260 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 20, 1887. 



United States, where the mothods of fishculture are heat un- 

 derstood and have been most productive of beneficial results, 

 it is natural to suppose that tne same course would have been 

 often suggested, and such has really been the case. None of 

 the trials have, however, been made according to the most 

 approved methods of fish propagation, and inefficient means 

 for carrying on any such practical experiments with respect 

 to salt water species of nsh have alone prevented the Fish 

 Commission from engaging in this work before. 



It would be impossible, within the limits of this paper, to 

 cite even a portion of the evidence bearing upon the decrease 

 of lobsters which has been collected, but following are a few 

 of the remarks with which this subject is introduced in the 

 report already referred to: 



"An illustration of the rapidity with which the lobsters 

 of a small area may be caught up is furnished by a salt 

 water iulet on the coast of Maine, m which lobsters were at 

 one time very abundant. This basin opens directly into the 

 sea, and is sufficiently large to have afforded a remunerative 

 fishery to several lobstermen. Two years' tiro e was suffici ent 

 to reduce the supply of lobsters to such an extent that fish- 

 ing became unprofitable. After an interval of about five 

 years they again became abundant, and the supply was once 

 more exhausted. Had this inlet not been so situated that it 

 readily received supplies from without it is probable that it 

 would have required a much longer time to become replen- 

 ished. 



"On a much larger scale has been the depletion of the once 

 noted grounds about Cape Cod, which at one time furnished 

 nearlv all the lobsters consumed in New York city, in the 

 early'part of the century this fishery was entirely in the 

 hands of fishermen from other States, principally Connecti- 

 cut, who came to Cape Cod with their smacks, and after 

 catching a load carried it to New York or Boston. As early 

 as 1812 the citizens of Provincetown realized the danger of 

 exhausting the grounds about their town and succeeded in 

 having a protective law passed by the State Legislature. 

 More or less stringent regulations respecting the lobster 

 fishery of Cape Cod have been in force from that time down 

 to date, and they have probably done good service in prolong- 

 ing the fishery; but the period of its prosperity has long since 

 passed, as continued over-fishing has so exhausted the 

 grounds on almost every portion of Cape Cod that they are 

 no longer profitable even to the few men who still set their 

 traps there. From the sketch of this region, given further 

 on, it will be seen that the decrease has not been a temporary 

 one, although an entire rest for a long period of time might 

 possibly allow it to recover more or less of its former abund- 

 ant supplies. As it is, no large catches are now made, 

 and but few lobsters are carried away from the Cape. 



1 'The immediate vicinity of Provincetown has suffered most 

 in this respect, but scarcely more than any portion of the 

 t oast from that town to Boston on the one side and to New 

 Bedford, on the other. Vineyard Sound proper and the 

 vicinity of Wood's Holl, Mass., have afforded but poor 

 catches for a number of years; but the region about Gay 

 Head has continued to attract the lobstermen down to the 

 present time. Each succeeding year, however, lobsters have 

 appeared to he less plentiful, and during the spring months 

 and June of 1885, scarcely anything has been done. The 

 fishermen are discouraged, and are forced to attribute the 

 scarcity to over-fishing, the possibility of which many of 

 them have all along denied. At Cuttyhuuk Island the catch 

 for 1885 was less than one-fourth that for 1880, and the same 

 was reported of the remainder of the Elizabeth Islands, No 

 Man's Land and Gay Head. 



"In the waters of Rhode Island and Connecticut a large 

 decrease of lobsters is reported by many of the fishermen, 

 and the increased catch for the few years preceding 1880 was 

 obtained only by the use of a much larger number of traps 

 than was employed formerly. Although the fishery in those 

 States was begun very many years ago, it is only within 

 comparatively recent times that it has been extensively 

 carried on, 



"On the coast of Maine the evidences of decrease are very 

 strong, especially as regards the shallower areas, but the 

 rapid extension' of the grounds into comparatively deep 

 water has made the actual decrease less apparent. The 

 rocky bottoms of the coast of Maine are also supposed to 

 afford the lobsters greater protection than the sandy ones to 

 the south, and in many places the traps cannot be set as 

 closely together, nor is it possible that the lobsters in such 

 localities move about as much in search of food. 



