Feb. 24, 1387.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



93 



THE MIDDLESEX TOURNAMENT. 



DUNELLEN, N. J., Feb. 21.— The first annual tournament of the 

 Middlesex Gun Club opened at Dunellen, N. J., on the 21st i nst. 

 under very favorable auspices. Many were tho fears of bad 

 weather from the snow storm of the evening before, but the 

 weather moderated, and though tho sun failed to com" out in full 

 force, the air was mild and the snow soon disappeared. There 

 wero numbers from abroad. Among tho celebrated trigger meu 

 (and far more will bo on hand to-morrow) we recognized Stice, of 

 Winchester Arms Co. (and, by the way, he handled one of their new 

 single barrel repeating shotguns with marvelous success); Stark, 

 Dickey and Straighter of Boston, Budd from Iowa, Hudson and 

 Luther from Syracuse, Organ from Chicago and others from a dis- 

 tance, to say nothing of our lecal celobreties from all over the 

 State, not to forget "the Mayor of Bound Brook." Great credit is 

 due to the committee, Messrs. Fred Quimby, W. I. Bitch. E. H. 

 RobinBon, F. 11. Stevens, M. W. Mulford and S. G. Smith, and 

 more especially to Messrs. Quimby and Hitch for tho grand suc- 

 cess of tho first day, and, in fact, for all. First was a miscellaneous 

 B\veep. In fact, tboro were three different sweeps going on at the 

 same time, one at tho live traps in the center and two others at the 

 double traps at the wings, as it were, and the cracking was inces- 

 sant, while the air was Silled with the smoko of the burnt powder, 

 and at times hung a little heavy, but many used the Wood and 

 Schultz powder, which lessened the annoyance considerably. 



RULES AMD CONDITIONS OF THE TOURNAMENT. 



The shooting wiU commence at A. M. and continue until 5:30 

 P. 31. of each dayi The live bird shooting will all be from 5 ground 

 traps, under the Hurlingbara rules, except gauges, weights of guns 

 and powder charge. No gun larger than No. 10 bore will be al- 

 lowed. Powder charge unlimited, shot charge must not exceed 

 ]J4oz. Dixon's No. 1100 struck measure. The guns will be handi- 

 capped according to weichts, without regard to gauge, as follows: 

 Under 8^1bs. at 29yds. rise; SJ^lbs. and under lOlbs., 30yds. rise; 

 lOlbs. and over, 31yds. rise, except in double live bird shooting, 

 when the handicaps will be 20,21 and 22yds. for the above weights. 

 The grounds are inclosed and except the rear boundary the fence 

 is 80yds. and 6in. from the center trap, and a bird lighting on or 

 striking against the fence is out of bounds and lost. Tho rear 

 boundary is marked by a line of stakes, 35yds. from the traps, and 

 a bird passing or falling outside of that line is a lost bird. Guns 

 must not be loaded until the shooter is at the score, and no one, 

 unless by permission of the referee, wall be allowed to Ore off a 

 gun inside of tho grounds except when at the score, and thou only 

 at the bird or birds to be sprung from the traps. Any one violat- 

 ing this rule will be fined $5. if a party so fined refuses to pay 

 6aid fine, he will be expelled from the grounds, and any entrance 

 money be may have paid in will be forfeited. The club have 

 adopted the Ligowsky clay-pigeon for sole use in this tournament. 

 The shcoting at clay pigeons will be governed by the National 

 Gun Association rules, excepting that the club will not deduct 

 any percentage from the entrance moneys. Tho moneys in all 

 the sweepstakes will be divided as follows : When twelve entries 

 or less, into three moneys, 50, 30 and 20 per cent.: when more than 

 twelve entries there will be tour moneys, 40, 30, 20 and 10 per cent. 

 The sweepstakes will all be class shooting, and the committee and 

 referee shall have power to disqualify any contestant that inten- 

 tionally misses a bird to drop into a lower class. The tie3 may be 

 either shot off or the money divided, but unless all concerned 

 agree to divide, the tie must be shot off. Ties in the 50 live bird 

 sweep will be shot off at 5 birds each, aud after that number have 

 been shot at all those still remaining in the tio will shoot off, miss 

 and out. The ties in all the other live bird sweepstakes will be 

 miss and out. In the clay-pigeon sweepstakes the ties will be shot 

 off at five birds each until decided. 



