July 38, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



7 



HELPFUL HINTS AND WRINKLES. 



SOMERVILLE, Mass., July 23.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I herewith inclose a few hints which I 

 hope may he of some benefit to the reader, First and 

 foremost is a simple method of circumventing that most 

 diabolical invention of Ids satanio majesty, the barbed 

 wire fence, which is a tevvor to most sportsmen. Pro- 

 cure a pair of strong cut pliers (Hall's Pat. No. 2 are good, 

 as they are strong and light), and clip off a few of the 

 points" down close to the main or twisted part of the wire. 

 This does not injure the fence in the least, and you may 

 then pass between the strands with impunity and not 

 tear either flesh or clotlnng. 



How shall I keep my gun from rust spots? is a question 

 which has been asked and answered in Forest and 

 Stream for several years. The. best preparation that I 

 have ever seen is simply this: Put a pint of benzine in a 

 bottle and add loz. of pure beeswax; let it dissolve; then, 

 after thoroughly cleaning, rub a little of the mixture over 

 the surface with a clean rag, either inside or out, and 

 that is all. The benzine soon evaporates and leaves a 

 coating of wax, which most every good mechanic knows 

 is absolutely waterproof. I have used this preparation 

 on breech pins and nipples, on muzzleloaders, and after 

 years of abuse, when they were one solid lump of rust, 

 the pins and nipples would start as easily as when first 

 put in. This is also useful for cutlery or any polished 

 iron or steel surfaces. 



The most si tuple a <l efficient pocket cleaner for a rifle 

 that I ever used or saw is a piece of stout cord with a 

 loop hi one end and a, piece of lead for a weight on the 

 other. Pass a piece of flannel say 1ft. long, and for a .40- 

 cal. 18in. wide, through the loop; insert the weight at the 

 breech end of the barrel; let it drop through to the 

 muzzle, then draw the flannel through. When it is dirty, 

 wash it out in the first brook you come to. It docs not 

 pay to shoot a dirty gun. 



How shall I make my wads stay in place and not start 

 from the recoil of the other barrel? For a 10-gauge brass 

 ahelluseNo. 8 pink-edge wads. Take an old table knife and 

 pJCTid the end so that it will be sharp, with a long taper or 

 bevel. Grind alike on both sides, and have the edge very 

 thin. The end of the cutter for a 10-gauge should be 

 BEk, wide; for a 12-bore j^in. narrower. Cut the wad 

 through the center, and again at right angles to the first 

 'cut, leaving it intact at the edges. Load the shells in 

 the ordinary way, with a funnel, of course. When the 

 wad leaves the muzzle the four quarters fly as many dif- 

 ferent ways, and may be picked up close to the muzzle. 

 This allows the shot to fly through the wad, virtually 

 [offering no resistance to impede its flight, and is claimed 

 by some to give a better pattern, but as to that matter I 

 icannot say. However, it holds the wad in the shell and 

 gives a lubricated wad ahead of the shot, and that is a 

 great improvement over cardboard wads in brass shells. 



How shall I make my gun shoot close for long range? 

 I have tried wire cartridges, thread wound cartridges, 

 : concentrators, regulators, and lots of bone dust, wax, 

 and all sorts of villainous compounds that were said to 

 improve the pattern and range, and after spending a 

 good deal of time a r d money and experimenting a good 

 deal besides, I find that a good chokebore gun with shells 

 loaded as follows will produce the best results: Powder 

 as usual, two pink-edge wads; then moisten the charge 

 of shot thoroughly, but not too much, with good castor 

 oil. Almost every one knows the superior heavy lubri- 

 cating qualities of castor oil. This lessens the friction 

 along the barrel, giving greater velocity and therefore 

 greater penetration. The sticky qualities of the oil help 

 to hold the charge of shot together and make a very close 

 pattern, and therefore increase the range. I have tried 

 it on the different sizes of shot ranging from No. 1 to No. 