"The greatest decrease, has occurred within the past fifteen 

 to twenty years, or since the establishment of numerotts can- 

 neries and of the perfected methods of transporting fresh 

 lobsters to all parts of the country. The demand being so 

 much greater than the supply, there are no restrictions on 

 the amount of the catch beyond those imposed by the State 

 laws or resulting from the scarcity of lobsters. Pish are 

 among the greatest enemies of the lobster, and cod are 

 known to consume enormous quantities; but nature has pro- 

 vided against their extinction by such means, and it is man 

 alone who has disturbed the balance." 



The above remarks were based mainly upon the fishery in- 

 vestigations of 1880, since which evidences of continued 

 decrease have been constantly received. About a year ago 

 a prominent Boston dealerwrote that^he was receiving large 

 quantities of lobsters from Nova Scotia, as the Maine fishery 

 was totally inadequate to supply the demand, the amount 

 obtained from that State having been less than in previous 

 years. 



One of the strongest evidences of decrease in abundance is 

 afforded by the continuous decrease in the average size of the 

 lobsters sent to the markets. The exact amount of this de- 

 crease is not determinable, as no records bearing upon this 

 subject were made prior to 1880, but the fact was granted by 

 the fishermen and canners, even iu those regions where a 

 perceptible decrease in numbers was not admitted. The 

 average weight of the lobsters marketed in most places in 

 1880 was estimated to be about 21bs. each. A New Haven 

 correspondent stated that the average length of the lobster 

 sold in the markets in that place in 1880 was about lOj^in., 

 and the average weight about gibs., against an average 

 length of about 13>£iu. and an average weight of about 

 a^lbs. twenty years ago. Tn Boston the market lobster 

 ranged but little above the limit in size permitted by the 

 State laws, and that seems to be the case nearly everywhere. 

 In Portland, Me., the average length of the lobsters mark- 

 eted in 1880 was about 10)£in., and in Boston 11 to llklm, 

 while in New York city the range in size was from 10},{ to 

 15in. . 



The facts above stated apply only to the larger distribut- 

 ing centers, where custom had prescribed the minimum 

 limit in size of the lobsters marketed, before protective laws 

 were enacted. At that ti me there was an abundance of large 

 lobsters, and the smaller individuals were regarded as of 

 little account for the fresh trade. Tbey have, however, been 

 used for a long time by the canneries on the coast of Maine, 

 by the fishermen as bait, and to supply local demands. The 

 quantity of lobst ers consum ed , measu rmg 1 ess than ten inch es 

 in length is, therefore, very great, and on some portions of 

 the Maine coast the canneries make use of only those that 

 are too small for the fresh-market trade. In fact the greater 

 proportion of the lobsters now canned are less than ten 

 inches long. From these statements it will be seen that 

 there is a steady demand for lobsters of all sizes, and that 

 but a limited protection is afforded either by laws or custom. 



The American lobster has been taken as far south as off 

 Cape Hatteras, N. C, where a single medium-sized indi- 

 vidual (13in. long) was dredged from a depth of forty-nine 

 fathoms by the Fish Commission steamer Albatross in 1884. 

 Two or three examples have also been recorded from the 

 northwestern part of the sea coast of Virginia, but the Dela- 



ware Breakwater may be regarded as practically the south- 

 ern limit of its range, although it is not at all common at 

 that place and is rarely fished for. Lobsters are somewhat 

 more abundant off Atlantic City and Long Branch, N. J., 

 where they afford a limited fishery, and in New York Bay 

 and the adjacent regions they were at one time quite plenti- 

 ful, but over-fishing and the pollution of the waters have 

 almost entirely exterminated them there. Passing eastward 

 through Long Island Sound, they gradually increase in 

 abundance as we approach the Block Island region, and 

 from there to the extreme northern limit of the coast of 

 Massachusetts, wherever the bottom was suited to them, 

 they were formerly exceedingly abundant. The first im- 

 portant fishery originated along this section of the coast, 

 Cape Cod at one time having f Tarnished New York city with 

 nearly all its supplies. The sandy shores of New Hampshire 

 are. not so prolific in lobsters as are those of either of the 

 adjoining States. Maine is now the principal source of sup- 

 ply for all the larger markets of this country, the yearly 

 fishery of that State greatly exceeding in quantity and value 

 those of all the other States combined. 