First miscellaneous sweep (not down in the bill),19 clay-pigeons' 

 $1 enfram e, 40, 30, 20, 10 per cent., National rules, Bitch and Mul- 

 fcrd, judges; G. B. Eutou, referee. Stark 16yds. all the rest 18yds; 



Stice 11111.11110- Hudson 1001110100- 



Stork Ill 1111111-10 Fox 0111011001 -fl 



Miller 10011 11000- 5 Klcinz , OMHOOQO - 1 



Smith 1101111111- 9 Waggoner 1011111101-8 



Davis 1011011101— 7 Allen 1110111101-8 



Mauitz 0110101001- 5 Luther 1111011111-9 



Dickey 1110111100- 7 Wvckoff 0110010111-0 



Straighter 1110010011- Leigh 1100101C10-5 



Brewer , 1100111101- 1 Complete 1100110100-5 



Stark first monev; other ties divided. 



First regular sweep; 20 Ligowsky clay-pigeonB, 18yds. rise, Na- 

 tional Gun Club Rules, 40, 30, 20, 10 per cent., $5 entrance : 



Stice 11111111111111101111-19 



Stark 11111110101111111111—18 



Brewer 11111 1 1111 1 101 110011—17 



Dickey 111111)1111110101110-17 



Straighter 1 101 11 11 1 11111111111—19 



Klemz 110110001100010 w 



Dav is 1001U 1 1 1010011 1 1101-14 



Complete 100m now Oi 1 1 a urn 100- 7 



E Hudson 11011010011111111010-14 



M C Smith 01111111011011111101— 1G 



J Wyckoff 11011010111111101110-15 



Fox 1101 11 1 011 11 0111001-14 



Alleu 11111111111110110111—18 



Luther 11110111011111111111—18 



Waggoner 11111111111011111111—19 



AlTties divided. 



First sweep at 10 live birds, §10 entrance, Hurlington rules, ex- 

 cept weight of guns, which were lnmdi capped, G. B. Eaton, ref- 

 eree. The birds were a very inferior lot ("Baltimore birds," old 

 Miles says) and the traps were set so as to open toward the shooter, 

 nine-tenths of all were incomers; out of 319 birds there were but 

 a dozen drivers and come two dozen that could be called good 

 birds. But the committee promise better to-morrow. They will 

 change the traps and give the birds an airing outside for a while 

 instead of trappiug right from the club house. Score: 



Brewer (31yds) 1111111112-10 Stice (30). 1111111211-10 



Budd 0) 1121111112-10 Wadsworth (30). .. .1112111221-10 



Stark (29) 1211110211- 9 Dickens (30). ...... .1112111011— 9 



Kleinz (30) 1001111121— S Gillespie (31) lUillllll-10 



G Heft (31) 1110020120- 7 Bob White (30) 1211222121-10 



Straighter (30) 1210121111— 9 Manitz (31) OlllOlUlll— 7 



Craeknell (29) 1111212111-10 Hudson (31) 1021110112- 8 



Jones (f0) 1111211111-10 Miles Johnson (30) . .12111! 1111-10 



Elev (30) 1111112121-10 Luther (31) 1111112110- 9 



Dickev (30) 0111111202- 9 Complete (SO) 1011110111- 8 



Bowers (30) 0110112110- 7 F Class (39) 1021121211— 9 



Ties, miss and out, for first, Budd, Eley, Stice, Gillespie, Bob 

 White and Johnson tied again on 8 and divided; Craeknell 0, Wads- 

 worth 3, Brewer and Jones 0. For second, Straighter, Dickey and 

 Luther tied on 11 and divided, Stark 3, Dickens 10, Class 0. Hud- 

 son and Complete divided third. Figure 2 denotes second barrel. 