 7, inclusive, and it works splendidly; have not tried it on 

 larger shot, but my impression is favorable of it. To 

 finish loading the shell, cut the wads as I have described 

 (for brass shells) and seat them level. This will increase 

 the range for from 20 to 40yds. , and is very useful in duck 

 shooting, etc. In another letter I may have something 

 to say regarding a ne w rifle, where the shell is grooved 

 to coincide with the groove in the barrel, and where the 

 problem of the breechloader convenience with muzzle- 

 loader accuracy is solved. Iron Ramrod. 



Quail in Kentucky.— Newport, Ky., July 17.— In this 

 part of the State the quail seem to be more numerous 

 than for a long time. Indeed for several years we have 

 had but few of these birds. Under a fairly stringent law 

 which is generally respected, they are on the increase, 

 and with moderate protection cannot fail to become very 

 numerous. In driving over the hills south of here I hear 

 the cheerfull call of the male bird on all sides and some- 

 times see the broods feeding in the fields. This is the 

 natural home of the quail. Food is abundant and the 

 storms of winter are rarely severe enough to do much 

 harm to the bevies. This season having been warm and 

 dry has been an exceptionally favorable one for the birds. 

 I A good many ruffed grouse are coming to be killed about 

 ■ here, something that we have not been used to in this 

 vicinity. — Thirty-Seven. 



"The Forest Waters the Farm."— By M. Antonin Rous- 

 set. Translated by the Rev. S, W. Powell (New York: Forest 

 and Stream Publishing Company), With a wise understand- 

 ing of the necessity of appealing directly to the land workers 

 the French Academy of Arts and Sciences at Aix offered, some 

 years ago, a prize for an essay on the general subject of 

 forestry, which should be suited to popular instruction. 

 "The Studies of Master Peter," of which the volume before 

 us is a translation, was the successful work. It is a series of 

 familiar talks between Master Peter, a practical farmer, and 

 the village schoolmaster. The former at the outset has the 

 "practical man's" distrust of a theorist, and. carries on his 

 side of the debate with much spirit, but, like all men of 

 straw, is at last beaten in argument by his opponent's 

 Socratic methods, and is converted and instructed. The evils 

 of deforestation are strikingly shown, and the French Gov- 

 ernment's plan of rep] anting'the hillsides is proved to be of 

 ultimate and substantial benefit to the peasant. The trans- 

 lator's introduction tells with point and force the story of 

 the fight with the lawless torrents of the Rhone, stating 

 among other things, that the great Garonne Flood of 1875, 

 by which 1,000 lives were lost, and damage to the extent of 

 300.000,000 francs was done, could have been rendered almost 

 harmless by this work if it had been begun earlier and 

 carried out more speedily. The headwaters of the Hudson 

 and Mississippi need protection as well as those of the Rhone 

 and the Garonne, and no better treatise on the subject of 

 forest preservation and restoration could be. put into the 

 hands of those who should be forced to recognize the im- 

 portance of these measures.— Christian Union. 



m mid Jftrer fishing. 



Address all communications to the Forest and St/ream Puh. Co. 



WHERE BOSTON ANGLERS FISH. 



FRESHETS in the Maine and New Hampshire lakes 

 and rivers are the rule this year. The daily papers 

 are again full of accounts of a great rise in the waters of 

 New Hampshire, and the last reports tell of higher waters 

 m western Maine. All this means catching trout to the 

 sportsman who is fortunate enough to be there just as the 

 water has cleared and begun to fall. The freshet sets the 

 trout in motion, and they bite vigorously as soon as the 

 roil has settled and the waters are calm. The record of 

 freshets in the trout waters of New England is a most 

 remarkable one this year. There is likely to be a little 

 fishing for the vacationist, provided he knows enough to 

 catch the wily trout. 



