March 22, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



167 



known of the Otter as it runs through Middlebury, you 

 Jiave only a feeble conception of the stagnant, muddy, 

 swampy affair it becomes after tumbling over the falls at 

 Vergennes; these swamps are the habitations of many 

 and various birds not found at that season at any other 

 parts of the lake. Among them blue herons and wid- 

 geons (sheldrakes are of course there). In the fall it is a 

 favorite ducking ground for sportsmen. 



"You do not mention the fact, but I suppose, of course, 

 that in drawing the gut you had delayed the matter until, 

 from the appearance of the spinnants, you had reason to 

 believe the fluid to be ripe and the worm about to com- 

 mence its own spinning. An article in the Forest and 

 Stream, noticing your paper, seems to lay great stress on 

 the vinegar applied, its strength and its duration. I do 

 not see any good or reason in the suggestions. 



"There may be something in the confinement of the 

 moth, but it is hardly possible. If you can fiud the cocoon 

 in the Otter swamps, no doubt the ripe larvas might be ob- 

 tained there next summer, and you could then test the 

 strength of the drawn gut without extra trouble or waste 

 Of time. 



"In connection with this subject may I ask if you have 

 tried yourself or read of any one trying to draw the silk 

 fluid from the spider? It suggested itself to me in read- 

 ing the article 'Arachnida' in Enoyc. Brittan., Vol. II., 

 p. 295, where are detailed the experiments of Dr. Wilder 

 to draw or reel silk from the Epeira. Of course he failed 

 in reeling silk, but what could be done in it for silk gut 

 for anglers ? The spider silk is both stronger and finer 

 than that from silk worms. It is worth while to chloro- 

 form a large spider and open him scientifically and get 

 pit his inner consciousness. If you can get three feet, 

 strong and fine, that is victory. 



"Now please do not be impatient at all this, but as a 

 final topic please answer if you ever handled a strand of 

 transparent gut. You have handled a thousand hanks 

 lor every single strand of mine, and ought to know. I 

 (lave the notion the name or quantity is a misnomer, if 

 the strand is round and were made of glass it would not 

 jbe transparent, just as drawn glass is not; it cannot be 

 transparent by the laws of reflexion from a small or 

 lound cylindrical surface. 'When the gut is flat our eye 

 declares it opaque, not even translucent. As a help to- 

 ward a solution, please write me if the drawn gut in your 

 .experiments was in any just sense transparent. 



"This thing is spinning out like a love letter and ought 

 to stop here. So wishing you a very happy New Year, I 

 am, yours very truly, M. M. BACKUS." 



Mr. Backus's statement in the foregoing where he says 

 If it (the silk) had been too fragile the cocoon would not 

 have been spun, and the chrysalis have been formed for 

 its future use" — presuming as I understand that, if strong 

 (Ugh for the cocoon it would be strong enough to pro- 

 •e good gut — reminds me of an old story current in 

 town ofa well-known justice of the peace. As you 

 are aware, only certain cases come within the jurisdiction 

 of such officers. There was a case to be tried which 

 Should be taken to the higher court. The counsel for the 

 defense came before the justice a little late and said, 

 "You understand, of course, that the case mentioned can- 

 not be tried before you." He was interrupted by the 

 indignant response, "I'd like to know why 1 can't try this 

 case. I tell you I just have." 



Akin to this are the facts relating to the cocoons: the 

 -silk drawn from the worms which I raised lacked strength 

 .and tenacity, as stated; but regarding the cocoons, they 

 just did weave them as strong and beautiful and Arm as 

 any ever seen. We also experimented thoroughly regard- 

 ing the vinegar and acids used, and the various lengths 

 of time the worms were immersed. Mr. Backus was quite 

 right in his questionings regarding the calling of gut 

 transparent, for it is more really transparent. His last 

 letter to me was written Jan. 3, 1887, and reads: 



"Many thanks for your letter, and most glad am I that 

 you have decided to prosecute the investigations until it 

 is a pronounced failure or success.. 



"I have spent the last two summers fishing on Lake 

 Champlain, at Barrie Harbor, seven miles from Vergennes, 

 and only four from the- mouth of the Otter, and I know 

 ►of what I speak about the button bush, but have never 

 thought or had occasion to look for the moths, or the 

 cocoons. There is now living at the very mouth of the 

 Otter a Dr. Dickinson, a very intelligent . and well read 

 man, formerly he had a sanitarium on the Split Bock 

 range near Westport; last year he disposed of it to Dr. 

 Hemenway, of Boston, and purchased a small, elegant 

 spot on the Otter. I think he does not practice medicine 

 iany longer. I know him slightly, and as I intend, if 

 living and well, to go to Barrie Harbor for the summer, 

 1 will try to interest him with and for you on the subject 

 M the American silkworm. So we will keep up the 

 music until we get to the end of the score. 