Ten pairs clay-p.geous, $5 entrance, 40, 30, 20 and 10 per cent.: 



Budd 11 00 10 10 01 11 11 10 11 11-14 



Dickey 11 10 10 11 11 11 11 00 01 10—14 



Stice.. 10 11 10 01 11 00 10 10 11 11—13 



Stark 11 01 10 11 ll 11 01 10 11 11-lfl 



Swater 10 11 10 11 11 11 11 10 10 10-15 



Davfis 01 00 11 00 11 11 10 00 10 CO- 9 



Complete 00 10 10 U 00 10 00 01 01 00—7 



Hudson 10 11 11 00 00 11 11 10 11 00-13 



Wagner 10 10 01 10 11 01 00 01 00 10- 9 



Heft 10 01 11 00 11 11 11 11 00 10—13 



Jones 11 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 10—15 



Smith 11 11 11 H 01 11 11 11 10 11-18 



Gillespie 10 10 11 00 01 10 11 11 00 00-10 



Luther 10 01 10 01 11 11 11 11 11 10—15 



White 01 11 11 01 U 01 01 11 11 11-16 



Smith first. Stark and white divided second, Sw T ather and Luther 

 divided third, Jones, Budd and Dickey fourth. 



There were other sweeps at the clay disks on the wings which 

 wo did not get. 



T7fe Second Day opened very inauspiciously, dark lowering 

 clouds with a very moist. and unconiforta-Dle drizzle that threat- 

 ened anything but fair weather, but the club, with its usual good 

 luck, not ouly got the big shooters there but they foreclosed their 

 mortgage on •old Sol, and he made the latter part of the day all 

 that could be desired. 



The day opened with the IS clay-pigeon shoot, which took place 

 outside of the grounds and which, in our anxiety to get at the pre- 

 liminaries of the big live bird shoot, we failed to note. The big 

 race of the tournament, that had called together so many of the 

 Celebrated disciples of the trigger, was started about 11, with 15 

 entries, among them some of the best trap shooters in the country 

 and we might say in tLe world; and here, as in other business, 

 luck has more "or less to do with success; some had easy, some 

 hard birds: notably. Williams, Brewer, and Stewart killed some 

 very gpod birds among the many that fell to them; Stewart espe- 

 cially 'bad good luck. Stice was more than fortunate in having 

 8 out of 10 incomers. His first miss, the second bird, hit the fence 

 and dropped dead. Jttost of the money was placed, between 

 Graham's and Budd's score, and the western men got away with 



it. There were many incidents of an exciting character in the 

 match, especially toAvard the last, and sonie money changed 

 hands. Tile birds were better, or at least livelier, than tho day 

 before. Grand Sweep, open to the world, 50 single, live pigeons, 5 

 ground traps, entrance $112.50, including the birds; Huriing- 

 ham rules except as to guns, which were handicapped by Middle- 



scorer, another good one: 



Graham, 29yds . 1111011111212101211011111 



21112111022011212111111011-43 



Manuix, 31yds .... . . . . S12001oiiiul 00021.213101011 



10021001110 w. 



Brewer, 31yds 01211022222201212l2'0101l 



1210110122011111011111111-43 

 Waring, 29yds 1221 m 1 212012231101 110:11 



02201013003102011 1 1 ) 10012-34 

 Eley, 30yds 21 1 11 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1101 11 1 1 



11111 11 30 11 11: 23 11 3122 11 11 -48 

 Stark, 29yds 10111111101112101111111-1 



110111-.'1]211111111 1111211-46 

 Budd, 30yds 11121231 liml 1.2! 12121211 1 



1131110011311113111111111-46 

 Williams, 29yds (ll 13(001 1 1 121 lom 1 1 1 iOL, 



011111201010 w. 



Sampson. 31yds 10100100000021011103:1010 



Wordsworth, 31yds 



Kleinz, 30yds 



. . 1331313012201101211312010 

 1101010031 w. 

 . . . . 20201 1 21 12.31321 3231 310201 

 1203.2101 1021121 1031111211-42 



Stewart, 30yds 100111211221 II 12210;;K)-01 



0111102231011101121010111-41 



White, 30yds 031 1011 120011 1 1 1021112121 



131H1 110103101 w. 



