A Weekly Journal Of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copt. I 

 Six Months, $2. f 



NEW YORK, APRIL 8, 1888. 



I VOL. XXX.— No. 11. 



I Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 

 The Park Bill in the House. 

 Rattlesnake Bite and its Anti- 

 dote. 



The Rock Climbers.— xv. 

 The Sportsman Toukist. 



My Only Buffalo Hunt. 

 Natural History. 



Notes on the English Sparrow. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Shooting on Shinnocock Bay. 



Connecticut Game Protection. 



Rifles of Different Kinds. 



Yellowstone Park Petition. 



Adirondack Deer. 



From and to Correspondents. 



Stocking Game Grounds. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



A Piscatorial Round-up.— II. 



The Maine Opening. 



The Castalia Trout Stream. 



New York Fish Laws. 

 Fishculture. 



The Menhaden Question. 



The Kennel. 



Boston Dog Show. 



Improper Use of a Prefix. 



The Crowning Outrage. 



Proposed Pointer Club. 



Kennel Notes 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap shooting. 



New York Shooting Ground. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Army Scores. 



The Trap. 



Forest and Stream Cup. 

 Yachting. 



Sea Fox. 



Yachting Notes. 

 Canoeing. 



Tuckups, Duckers and Canoes. 



British Canoeing in 1888. 



Amendments to the Constitu- 

 tion. 



An Amateur's Experience. 

 Canoeing Notes. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



PROTECT THE PARK. 

 All Readers who are interested in the protection of the 

 Yellowstone National Park are invited to co-operate with 

 this journal in the endeavor to secure needed legislation. 

 Petitions will be sent to all who will undertake to have 

 them signed and forwarded to Washington. 



THE PARK BILL IN THE HOUSE. 



ON Thursday last the Yellowstone Park bill came up 

 in the Senate and passed that body without one 

 dissenting voice. This is the third time that this bill, or 

 one of the same character, has received the stamp of 

 approval by the United States Senate. Three times this 

 body has put itself on record as being in favor of the 

 proper care of the Yellowstone National Park, of the con- 

 servancy of its forests, the protection of the water supply 

 of the arid Northwest, and the establishment of a govern- 

 ment which shall afford protection to the persons and 

 property of those who may visit this national pleasure 

 ground. Twice such a bill has failed to receive the atten- 

 tion of the House of Representatives, not because there 

 was any active opposition to it, but because it had to meet 

 there what was worse than opposition, a dull apathy, an 

 utter lack of interest, a hopeless indifference which was 

 as deadly to it as the fiercest hostility could have been. 

 Twice it has lain neglected in committee, and the gavel 

 has fallen at the end of the session without an oppor- 

 tunity being made for the House of Representatives to 

 record its will upon the question whether the people's 

 park shall be preserved by the people for the people. 



If the bill can be brought before the House, and a vote 

 can be taken on it, there is little doubt what the result 

 will be. The practical men in Congress will not be slow 

 to see the necessity of protecting the Park and the won- 

 ders which it contains. When the question is brought 

 before them, they will realize the importance of saving 

 from destruction the forests which clothe its rugged 

 mountainsides, of enlarging it so that the streams upon 

 which more than 600,000 square miles of territory depend 

 for water may continue to pour out over the plains these 

 waters without which the farmer cannot grow his crops. 



They will understand that the reservation must have some 

 form of government, some machinery of justice, so that 

 visitors to this beautiful region may feel as safe there as 

 in any other quarter of our broad domain. If the bill 

 comes to a vote in the House, we ha,ve little doubt as to 

 its passage. 



The provisions of the bill, as it stands to-day, are 

 as follows: The northern and western boundaries of 

 the Park are made to coincide with those of Wyoming, 

 thus cutting off a narrow strip of territory on the 

 north and west; the southern boundary is made the 

 forty-fourth parallel, and the eastern boundary the mer- 

 idian of 109° 30'. This adds to the Park an area of about 

 2,000 square miles of territory which is utterly valueless 

 for farming, for grazing, for mining, or indeed for any 

 other purpose than that of a forest preserve. Within this 

 added area are numerous large lakes and streams, the 

 sources of important affluents of the Yellowstone and 

 Snake rivers, and the continuance of this water supply 

 will be insured by the preservation of the forests about 

 the head of the streams. The bill provides for the admin- 

 istration of justice within the Park, and to the end that of- 

 fenses may be punished, a resident magistrate is empowered 

 to try all violations of the rules established by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, while indictable offenses are to be 

 tried in the Territorial courts. Roads and bridges are to 

 be under the charge of an officer of the Engineers, 

 who must reside in the Park for at least three months in 

 the year. The force for the protection of the Park is to 

 remain as at present— a body of troops, whose commander 

 is under instructions of the Secretary of the Interior. 

 This commander is authorized to employ five scouts to 

 assist his men. 



Such in brief are the provisions of the bill which has 

 gone to the House for action. It reaches that body in 

 ample time to be brought up and voted on before an 

 adjournment takes place. There is no good reason why 

 it should be smothered in committee, or neglected until 

 it is too late for action to be taken. It is no longer a bill 

 without friends. Day by day and year by year since the 

 subject of preservation of this National Reservation began 

 to be agitated, the interest in the Park has been growing. 

 Each year more and more wise and influential people 

 have visited it, appreciate its value, and take a patriotic 

 pride in it. The people feel deeply about this Park, 

 and this sentiment is making an impression on Congress. 