Most of the British maritime provinces abound in lobsters 

 which are especially plentiful on both the ocean and gulf 

 coasts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, these two coun- 

 tries now affording the most extensive lobster fishery in the 

 world. They appear to be much less common in Newfound- 

 land and Labrador, possibly because they have been less 

 fished for there. Lobsters are not known to migrate except 

 very short distances, mainly in the spring and fall, when 

 they change their grounds, moving into deep water on the 

 approach of cold weather, and returning nearer to the shore 

 in the late spring. The fall migrations are solely for the 

 purpose of escaping the cold of winter, the shallower sum- 

 mer grounds probably furnishing a better supply of food. 

 The extent of the movements depends more or less upon the 

 character of the coast, for where the bottom slopes off very 

 gradually they will heed to go a much greater distance to 

 reach a suitable depth of water than where deep holes occur 

 near their summer grounds. The summer fishery is mainly 

 in depths of a very few to 15 or 20 fathoms, the winter fishery 

 in 25 to 60 fathoms. On the coast of Maine the traps are 

 sometimes set in such shallow water that they lie partly ex- 

 posed at low tide. Formerly some fishing was done along 

 the shores by means of gaffs and dip-nets, but lobsters rarely 

 occur in such favorable localities now. 



It is supposed that lobsters do not travel much along 

 the coast though they probably change their grounds from 

 time to time in search of food. On some portions of the 

 coast the fishermen claim to have good evidence of the school- 

 ing of lobsters, and state that the schools appear and disap- 

 pear suddenly, indicating the possession of certain migratory 

 habits, but there is no proof that their migrations extend far, 

 and they are very different in character from those of the true 

 fishes. We have no evidence to prove that any one region has 

 been directly benefited by large accessions from an adjoining 

 region, and the extent to which some districts have been de- 

 pleted by over-fishing without subsequent recovery indicates 

 that the supplies of one region are but little dependent upon 

 those of another, at least not for immediate relief. The Cape 

 Cod lobster fishery has been at a low standing for many years, 

 and although but few men have engaged in the fishery of 

 that region for a long time, there are, as yet, no signs of im- 

 provement. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



F IXT U R ES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Dec. 6 to 8.— Third Annual Dog Show of the Central Berkshire 

 Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association. W. T. Wehster, Sec- 

 retarv. Lee, Mass. 



Dec. 14 to 10.— Third Annual Dog Show of the Winsted Kennel 

 Club. Frank D. Hallett, Superintendent, Winsted, Conn. Entries 

 close Dec. 3. 



Feb. 31 to 24, 1888.— Twelfth Annual Show of the Westminster Ken- 

 nel Club, Madison Square Garden, New York. James Mortimer, 

 Superintendent. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Oct. 17 to 22.— Second Annual Meeting of the American Coursing 

 Club, at Groat Bend, Kan. G. I. Royce, Secretary, Topeka, Kan. 



Nov. 7.— First Annual Field Trials of the Indiana Kennel Club 

 at Bicknel, Ind. Open to dogs owned in Indiana. P. T. Madison, 

 Secretary, Lock Box 4, Indianapolis, Ind. Entries close Oct. 25. 



Nov. 7.'— Third Annual Field Trial's of the Western Field Trials 

 Association. R. C. Van Horn, Secretary, Kansas City, Mo. 



Nov. 21.— Ninth Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field Trials 

 Club, at High Point N. C. W. A. Coster, Secretary, Flatbush, 

 Kings County, N. Y. 



December.— First Annual Field Trials of the American Field 

 Trials Club, at Florence, Ala. C. W. Paris, Secretary, Cincinnati, 

 O. 



Jan. 10. 1888.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Texas Field 

 Trials Club, at Marshall, Tex. W. L. Thomas, Secretary, Mar- 

 shall, Tex. 



Jan. 10.— Fifth Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Coast Field 

 Trial Club, near Kingsburgh, Oal. N. P. Sheklen, Secretary, 320 

 Sansome street, San Francisco, Cal. 



A. K. R.-SPECIAL NOTICE. 



THE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration 

 of pedigrees, etc. (with prize lists of all shows and trials;, is 

 published every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should he in 

 early. Entry blanks sent on receipt of stamped and addressed 

 envelope. Registration fee (60 cents) must accompany each entry. 

 No entries inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription 

 81.50. Address "American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New 

 York. Number of entries already printed 5492. 



ELMIRA DOG SHOW. 



HORN ELLSVILLE. N. Y., Oct. 16— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I was judge and superintendent of the Che- 

 mung county fair, held at Elmira, N. Y., Oct. 4 to 7. For 

 the first attempt the show was good; about 125 entries. The 

 awards in many instances are no good as a record, because 

 the names of the* dogs were not given. 