Geo Davis, SOyds 131 101 1 022.3121 21221112210 



21 1 21 121 1 12 1 320 1 2131220-43 



Stice, SOyds 2011111111121122111221111 



111111111 121 10121 11111111-48 

 Many of the second barrels were shot when not necessary, either 

 at a bird with crippled wing or even dead hit, Hurlingham rules 

 allowing the same; and they are abominable; who would do that 

 at quail or grouse in the field? Bab! Eley and Stice divided first 

 money, $600; Stark and Budd divided second, $450; Graham, Brewer 

 and Davis divided third, §300; Kleins took fourth, $150. And thus 

 ended the second day. Jacousta> t. 



THE FITCHBURG TOURNAMENT. 



FITCHBURG, Mass., Feb. 17.— There was a large attendance at 

 the tournament yesterday at the Rives- Street Range of the 

 Fitcbhurg Rifle and Gun Club. The weather was all that could 

 be desired. Among those present were George T. Ellsworth, of 

 Gardner; O. W. Burbank and L. M. Harris of Leominster; E. T. 

 Smith, W. L. Davis, W. S. Perry, E. F. Swan, W. R. Dean, M. D. 

 Gilman and Frank Stone, of Worcester; George Sampson, of Clin- 

 ton: H. W. Eager of Marlborough; Knowles and Bates of Lowell; 

 Aldoes, of Brockton; O. R. Dickey, Stanton and Swift, of Boston; 

 C. M. Stark, of Exeter, N. H: George W. Weymouth, E. N. Cum- 

 mings, H. 1. Wallace, A. W. Baker, W. J. Fox, J. O. Converse, B. 

 W. McKay, H. D. Mclntyre. Charles Dean, S. D. Sheldon and 

 George Colony, of this city. 



The principal contest was for the Climax badge, offered by the 

 United States Cartridge Company of Lowell. The conditions are 

 that it shall be shot for twelve times, 10 clay pigeons and 10 black- 

 birds, and it is to become the property of the one winning it the 

 largest number of times. Tho contest yesterday was the tenth 

 of the series. Your correspondent not being acquainted with the 

 alias or shooting name of some who contested is not abls to give 

 the correct name of all who shot for the prize. The result of the 

 contest yesterday, with that exception, was as follows: 



Clay-Pigeons. Clay Birds. 



Stark 1111111111-10 11111U111-10-20 



Davis 1111111110- 9 1111111111-10-10 



Croun 1011111111- 9 llUllllU— 10— 19 



Eager 1111011101- 3 llUllllU -10-18 



Smith 011.1111111- 9 1111111011- 9-18 



Oilman 1111011101— 8 1111111111—10—18 



Swift 1111100111— 8 1111111111— 10-18 



Sampson Olllllolll— 8 1110111111— 9—17 



Holden 1 J null till 1- 7 1111111111-10-17 



Dickey UlHllOll— 9 1131111110— 8—17 



Perry 1111110011— 8 1111011011— 8—10 



Stanton 1011011101— 7 1111111110— 9—16 



Swan 0011111101— 7 0111111111— 9— 16 



Cummings llllllOlll— 9 100011111 1— 7—16 



Arnold ..1011110111— 8 0111 111011— 8—16 



Weymouth 1001110111- 7 1111110011— 8—15 



Wheeler ...1101010011— 01111H1U— 9—15 



Burbank 0011011100— 6 1101111111— 9-15 



Beaudry 1001111101— 7 1110011011- 7—14 



Knowles 1110100110- 1111110011— 8-14 



Bates 0001010110- 4 lOUllllll- 9-13 



Gore 1101111000- 6 0111111010- 7—13 



Dean OOOOlCOOOl- 2 1111011111— 9-11 



Longley 0001001101- 4 1011110110— 7-11 



Aldoes 1000011000— 3 1010101111—7-10 



The badge has now be«n won teu times as follows: Henry W. 

 Eager, of Marlboroush, with a score of 20; A. F. Cooper, of Exeter, 

 N. H., with 19: Theodore Strater, otherwise called Stanton, of 

 Boston, with 20; C. M. Stark, of Exerter, N. H., with 19; Eager, 

 with 19; Stark, with 18; Strater, otherwise Stanton, with 17; 

 Strater, with 18; Eager, with 19; Stark, with 20. 