It is true that the bill is one which has in it no politics, 

 that no one who interests himself in it can hope for any 

 material gain, but the measure is so purely one for the 

 benefit of the whole people that each man who votes for 

 it may be sure that his action will be appreciated by the 

 public at large. 



The passage of this bill by the Senate renders the for- 

 warding of petitions to Senators unnecessary. Every 

 effort should be made, however, to arouse members of 

 the House of Representatives to a comprehension of the 

 general interest which is taken in the measure. 



RATTLESNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE. 



fTVHE horror of snakes is older than the Jewish faith, 

 J- and most people yield to this fear. It is not uncom- 

 mon to see men whose courage is undoubted tremble and 

 grow pale at the sight of the most harmless snake. The 

 danger from snake bite is not one that can be faced nor 

 one that can be avoided. The old saying about the 

 "snake in the grass," something that may be stepped 

 upon and that injures without giving warning, tells the 

 story of horror and detestation. 



Quite different from the fear of serpents merely as such 

 is the more reasonable terror with which most people 

 regard the snakes' bite. Deaths from snake venom 

 are no doubt much less frequent in this country than 

 deaths by lightning stroke, yet we venture to say that for 

 one person who fears that his life may be ended by the 

 latter, there are one hundred who dread the serpent's 

 fang. 



Of the chemistry of snake poisoning little or nothing 

 is known. The treatment of subjects inoculated by this 

 venom has been up to the present time wholly a matter 

 of experiment with antidotes, and it must be said that, 

 until now, none of the antidotes have proved unvaryingly 

 efficacious. For two hundred years, since first these experi- 

 ments began to be made, we have remained without an 

 antidote for snake venom. De Lacerda's claims to have 



discovered in permanganate of potash an antidote for 

 the bite of the venomous South American serpent Both- 

 rops was at first generally accepted, for his asser- 

 tions were so positive that it was impossible to doubt his 

 good faith. Subsequent developments, however, have 

 induced the belief that the permanganate of potash 

 remedy is valueless. 



India is a country abounding in venomous snakes, and 

 offers favorable opportunities for experiment. No anti- 

 dote is known there for the bite of the most poisonous 

 serpents, and in spite of rewards offered by the Govern* 

 ment for their destruction, something like thirty thousand 

 persons die annually of snake bite. Alcohol and ammo 

 nia are the remedies generally relied on as palliatives, 

 and very good results have been secured by lancing the 

 wound and applying a heavy poultice of stale but still 

 moist cowdung, the action of which is perhaps due to 

 the generation of ammonia; but there is no instance on 

 record of a person recovering from the sting of a healthy 

 full-grown cobra. 



Within a few months Dr. H. C. Yarrow has carried on 

 a series of experiments with the North American rattle- 

 snakes, and believes that he has discovered an unfailing 

 antidote for the poison of this terrible reptile. Dr. Yar- 

 row, as is well known, is Curator of Rep tiles in the Na- 

 tional Museum, and is also a trained physician Of emi- 

 nence in his profession. 



We shall shortly commence the publication of a series 

 of papers by this gentleman, in which a detailed account 

 of these experiments will be given. His method will be 

 explained in full, and an account given of all the sub- 

 stances tried as antidotes, with the results of each. The 

 subject is one of such general interest, and may have 

 such a vital bearing on the future of every man. woman 

 and child, that we anticipate for them a wide circle of 

 readers outside of those who ordinarily see the FOREST 

 and Stream. The importance of Dr. Yarrow's expert 

 ments can hardly be overestimated. 



If the facts with regard to the Steuben county (N. Y.) 

 game bill are exactly stated, this bill requires louking' 

 after. We have not seen a copy of the proposed act, 

 but from the statement of the Secretary of the Hornell 

 Fish and Game Protective Association, we conclude that, 

 by its provisions, prosecutions in the case of violation of 

 the game law are discretionary with the District Attor- 

 ney, and that, even in the case of conviction, the Super- 

 visors have the power to remove the penalty which the 

 court may have inflicted. In other words, the game 

 laws for the territory covered by this bill are to be abol- 

 ished. The enactment of such a law would be a most 

 serious blow to the cause of game protection in New 

 York State, and it is difficult to believe that the Legis= 

 lature will pass such an act. There is no reason why 

 Steuben county should be thrown open to pot-hunters, 

 except perhaps that this element is unusually strong 

 there, and is backed up by weak-kneed officials, who care 

 more for their continuance in office than they do for 

 performing their sworn duty. We are anxious to obtain 

 a copy of the bill referred to. 



The Opening Day For Trout.— Monday last was the 

 legal opening of the trout season in New York. The 

 waters of Long Island were'about the only ones free from 

 ice, and so available for fishing. The morning opened 

 with a fog, which about 8 o'clock was dispelled by a 

 chilly wind, when the sun came out and made the day 

 more agreeable than the promise of early morning. We 

 noticed many rods in the stations of the railroad at Long 

 Island City and Brooklyn on Saturday night, and the 

 conductors on the different branches say that many more 

 went down the next day. The Nissequogue River, on 

 the north shore, was well covered with rods, as was also 

 Massapequa Lake, on the south side. From the meagre 

 reports which we have been able to gather, no great 

 number of fish were taken as compared with former 

 years. We shall give a more extended notice of the 

 opening next week. 



The story of a buffalo hunt printed in another column 

 is interesting. It gives us a picture of the eagerness with 

 which these animals were pursued during the last years 

 of their occurrence on the Platte River, not by skin- 

 hunters only who hunted for gain, but by meat-hunters 

 as well. 