Some of the long-time sportsmen of Boston are seeking 

 new spots — not willingly all of them; business compels 

 them to take what they can get. Mr. Daniel Gunn, a 

 veteran sportsman, and a warm friend of the Forest 

 and Stream, has teen so closely tied to his printing busi- 

 ness for the past three or f our years as to be deprived of 

 his annual trip to the Maine lakes. But every year his 

 rods have been looked over as fondly as the veteran 

 sportsman only can look them over, but circumstances 

 have kept him at home. Last year he was a member of 

 the Legislature, and the late session on Beacon Hill kept 

 Mr. Gunn in Boston till the best of the trout season was 

 over. But this year circumstances have begun to favor. 

 Business called our friend to Pictou, Nova Scotia, and he 

 took those fish rods with him. At Pictou he hired a 

 team, and driving across a most pleasing country to the 

 lover of nature, he reached Country Harbor, famous lor 

 its sea trout. Here he found them— the trout, of course 

 —waiting for the tide to permit them to pass over the bar 

 and up the river. He put on a red fly, according to in- 

 structions, and in his own words, "I didn't need any 

 other." The sport was rare to the lover of the fly-rod. 

 The trout were brought to the net after a deal of such 

 fighting as the sea trout only is capable of. They ranged 

 in weight all the way from -J pound to 3 pounds. Mr. 

 Gunn is greatly pleased with his excursion. I met him 

 on the street a day or two ago, looking better for his out- 

 ing. He grabbed" me by the hand, with the exclamation, 

 "I've gone and done it!" 

 "Done what? Been a-fishing, I suppose?" 

 "Y've hit it the first time! I knew you would." 

 And then he stopped me — most willingly on my part — 

 till he had given me the above account. 



A couple of Boston sportsmen— I am going to call them 

 sportsmen, though they are still novices, but they have 

 the love of nature and the right ideas— ha ye just returned 

 from an enjoyable excursion, and altogether somewhat of 

 a new one. They left Boston by steamer for St. John. At 

 St. John they took the train for a beautiful ride to Andover 

 or Tobique, at the junction of the Tobique River with the 

 St. John. At Andover they hired Indian guides at $1.50 

 per day including canoe, for a long trip up the Tobique to 

 Tobique Lake. The distance in some 70 or 80 miles and it 

 took seven days, on the water all the daylight, to reach 

 the lake, but the run down the river was made in only 

 about two and a half days. They describe the river as a 

 grand stream at the start, but before the lake is reached 

 it narrows down so as to be spanned by a fallen tree, 

 which had to be walked around, and the canoes lifted 

 over. The scenery they describe as grand in the extreme. 

 The country is rough and mountainous. The borders of 

 the rivers are all red sandstone, and in some places the 

 cliffs are more than a hundred feet high above the water. 

 But at the same time the river is wonderfully free from 

 falls or rapids that have to be carried around. Only on 

 one or tw r o occasions were they obliged to leave the canoes 

 by reason of rapid water, though it often took the full 

 strength of the stalwart Tobique or rather Mirimachi 

 Indian to force the frail craft up against the current. 



As soon as they had passed the mouth of the Wapske- 

 hegan (I have spelled this name according to one atlas, 

 but another has it differently) they begun to catch all the 

 trout they desired. They rose freely to the fly; rather 

 smallish fish for the backwoods, ranging from half a 

 pound to a pound and a half. The river is wonderfully 

 crooked. At first it runs a little to the east of north, and 

 in this way generally for forty or fifty miles, when it 

 turns abruptly and runs to the east for some tw*enty miles. 

 Then it breaks abruptly to the right again and runs 

 almost due south for some twenty miles more into the 

 lake. At the lake they found rare fishing, but no very 

 large trout. They were told that the larger trout could 

 be taken in the spring by trolling or with a sunken bait; 

 but they went as fly-fishermen, and did not try the bait. 