During the day there were nine other events, as follows: Six 

 bats, with 22 entries; blue rocks, with 24 entries; 10 clay-pigeona, 

 21 entries; 6 blue rocks, straightaway, 25 entries; 10 clay-pigeons, 

 15 entries; clay-pigeons, 25 entries; 10 clay-pigeons, 24 entries; 6 

 blue rocks. 2/5 entries, and 10 clay-pigeons, 17 entries. 



BROOKLYN. Feb. 16.— The regular shoot of the Coney Island 

 Rod and Gun Club at the half mile track, Parkville, to-day, not- 

 withstanding the almost impassable state of the roads, was well 

 attended. Fourteen members shot for the club prizes, while a 

 large crowd looked on. The first was won by Secretary G. L. 

 Ayers, the second by L. Davenport, the third by J. E. Lake and 

 the fourth by H. Monsees. Score: 



H McLaughlin, 25yds K\y> 1 1 1 1 }^-5 



L Davenport, 26yds 1 1 iy> 1 1— 5U> 



A Schwartz, 27yds 1 Y?. 1 11 1—m 



R John, 27yds Y 1 1 1 0-3}| 



F Lanzer, 21yds 1 1 1 1 1-5 



J Lane, 21yds 1 1 1 1 1-5 



H. W Blattmacher, 24yds 1 % 1 Q-'Zy 



H Monsees, 21yds. 1 1 1 1 C— 4 



J Smith, 28yds 1 J 1—3 



G L Ayers, 24yds 1 1 1 1 1 1-6 



J Courtney, 21yds 1 Y 1 1 1 Y-5 



R Grace, 26yds 1 1—3 



H P Donnelly, 22yds 1 y 2 1 1 0— 



M Liebener, 21yds y A 1 y A % 1— 3}| 



Sweepstakes. 



McLaughlin, 28yds.. 1 1 0—3 J Courtney, 21yds. . . \i— y. 

 R Grace, 26yds . . ..11 0-2 S Garrison. 21yds. ... 1 0—1 

 L Davenport, 29yds. % 1 1—2% A Schwartz, 27yds.. K> 1— ly, 



M Liebener, 21yds... 1-1 G Avers, 24vds I Y 0— lj| 



J Lake, 21yds 1 U 16-2 J Smith, 28yds 1 0-1 



H P Donnelly,22yds. 1 1—2 H Monsees, 21 yds. . . M 1 1— 2V6 



P Lanzer, 21yds 1 1 1-3 R John, 27 yds I y 0-1^ 



. R. Grace and H. McLaughlin divided third. Referee and scorer, 

 L. P. Van Pelt. 



BOGARDUS DEFEATS MEADERS. — St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 22.— 

 The championship match between Capt. A. H. Bogardus and CY.pl . 

 Andy Meaders was shot to-day in execrable weather, in consider- 

 ation of which the scores are wonderfully good. 100 live birds, 

 30yds., ground traps, ldr. powder, IMoz. shot, Bogardus using" 

 12-bore, 71bs. lOoz. Scctt; Meaders 12 bore, 71bs. 12oz. L. C. Smith, 

 Score: 



Bogardus 221olim.2L211212122112211211101211211imiiri11 



1101012111331013111131 122.vll20211111021in s 1111U-T3 



Meaders 121111(111201122222111122101111212101111112211111 



22112212120211L22) 22<J0120221212022121211211l21212-«9 

 2, second barrel, o, dead out of bounds. 



NEW YORK, Feb, 18. -At a meeting of the New York German 

 Gun Club at 154 William street, the following officers were elected: 

 President, F. Boesenecker: Vice-President, August Schmitt; 

 Treasurer, F. Kunz; Secretary, F. Schlicht; Captain, F. Sauter.— 

 Tell. 



CLEVELAND. O., Feb. 17.— The semi-monthly contest Of the 

 East End Gun Club for the club badge was hold to- lay at the 

 range near the foot of Cornell street. The day was all that could 

 be desired, and the occasion was made more ' interesting by the 

 presence, of a number of visitors from the Cleveland Gun Club. 

 They cordially accepted an invitation to participate in toe shoot. 

