Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1895. 



I VOL XLV.-No. 10. 



I No. 818 Bboadway New York. 



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MARSHALL M'DONALD. 



United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries Mar- 

 shall McDonald died at his residence in Washington on 

 Sunday morning, Sept. 1, aged sixty years. The event 

 was not unexpected by his friends, who had long noted 

 with solicitude his gradual failing with consumption. 



Commissioner McDonald was born in Eomney, Va., in 

 1835. In 1854 and 1855 he was a student of natural his- 

 tory under Professor Baird at the Smithsonian Institution. 

 He was graduated at the Virginia Military Institution in 

 1861; and served from 1861 to 1865 in the Confederate 

 Army. From 1865 to 1879 he was a professor in the Vir- 

 ginia Military Institute. 



In 1875 he became interested in fishculture, and was 

 shortly afterward appointed to be the sole Fish Commis- 

 sioner of Virginia, The following year he invented the 

 fish way which bears his name. 



In 1879 he became attached to the United States Fish 

 Commission. For some years he was in charge of the 

 entire work of the distribution of young fishes and after- 

 ward served as Chief of the Division of Fishculture. He 

 received gold medals for improvements in fishculture 

 from the International fishery exhibitions at Berlin and 

 London, a silver medal from the Societe d' Acclimation of 

 France, and a special medal from the same society for a 

 fishway devised for the River Vienne, in France. In 

 1871 he devised the automatic hatching jars now in gen- 

 eral use by the United States Fish Commission, the 

 several State Commissions and in Europe and Japan. 

 This apparatus first made possible the vast extension of 

 the work of shad propagation accomplished of late years 

 and rendered the work of the United States Commission- 

 ers practicable from the commercial standpoint. In the 

 winter of 1882 he developed at "Woods Holl the tidal ap. 

 paratus now in use for hatching the floating eggs of cod, 

 halibut and other marine species. The vast work of dis- 

 tribution carried on by the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion was developed by using this, its methods perfected, 

 and the cost of the work cheapened, so that vastly 

 greater results were obtained without any increase of 

 cost. 



In January, 1888, Col. McDonald was appointed by 

 President Cleveland to the office of United States Com- 

 missioner of Fish and Fisheries. The interests thus in- 

 trusted to him were vast and complex; and the require- 

 ments of the place were all the more exacting because it 

 was one that had been filled by a Baird. The appointment 

 of Commissioner McDonald was universally recognized 

 as an excellent one. He brought to the place practical 

 knowledge acquired by long experience, large breadth of 

 view, a faculty of organization, executive ability, integ- 

 rity and a high sense of duty and of responsibility to the 

 people. He was accounted the most accomplished fisbcul- 

 turist in the country, if not in the world. The record of 

 his administration is an honorable one. By the death of 

 Commissioner McDonald the country loses a public officer 

 who has served faithfully, honestly and well, The clos- 



ing of his life is a loss to fishculture and to the public 

 interests. 



The papers from the pen of Commissioner McDonald, 

 published from time to time, are found in his State re- 

 ports, in the annual Reports of the Commission, in the 

 Transactions of the American Fisheries Society and in 

 the columns of Forest and Stream. They cover a wide 

 range of fishcultural work in its scientific and economical 

 aspects. 



BEFORE THE STARTING GUN. 



Whatever fears and doubts have been awakened by 

 the earlier reports of Valkyrie III. have apparently disap- 

 peared, and at this time, four days before the first races, 

 there is a general feeling of confidence that the Cup will 

 be again defended successfully. Just what grounds exist 

 for this feeling it is hard to say; though much is known 

 about Defender, the best informed are still in the dark as 

 to the speed of Valkyrie III. There is no longer any 

 room for doubt as to the many good qualities of the 

 American ship; not only is she a very fast vessel, but her 

 shapely form and the manner in which she does her 

 work, her power at small angles, and her ease through 

 the water when pressed, show out in marked contrast to 

 the idol of 1893, Vigilant. 



That she is very fast cannot be questioned, but there are 

 still two points in doubt— is she faster than Valkyrie III., 

 and is she strong enough to stand through the series of 

 races? On both of these points we can give no opinion, 

 nor do we trust the opinions of others. Nothing conclu- 

 sive is known of Valkyrie III., and the little seen of her 

 during the trial races was by no means an assurance of 

 an easy win for Defender in such weather as the Cup 

 races have been sailed in for ten years, and as prevails 

 this week. 



That Defender is amply strong in her hull is stoutly 

 asserted by all connected with her, and may be quite true ; 

 but it would indeed be strange if, no matter what might 

 ail her, they would admit that she was in the least strained 

 or in danger of straining. No doubt everything possible 

 has been done to put her in perfect condition, and it may 

 be that the hull has been thoroughly sound from the first. 

 ,There is something amusing about the solemn state* 

 ment promulgated in writing' by two of her amateur crew 

 to the effect that she is in every way sound and in good 

 condition. One is reminded by it of the physician's certi- 

 ficates which are posted in the lobby of the Opera House 

 when a "star cast" is spoiled at the last moment by the 

 substitution of Maugiere or Russitano for Jean de Reszke. 

 The many minor mishaps to Defender's gear and fittings 

 can only be taken as an indication that extreme light 

 .eonstrifction has been pushed to a dangerous limit. 