 The lake is also called "Trousers Lake," from the fancied 

 resemblance to a pair of pants. The legs of the trousers 

 are some six'niiles long, while the body makes up a good- 

 sized body of water. At the lake the young sportsmen — 

 I will give then names right here — Mr. Henry Savage and 

 Mr. W. P. Tenney, both well known in the coffee trade of 

 Boston — found the trout to rise very freely to the fly, but 

 they also found some difficulty in hooking them. All this 

 i3 explained to the older fly-fisherman when it is re- 

 marked that the boys had never till on this trip had the 

 pleasure of catching trout with the fly. On the down- 

 ward journey to civilization — at the lake there is not a 

 house within fifty miles— at the mouth of the Wapske- 

 hegan, they met Bishop Neally, of Portland, Me., and a 

 Mr. Johnson, of Lewiston, both for salmon bent. But up 

 to that time they had the luck that has usually come to 

 the salmon fisherman in New Brunswick waters this 

 year. The boys themselves caught a f e v small salmon. 



In September the young men are determined to try the 

 same river again. The trip they pronounce a cheap one, 

 and the woods are full of game, moose, deer and caribou. 

 They saw moose tracks and deer tracks, while the caribou 

 are pronounced very plenty by the Indian guides. They 

 assured the boys that they could get three a day in the 

 winter, but the boys don't care for that kind of hunting. 

 The Indians are noted Clusters of moose and deer. It is 

 the idea of these young men that it is about aU the meat 

 they get. It is also certain that these same Indians have 

 caused the Maine. Commissioners trouble enough by com- 

 ing over the border and crusting moose and deer. But 

 the government of the Province is after them. The 

 j-udians are good with paddle, but they are poor still- 



hunters, and as for moose calling, why, the" best of them 

 that the boys saw declared that such a thing was almost 

 impossible; that only one had been killed in that way 

 for a long time. When the snow is deep they follow up 

 moose and kill them with a shotgun or revolver. Par- 

 tridge and ducks the young men f ound to be very plenty, 

 the former tame enough to be knocked over with sticks. 

 In attempting to make a portage alone the young men 

 were lost in the woods for a time, and they had nothing 

 in the shape of food with them. They had begun to make 

 up then minds to "take a beeline" for the river, wdiich 

 they were sure that they could reach by following a cer- 

 tain course for forty or fifty miles, but the question of 

 food came up. After they had found the trail and got to 

 camp they told the Indian guides of their resolution, with 

 nothing but the want of food hindering them. The 

 Indians coolly suggested that they might have knocked 

 over partridges enough with stones to have kept them 

 from starving. But the boys have hardly seen the pos- 

 sibility of obtaining food in such a precarious manner 

 yet. Perhaps the trip this fall will show how it is done. 

 It may be remarked that the Tobique Lake may be 

 reached by a much shorter way by taking the Wapskehe- 

 gan to its source, and then over a" carry for 12 or 15 miles 

 to the lake. Special. 



MEMORIES THAT DO NOT FADE.— II. 



WHEN I began writing these reflections of my early 

 experiences in sporting life, I had promised myself 

 to relate how I had succeeded with the various kinds of 

 fish that abounded in the waters of the beautiful Con- 

 necticut, on whose banks I spent my early fife. I thought 

 of the yellow perch, pickerel, roach and striped bass (we 

 had no black bass then in that vicinity), the bullheads (or 

 horned pout, as they were sometimes called), ugly-look- 

 ing things when caught, yet divested of their jacket and 

 fried crisp and brown in pork fat, they are sweet and 

 delicious fish. Then there were the suckers I used to 

 spear (they seldom dre w a hook into their round mouths) 

 in a pool near the apron of the old gristmill wheel. 

 Sacred old mill — it is silent now, moss-covered and crum- 

 bling, but would bring me many sweet memories could I 

 visit it again, though the pleasant and good old man who 

 guided its motions has long since passed beyond the veil. 