"What you have noticed lately about the remark of a 

 silk manufacturer, is only a further confirmation of my 

 judgment of the average commercial mind. What it 

 does not know is the most. It handles the filaments of 

 silk and knows its windings and twists, can tell of its 

 reels and re-reels, its trams and its organzines, and is 

 mi fait on looms, Jacquard, etc., the market demand and 

 the' market price, but positively knows nothing of the 

 silkworm of any class or country. As an example, I ap- 

 plied one day to a large dealer in raw silk in this city for 

 some specimens, and on conversing with him found him 

 entirely ignorant of silkworm gut of any character. He 

 called on me subsequently to learn if I had not been 

 hoaxing him, and was more surprised than ever to learn 

 it was honest fact and science; his intelligence was above 

 the ordinary. 



Mr. W. W. Cross is an old and intelligent angler of 

 Cleveland, als© Dr. Stirling. Stir them all up and try to 

 interest them in your experiments, and let this year of 

 1887 be the one that shall find a solution to your investi- 

 gation. Yours heartily, M. M. Backus." 



It is saddening to lay these letters away and with them 

 the plans and hopes for success. I sometimes think it 

 happier and easier to drift on through life without ideas 

 than to have them continually rousing and stirring one to 

 restlessness and leaving them with disappointments. But 

 present needs and duties are always imperative. 



To the present belongs this other letter, unmistakably 

 English in chirography and whole appearance. The 

 "writer is a stranger to me, but writes most cordially of 

 many matters, finally saying: 



"Multiplying reels seem to be common in America. 

 They are almost universally condemned here. Nearly 



every book on angling advises the fisherman to have 

 nothing to do with them. 



"Mr. Wells boasts that our English split-cane rods can- 

 not be compared with those of American build. He may 

 be right. But I have a 10ft. 6in. trout rod by Hardy, of 

 split cane with a steel wire through the middle, which I 

 think would be difficult to beat. English rods are fin- 

 ished with bronze work, rarely with German silver, and 

 the opposite of this obtains in America. The German 

 silver rod may have a more sparkling appear ance but 

 this is precisely what the English angler objects to. 



"I do not know whether what is known as the Notting- 

 ham style of angling is practiced in the States and 

 Canada; and thinking you might like to read what has 

 recently been written on the subject I beg to forward for 

 your acceptance as a present Mr. Martin's book. As Mr. 

 Martin is an uneducated man and quite incapable of 

 writing such a book I am inclined to believe that he sup- 

 plied only the notes while Mr. Mars ton, proprietor of the 

 Fishing Gazette, was the chief author. There are some 

 wonderful fishermen in the Nottingham style to be found 

 on the Kent." 



Now, was not this thoughtful courtesy a pleasure? I 

 am constantly indebted to some good fisherman. Such 

 kindness from strangers warms your heart and widens 

 your life. Another letter from England is beside the one 

 I have quoted from. The latter is from Mr. W. W. Sabin. 

 Many of the books on flies, fishing and fishes arc pub- 

 lished in limited editions, and once out of print are ex- 

 tremely difficult to procure. Mr. Sabin has been most 

 kind in obtaining for me any that I have .wished. He 

 recently sent me such a beautiful copy of "The Erne: Its 

 Legends and its Fly-Fishing," by Rev. Henry Newland. 

 Tbe book is rare; but my copy is fresh and perfect, and 

 beautifully bound. I wished it chiefly on account of its 

 colored plate of flies, as I hope in time to have all books 

 having id them anything of that kind, and I had, too, its 

 companion volume, "Forest Scenes in Norway and Swe- 

 den.' 1 This gives me both of the author's books on fish- 

 ing, now out of print. 



Mr. Sabin thanks me for the beautiful Florida volume, 

 which, he writes, "I have taken home to keep in our 

 family library." The book was one which many 

 of you have seen, that describing and announcing the 

 beautiful new hotels in Saint Augustine— the Ponce de 

 Leon and Casa Monica. It is the acme of luxury when 

 even our advertisements are so daintily bound, exquis- 

 itely printed and engraved , as to be weB worth keeping 

 in a family library. 