Foxhounds were the best class I have ever seen. The win- 

 ner in the bitch class was C. W. Robinson's Lady Nay] or. 

 Spot, who won first at Hornellsville in English setters also 

 won first at Elmira, a good dog of the right type. Irish set- 

 ters were quite a good class, Mr. Gaylor's pair, Mr. Arnot's 

 pup and Mr. Gallagher's Peggy O'More would he in .the 

 money at any show. Mr. Gaylor also showed an extra good 

 brace of pointer pups. Graphic— Clover; if nothing goes 

 wrong they will be heard from later. There were two good 

 Yorkshires, the winner in dog class also won first at New 

 Brunswick and second, Boston, 1887. The Hornell Spaniel 

 Club entered sixteen for exhibition only. In spaniels Mr. 

 Eustace's Mack won first in dogs and Mr. Nashe's Sister in 

 Black, first in puppies; she is the best I have ever seen. Mr. 

 Van Ness, of Hornellsville, won first in beagles with his 

 pretty little basket beagle Mignon. 



The dog show proved to be one of the greatest attractions 

 of the fair, the building being crowded with visitors all the 

 time. Thev will form a kennel club and ask for admission 

 to the A. K. C, next year and will offer premiums large 

 enough to bring out the crack dogs of the country. 



J. Otis Fellows. 



SPANIELS FOR BENCH AND FIELD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



i I beg leave to take issue with your correspondent, Mr. H. 

 G. Charlesworth, when he says "I will not stand quietly by 

 and see two or three inches taken from their bodies and 

 added to their legs," and in the sentence above he gives the 

 names of dogs that he has evidently never seen as types, Old 

 Tippo and Toronto .Jet. Old Tippo was by no means a 

 "sausage," but a dog that stood on fairly long legs, if I may 

 use the term to distinguish it from what is now the fashion, 

 i. c, short legs. Toronto Jet was a good bitch, but would 

 not be looked at now as she was not made on the modem 

 mould, still these two dogs were able to do an amount of 

 work, as our good old friend Mr. Kelly, of Woodstock (since 

 dead), has often told me of the work they have done and the 

 number of birds he has killed over them, aud that, too, after 

 the ground had been thoroughly hunted over by setters and 

 pointers and drawn blank. What we want to get are dogs 

 of the Tippo stamp if we want to use them for the field. I 

 may say I have had all types of cockers, from the old liver 

 and white to the most modern black, and this I can say from 

 daily experience that the long-bodied, short-legged dog can- 

 not holdout and do his work as well as his shorter-bodied, 

 less fashionable ancestor did. 



Cannot we strike a happy medium and possess both a fash- 

 ionably made and useful 'dog for the held? The original 

 standard of the American Cocker Spaniel Club is about 

 rights — i. e., have the dog from tip of nose to root of tail 

 rather more than twice the height, and given as weight under 

 281bs. This will give a dog about 13 to 14in. at shoulder and 

 about 28in. long for the maximum. And of course the 

 smaller dog will be less length according to weight and 

 height. An Itin. at shoulder should be about 23in. long. 

 Auy great divergence from these measurements will give a 

 dog out of proportion to the standard. I do not like, in a 

 correspondence such as this is, to see an animus such as Mr. 

 0. displays to every one who does not think with him (and, 

 at the same time, he does not give his own ideas as to size 

 and shape). What really animates Mr. Nelles ; I should say 

 from his correspondence, is to get what is the right standard, 

 and I think he is on the proper course. 



The. modern cocker is drifting into unknown waters where 

 the soundings have not been taken, and I fear if Mr. Nelles 

 and others interested do not use the lead the "bark" of the 

 cocker will be wrecked among the crocodiles, weasels, double- 

 action Skyes, etc. "Uncle Dick" is right; the standard is 

 right, but judges and the public are wrong, and are taking 

 away both symmetry and usefulness from the cocker spaniel. 



Editor Forest and >tn "<n : 



If, as Mr. Charlesworth says, his sole reason for attacking 

 Mr. Osborne was to take him to task for his attack upon 

 Mr. Kirk, I should have been the last one to make any men- 

 tion of it, or at least only praised him in so doing, as all who 

 know our gentlemanly judge are aware that he conscien- 

 tiously makes his awards to those he considers deserve them, 

 without fear or favor. But as nearly half of Mr. Charles- 

 worth's letter— and that the finst half— consisted in a per- 

 sonal attack upon Mr. Osborne because he ventured to praise 

 his own dogs in particular and Mr. Fellows's in general; his 

 reason was not very apparent. 