The very thorough trials between Defender and Vigi- 

 lant, ten in all, have left absolutely no grounds for doubt 

 as to the superior speed of the new keel boat. Whether 

 this speed is a matter of five, ten or twelve minutes over 

 a thirty-mile course, is of no consequence in this case; 

 Defender has proved herself the faster boat, and the prop- 

 er one to defend the Cup. As compared with Vigilant, 

 her weakest point is before the wind, but she can more 

 than make up any loss here on other points of sailing. 



Whatever the result may be, the sailing of Defender 

 against Vigilant has left no ground whatever for lamenta- 

 tions and regret over the passing of the centerboard and 

 the adoption of the keel in Cup defense. Defender has 

 not only repeatedly defeated Vigilant to windward, but 

 has beaten the other two centerboards, Volunteer and 

 Jubilee, even worse. Vigilant's position as the fastest 

 centerboard yacht of her size ever floated can hardly be- 

 disputed ; and yet she has been fairly and decisively beaten 

 to windward by a keel boat. 



If it be urged that Vigilant is but a mongrel centerboard 

 in type, then it rests with those who would make such an 

 argument to show that a faster centerboard boat of some 

 other type is possible. Considering the great power of the 

 modern 90-footer, we cannot conceive of any enlargement 

 or modification of the more successful centerboard boats 

 of the past, the typical American yacht that would carry 

 12,000sq. ft. of sail on 90ft. waterline, and be as able and 

 fast as Defender. Certainly no such famous sloops as 

 Arrow, Gracie, Mischief or any of the smaller ones would 

 be capable of enlargement to such proportions as would 

 match them with Defender. Whether victorious or de- 



feated, Defender has already shown herself superior to 

 all American yachts of her class, both centerboard and 

 keel. 



One good result, for which we have long contended, is 

 likely to follow the present races— the return of Cup rac- 

 ing to a smaller class and the extinction of the present 

 90ft. syndicate racing machine. Both sides are now fully 

 convinced of the excessive cost and general uselessness of 

 these craft, and will welcome the building of something 

 within the reach of individual ownership. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 At first blush the connection between the swindling of 

 life insurance companies and the protection of game 

 would appear to be remote; but an incident has just 

 occurred in northern Minnesota which indicates that 

 there may be a close relationship between them. In 1893 

 a St. Louis doctor insured his life for $48,000; then one 

 dark night he dug a can of worms and went fishing. 

 When he failed to turn up again, the heir3 attempted to 

 collect the insurance. The companies resisted the claim 

 on the ground that death had not been proven. The case 

 went to the courts and the companies finally were com- 

 pelled to pay the full amount. Meanwhile they had 

 offered a reward of $30,000 for the discovery of the man 

 alive; and stimulated by this detectives have ever since 

 been working on the search. Last Monday, having traced 

 the doctor to northern Minnesota, they found him in the 

 wilderness close to the Canadian line, fifty miles from a 

 post office, where he was living in a hut. When the 

 detectives came upon him he was out in the woods hunt- 

 ing game out of season; and when they arrested him, they 

 told him that it was for illicit hunting. It is to be hoped 

 that this little true story may come to the ears of all the 

 game wardens in the country, that they may by it be 

 stimulated to arrest shooters out of season, handcuffing 

 and holding them for a possible $20,000 reward. They 

 will be perfectly safe in treating every man vrho Mils 

 game out of season as a swindler. If he is not a fugitive 

 from justice who has robbed a life insurance company, 

 he is at least by the pursuit of game out of season a swin- 

 dler of the public. 



In our game columns Dr. Morris writes of the gather- 

 ing of wildfowl eggs by Indians in the North, who col- 

 lect them for food. We have before now printed other 

 reports of this character from other quarters and sent to 

 us by equally responsible correspondents. Unlike the 

 albumen egg industry, this is a practice which actually 

 exists. It has been carried on from time immemorial 

 and of the effects upon the wildfowl supply there can be 

 no question. The problem of providing a remedy is ex- 

 tremely perplexing. 



J* Read that report of the obliteration of prairie chickens 

 from Nebraska and then give your adhesion to Forest 

 and Stream's Platform Plank — The sale of game should 

 be forbidden at all times. Read that report and then de- 

 cide whether the Plank is sentimental, or too rigorous. 

 We should think that even the people of the prairies 

 themselves might at last come to indorse our Platform. 



A queer story from Oregon relates that United States 

 District Attorney Murphy has been advised by a delega- 

 tion of sportsmen that the timber lands of Lincoln county 

 have been set on fire in order that the smoke might pre- 

 vent hunters from elk hunting in the mountains. As 

 the fires are on Government land, the attorney is asked 

 to interfere. Tens of thousands of acres of forest lands 

 have before now been destroyed as the results of hun- 

 ters' carelessness with camp-fires, by the burning over of 

 districts to make new feed for the game, and by con- 

 flagrations spreading from burned coon trees; but this 

 Oregon firing for elk protection is something new. 



It is not considered good form to kill immature game. 

 Little fish are immature fish. It ought not to be consid- 

 ered good form to kill them. If the counsel of Commo- 

 dore J. U. Gregory were generally followed, and if small 

 fish were thrown back to grow, the supply would be 

 maintained without further restrictions. There is here a 

 "plank" for fishermen: Throw back the little ones. 



We inquire again: What is the difference between pot- 

 ting a bunch of birds on the water and potting a bunch 

 of birds on the land? The question is open for debate, 