Everything conspires to remind me of a warmer climate 

 to-day, and set me longing for softer ah, bluer skies, and 

 pine leaves. I shiver with the cold. I shall lay aside 

 my writing, and draw the easiest chair I can find close 

 to the crackling lire and read. There is one book which 

 always transports me, that is Mr. Reynolds's little his- 

 tory of "Old Saint Augustine." It rests me, too; its 

 smooth, w T ell-turned sentences are a melody, delightful 

 as the best written verse. Each page leaves you with a 

 picture in your mind. Listen and enjoy with mo again 

 these its closing paragraphs: 



"Amid its garish surroundings the old fort stands to- 

 day. Its outlines are softened bv the elements; its moat 

 is choked with the drifting sands; its turrets are crum- 

 bling; its walls seamed with the ravages of decay. The 

 fig tree springs out from the rents in its curtains; tiny 

 flowers peep up from the rampart; and summer grasses 

 clothe the escarpment with their luxuriant growth — 

 time's banner of peace on the outer wall. Drawbridge 

 and portcullis long ago disappeared from the sally- poit; 

 the legend on the escutcheon we may no longer read; 

 nor ascend the inclined plane to the ramparts. Gratings 

 have given place to window frames; ponderous doors 

 have been demolished, sunlight has been let into the 

 dungeons. Stalactites depend from the casemate ceil- 

 ings; parti-colored moss and mould bedeck the damp 

 walls; owls nest in the crannies. 



"Crossing the wooden bridge which spans the moat 

 and stretches over the centuries, you may leave behind 

 the St. Augustine of to-day, and in court", casement and 

 dungeon, summon once more the shadowy forms of 

 mailed warrior, manacled captive and dark-robed priest. 

 As, lost in revery, you muse on the ramparts, the pleas- 

 ure fleet vanishes from the bay and a phantom sail looms 

 up in the offing; and as you look, the strains of the dis- 

 tant band on the plaza die away amid Spanish cries of 

 alarm; and you catch the melody, now faint and indis- 

 tinct, then shrill and clear, of the Frenchman in his 

 little boat, 'playing on his Phyph the tune of the Prince 

 of Orange his song.' " 



As I took the liberty of quoting the statements of other 

 people in my fly-table notes, published in your last issue, 

 I must ask you to correct two typographical errors, due 

 no doubt to my hurried penmanship and the detention of 

 your proof-reader in the storm. 



The letter to me mentioned John Danforth as a "most 

 delightful companion," an adjective which conveys to 

 him even higher admiration than the one used in the 

 paper; and later "Bourgeois" said, "In the matter of 

 lures the taste of the trout must be considered; as to all 

 else you may consult your own." I ask you to correct 

 the misprint because the use of the Avord hues would con- 

 vey that he ventured to deeide the oft-discussed question 

 among fishermen of form versus color, which would un- 

 doubtedly raise for him arguments and opponents trouble- 

 some to encounter. C. F. Orvis. 



Manchester, Vt., Feb. 19, 1888. 



OceanSprings, Miss., March 11,— Fishing has been very 

 good. Redfish are abundant and biting freely. One man 

 caught thirty large ones on Friday last. Sea trout have 

 not been abundant for the last fortnight, but we get 

 several every time we go for redfish. AVe get them from 

 2 to 31bs. weight. Large-mouthed black bass are abund- 

 ant in all the streams, but do not bite so well now as they 

 will next month. Still a good catch can be made with 

 shrimp or crayfish bait.— J. M. Tracy. 



The Tarpon Record.— Mr. John G. Heckscher, of this 

 city, has beaten the record on the tarpon. He writes 

 from St, James City, Fla , March 8, to Messrs. Abbey & 

 Imbrie as follows: "On the 6th inst. I killed on one of 

 your tarpon rods, my model, a splendid tarpon, weighing 

 *1841bs., length 6ft. lOin. I brought the beggar to gaff 

 after thirty minutes of the best and gamest sport I ever 

 had. The rod cannot be beaten; and has killed the 

 largest game fish in the world," 



MAINE SALMON. 



THERE is a good deal of interest in the salmon waters 

 of Maine: waters natural to the true salmon (Salmo 

 salar), as well as the waters which contain the landlocked 

 salmon. A double interest has been inspired by the won- 

 derful success which has followed the protection of sal- 

 mon in the Penobscot, now almost the only river in that 

 State which retains something of its former value as a 

 salmon river. But although Bangor is now noted as 

 having, right in its midst, one of really the best salmon 

 pools in the world — the wonderful success of anglers at 

 that point for the past two seasons demonstrates that 

 claim — yet there are other rivers in Maine which are 

 naturally as good salmon rivers as the Penobscot. The 

 Kennebec was once noted for its salmon. Tons of those 

 fish which delight the angler's heart were once annually 

 taken from its waters, all along from the falls at Augusta, 

 even up to the rapid waters "at Bingham, nearly fifty 

 miles above. But the net and the spear years ago reduced 

 their numbers, and later impassable dams, to the number 

 of six or seven, put a stop to their ascending to their nat- 

 ural spawning grounds at the head of this river, and its 

 tributaries. In fact the Kennebec is most particularly 

 adapted to the habits of the sea salmon, and to the sport 

 of taking them with line and rod. In the first place there 

 is the rapid w^ater at Augusta, regular salmon waters, 

 nearly equal to the celebrated pool below the dam at 

 Bangor. But alas, the dam impassable long since dis- 

 couraged this migratory fish. Then follows Ticonic Falls 

 at Waterville, with the two miles of rapids above. Here 

 were once some of tbe best salmon pools that the world 

 afforded. A lady was telling me not long ago of the 

 number and size of the salmon which her father used to 

 take annually in these pools. But the dam at Augusta 

 stopped them from coming into the pool below the falls, 

 and the dam at the falls made it entirely sure that no 

 salmon could go into the rapids above. Also the rapid 

 waters at Fairfield were effectually cut off from the sal- 

 mon by these dams below. The fall at Skowhegan, with 

 rapids which used to be full of salmon, were also shut off. 