 The shine) - was there, combining the beauties of the silver 

 and gold fish of the present day; and the eel which used 

 to get my line into a fearful snarl, when I was so unfor- 

 tunate as to hook one, for I could not get the hook from 

 his mouth until I had killed him, a task not easily per- 

 formed, as they are as tenacious of life as a turtle or cat; 

 but the way to catch them is with a"bob." Did you ever 

 go bobbing eels? if not you have lost lots of fun. Do 

 you know how to do it? Fasten a broom splinter about 

 six inches long to a strong linen thread; dig a panful of 

 the largest and toughest angle-worms you can find and 

 string them from end to end until you have two or three 

 yards of the string filled, or rathe/ until you have two 

 or three yards of" worms filled with string; then loop 

 them together until you have a ball about the size of a 

 goose egg, through which you fasten your line and sinker. 

 Select a moonless evening, anchor your boat in about six 

 feet of water, where the bottom is soft and oozy, and you 

 can haul them up and drop them into the boat until you 

 get tired of the fun, which is heightened considerably by 

 having three or four girls in the boat, for the eels "will 

 not keep still and the girls cannot. Tlus may not be 

 artistic sport, but as I remember it, it was honest, home- 

 like fun. 



These and many more things, as I have before said, I 

 had promised myself to rehearse, but my brother Yankee 

 and piscatorial friend "C. L.," in his admirable article in 

 your issue of the 14th inst., entitled "Pioneer Fishing," 

 has taken the wind all out of my sails by going over 

 much the same course I had marked out, and that too in 

 a more interesting manner than I could have done. In 

 referring to his article he will allow me to say that the 

 dace he caught on the Potomac or its tributary must have 

 been a better fish than the dace I caught in. the Con- 

 necticut, for those were a soft and inferior fish, making- 

 good pickerel bait, but only fair eating when cooked soon 

 after coming out of the water. My trout fishing was con- 

 fined to small streams and usually small trout; there 

 were no lakes containing trout, and as the streams w ere 

 small and generally shut in by thickets of brush and 

 trees, I never succeeded well with the fly, but often used 

 it, putting a lively worm on the hook, making a sort of 

 double attraction. Perhaps this was not the strictly 

 scientific way of doing it, but it usually won. 



Some of my amateur readers may wish to know when 

 fish will bite best, or perhaps strike is the proper word, 

 but we used to call it bite when the fish meant business 

 and nibble when he was prospecting and fooling around 

 the hook. In tidewater both salt and fresh, from half 

 ebb to half flood is the best time to wet a line ; but as a 

 general rule (without wishing to seem witty) fish in small 

 and large streams will bite best when they are hungry ; 

 this will occur when the streams are not swollen by 

 floods, which stir up the beds and wash the banks, thus 

 releasing worms, grubs and other food which the fish 

 readily get in abundance, thus satisfying their hunger 

 and making your fly or bait less attractive. I heard an 

 old saw in my vouth something like this, " Go fishing 

 when it rains so "hard you cannot work out door," but I 

 never found any advantage in fishing for any kind of fish 

 when it rained very hard; a cloudy or misty day has the 

 advantage of preventing your being so readily seen by 

 the fish, and it is more comfortable fishing in open water, 

 than on a clear bright day. Probably most old sportsmen 

 have noticed, as I have, that fish will not strike or bite so 

 well during a full moon, which verifies my saying, that 

 they bite best when hungry, and having been aided by the 

 light of the moon to feed at night, are enabled to spend 

 their time as best suits them during the day, without 

 hunting for a hook which they have not lost. For rea- 

 sons befora stated I will not encroach further upon your 

 space, with this subject, except to say that like "a thing 

 of beauty," the memories of my early haunts by river, 

 brook and lake, are still a joy to me, and fade not. 



A. 



[As no two persons see the same thing in precisely 

 the same way, so too, no two will review it alike ; and 

 "A." need not give over relating his reminiscences.] 



Camp Flotsam. — The old camp has driven new stakes, 

 and we are on Muskoka waters. Reports of the fishing 

 would send some of our friends to an asylum for the 

 dazed etmld they but listen to theim— Wawayanda. 