I am with Mr. Charlesworth that "the cocker as recog- 

 nized to-day is a handsome dog, hardy, plucky and intelli- 

 gent," but the question lam agitating and to which I beg 

 him to confine himself is: Can they work? Mr. Charles- 

 worth says they can. I say they cannot and I have proved it 

 and can prove it again, not on paper, but in the field. Ihave 

 frequently gone out for a day or two with a couple of my 

 prize winners, together with one or two leggier dogs and if 

 the ground has been rough and the brush thick the former 

 have invariably been found at heel before the day is half 

 over and so fagged out that one could not have the heart to 

 force them on again. 



Mr. Charlesworth says: "For mixed work, or retrieving 

 from the wat er, we should use a different kind of dog." I 

 would direct his attention to "Stonehenge," and he wi 11 find 

 in the description of the dog we are now discussing: "This 

 dog is now expected to be the ser van t-of-all- work to the 

 shooter, and takes his turn at rabbits, pheasants, or even 

 partridges, when he is called upon, with the greatest zest." 

 Could any one find more mixed or varied work than this? I 

 am sorry Mr. Charlesworth finds himself unable to accept 

 Mr. Osborne's challenge, not that 1 would care to have our 

 Canadian clogs beaten by the Detroiter, but because it would 

 be the surest aud quickest way to show him his error, and 

 win one more to our side. But I was forgetting he "breeds 

 cockers simply Cor the love of them," and be would no doubt 

 he another example of the "man convinced against his will." 

 But this love of his must have grown amazingly within the 

 last six months, when, in reply to my asking if he would sell 

 a certain dog, he said, "Yes; 1 will sell anything I have if I 

 get my price. " 



Most certainly I alluded to the American Spaniel Club, 

 and as a member of that institution I consider that I have a 

 perfect right to speak on the matter, and shall continue to 

 do so, notwithstanding any man's opinion that I am "not 

 wanting in assurance." 



I am accused of being "ready to cast aside my prize win- 

 ners and breed anything that people ask for," whereas it is 

 simply this— I always have, and always will, endeavor to 

 have the best dogs in the country, and as our shows are held 

 for the purpose of deciding the merits of our dogs, the judges 

 having the power of placing one strai n or type above another, 

 their decisions being considered final by the public at large, 

 therefore I shall endeavor to keep pace with them, and as 

 long as they champion the cause of our short-legged dogs, 

 just so long will I continue to breed them. But should they 

 see fit to recognize a leggier dog then I shall feel in duty 

 bound to alter my strai u until it again meets with their ap- 

 proval and comes again to the top. But how a man can 

 consistently charge me with being mercenary for advocating 

 a change that will clearly throw my present kennel— or a 

 part of it— out of both the market and the ring, thus wast- 

 ing the time and money I have already spent in bringing 

 them to their present high standard, is more than 1 can 

 understand. I cannot agree with Mr. Charlesworth that I 

 have no ideal, most certainly I have one, but it is not the 

 modern show cocker. My former letter showed that I had 

 most decided ideas of my own on the subject and was not 

 afraid to say so. 



As regards feather I say again that the American standard 

 allows more scope in this direction than the English, for 

 while the latter distinctly warns us against its being too 

 profuse the former gives no such warning, thus leaving a 

 loophole which many are abusing by breeding dogs with too 

 much feather, which iu the field is anything but an advan- 

 tage. And over and over again at the shows during the past 

 season have I seen judges laying stress upon this point and 

 allowing profuse feathering to count for the dog, and vice 

 versa. But it is not a question of one standard against an- 

 other, but simply this, is the cocker of the future to be a 

 working dog, or a house dog and a pet, or are we to have two 

 types, one to fill each bill? 



'The object of my former letter as I stated was purely to 

 improve our present type of dog and bring him into the field 

 again, which is his proper place. But if Mr. Charlesworth 

 wants to continue to breed a house dog let him do so by all 

 means, but he need not play the dog in the manger by trying 

 to prevent our bringing about a change, for he tells us he is 

 quite content to breed for his own pleasure and no doubt he 

 will in a few years give us the fruits of his labor and present 

 us With a "Charlesworth spaniel," thus handing his name 

 down to doggy posterity. I have no objections lam sure to 



