leaves 

 were out on the ta-ees. 



ApirilSl we received from Providence forty-one cecropia, 

 cocoons, packed in a box with some bnd skins, which 

 were sttongiy scented Avith carbolic acid. Fearing this 

 might afl;ect the life in the cocoons, we spread them in a 

 box and placed them on a south porch in the stm and air. 

 About 6 P. M. a fine moth came forth, a few minutes 

 later another and soon after the third; aU male moths. It 

 may be well to explain here that the noticeable difference 

 between the male and female moths consists in the 

 breadth of the antemife, that of the male moth being 

 wide and featheiT compared with that of the female. 

 The sjiots in the wings of the male are somewhat larger 

 also and more vivid in color, but the tKDdy of the male 

 moth is not as large and full as that of the female. 



We found the importance of having many cocoons, the 

 tendency seemed to be that the males should hatch out 