 Here axe two or three of the best natural salmon pools to 

 be found in the country, but mills and manufacturing 

 have for a long time shut them out. Norridgewoc Falls, 

 four miles above, are wonderful in the way of salmon 

 pools. Then come Carratunk Falls a few miles above. 

 Here a vast volume of water makes some of the most 

 wonderful salmon pools. But it has been nearly twenty 

 years since any number of salmon have been seen or 

 taken here; formerly the waters were "black with them," 

 to use the words of an old resident. Some twenty years 

 ago some large salmon were taken below the dam at 

 Skowhegan. By some means they had passed the dams 

 at Augusta, Waterville and Fairfield, and were evidently 

 trying to go up still further. But the speax of the Can- 

 adian Frenchmen brought them to terms. These salmon 

 must have weighed some 15 or 201bs., since they were, in 

 the recollection of the gentleman who remembers them 

 — then a boy — "as high as my head when they were held 

 up by the gills." 



Noble fish! Why do they not ran up there to-day? 

 Because the builders of dams have shut them oft'. From 

 a natural law, which al ways sends the members of the 

 salmon family back to the haunts of their youth to breed, 

 they have become discouraged by the dam at Augusta, 

 till it is probable that there are very few salmon living 

 which were born in the upper waters of the Kennebec. 

 Hence very few salmon annually try the rapids below the 

 dam at Augusta. It is claimed that this dam is impass- 

 able to the salmon. It is true that a fishway has been 

 put in there, but the claim, by those who pretend to 

 know, is that it is of no service. An old gentleman, of 

 undoubted integrity and judgment, for many years a 

 resident of Waterville, and thoroughly familiar with the 

 habits of the salmon, epecially in the* Kennebec, gave a 

 newspaper reporter the other day the idea that the fish- 

 way at Augusta is not of the slightest use. He says that 

 the lower end of the way does not reach the bottom of 

 the rapids by three or four feet, and hence, as the salmon 

 always run up stream with their noses to the bottom, 

 they fail of finding the fishway. Even if they try leap- 

 ing their chances are very small of leaping into the fish- 

 way. It is a fact that these fishways on the Kennebec 

 are entirely inadequate to the purpose for which they are 

 intended. The mill owners and manufacturers are, as a 

 rule, "down on them," and though the Statein a measure 

 compels their construction, they are generally built in 

 about the right way to still keep the salmon" back. In 

 any case where the Commissioners have attempted to 

 build fishways the appropriations have been too niggardly 

 to more than half pay for such a structure as should be 

 made. In saying what I have about these fishways, I am 

 prompted by nothing beyond giving the feeling and the 

 belief of those interested" in the restoration of the salmon 

 to the Kennebec. They also claim that small fry should 

 liberally be deposited in the small streams at the head- 

 waters of this river each year; there to grow and finally 

 to return to the same waters to breed. The process of 

 restoring these most valuable of fish to the waters of the 

 Kennebec might be a longer one than was the restoration 

 of the salmon pool at Bangor, but it is the belief of those 

 most interested that it might be accomplished by the 

 proper fishways at the dams, and the putting in of small 

 fry at the headwaters. The river is a very remarkable 

 one for its many falls and rapids, and it should be noted, 

 as it once was, for its salmon fishing. In this way the 

 salmon fishing would become a source of wealth to the 

 towns at the several points mentioned above, and hence 

 to the State. An army of sportsmen would be rejoiced 

 to annually visit those waters, were the fishing only what 

 the river is in every way capable of. It is hinted that 

 some sportsmen in the young city of Waterville are to take 

 interest in this matter, but will they be defeated by the 

 corporations of manufacturers at that point and at Au- 

 gusta? It is devoutly to be hoped not. Special. 



Muskoka, — A gentleman known to us, who has spent 

 months camping in the Muskoka Lake region of Canada 

 last year, desires a companion to join him there this 

 season. We shall be happy to forward any letters ad- 

 dressed in our care to "Muskoka Camper." 



Bethabara Rods are the specialty of Messrs. A. B. 

 Shipley & Son, of Philadelphia, and they have just issued 

 a little flyer giving the views of a number of anglers who 

 believe in bethabara, 