 The contest was for 20 birds from 5 traps, 19yds. rise. Among the 

 visitors were Rev. Dr. C. S, Pomeroy, who is a great lo , er of trap- 

 shooting with inanimate targets, and Mr. E. A. Wet-more, of Mar- 

 quette, Mich. Messrs. Phare, Auld and Maygo tied for first 

 money, and in the decisive snoot Mr. Maygo was declared the 

 winner. The next meeting of tho club will be held on Thursdav, 

 March 3. Following is the score: 



A Class. 



H Phare 1011111111-9 Ul 1100110-7-16 



Paul North 1101111001-7 1001111111-8-15 



D Auld 0101111101-7 101111 1111-9-16 



T Maygo OUHOllU-8 1111101011-8-16 



C Elford 01OlO'JO00i-3 0100110110-5- 8 



C McCracken 0110111110- 7 0100110001-4-11 



G Nfc-klous O01IOO1OO1-4 1101111010-7-11 



E Brick 011110010O-5 0100111010-5—10 



J B un 100111 10(0-5 OliOOw. 



J A Bcidler 0110010101-5 0110010000-3- 



B Class. 



A B Jones 1010111011—7 0100101111— 0-13 



WSrt'eetman 1101101011-7 0111100001— 5-13 



Visitors: 



L O Jonos 1110011111-9 1111I11111-T0-19 



J J Wightman 0111111111-9 0111011109- 0-15 



D Upson 1010011001-5 0011111111- 7-13 



FL Ohamberlin 10101011U-7 0010110111- 6-13 



II L Cross 0001001100-3 0011011001— 5- 8 



C C Hebbard 0110111101-7 1101111110- 8-15 



Harry Gliddeu 1101010010 -5 0001000001- 2- 7 



W R Hunter 1111101000-6 1110110001- 6-13 



CHOICE OF TARGETS.— Editor .Forest and Stream: During 

 ibis week there was a representative meeting of Ohio sportsmen 

 to form the Ohio State League, of which meeting doubtless your 

 regular correspondent will send yon full particuh*-s. I address 

 you a few lines on one special subject, honing that the same will 

 prove a warning to brother sportsmen in other States. An attempt 

 was made at the above meeting before it had been barely organ- 

 ized to capture the same in the interests of two target companies 

 who were the only companies that had their agents at the meet- 

 ing. This by springing a resolution to adopt two certain targets 

 for the league or association. Such a resolution springing spon- 

 taneously Ironi the shooters would be apropos, but coming from 

 interested target manufacturers, plainly indicates an attempt to 

 pack and to utilize such conventions in the interest of such manu- 

 facturers and should be promptly shut down upou, as was so effi- 

 ciently done in the above, instance. The energetic remarks of H. 

 F. Robinson, of Cincinnati, speedily opened the eyes of the meet- 

 ing, aud to their credit bo it said, the gentlemanly representatives 

 cf the Ohio clubs rejected the resolution and thus declined to 

 allow themselves to be used as "cat's paws." The general opinion 

 prevailed that for the present the State Association tournament 

 programmes should be arranged with matches at all the various 

 targets and thus the hundreds of shooters would be able to exer- 

 cise their judgment intelligently and not be dragooned into buy- 

 ing a trap which they will probably be inclined to discard upon 

 seeing another. Of course if the committee ba\irg Ihe matter in 

 charge being familiar with all targets and u it h the desires of their 

 members should see fit. to adopt some one standard target, as was 

 done in adopting the Ligowsky target for toe Middlesex Gun Club 

 tournament at Dunellen. N. J., Feb. 21-25, 1887; and as was simil- 

 arly done by the Texas State Sportsmen's Association in 1886, is 

 entirely a different question and is undoubtedly justifiable on tho 

 principle of "survival of the fittest." The point for sportsmen to 

 avoid in all such cases is the suspicion of being utilized through 

 favor, affection or good fellowship to cast their vote in favor of 

 some one target, when their candid judgment, unbiassed by any 

 consideration, would select another.— Nemo. 



Secretaries of canoe clubB are requested to send to Forest and 

 Stream their addresses, with name, membership, signal, etc., of 

 their clubs, and also notices in advance of meetings and races, and 

 report of the same. Canoeists and all interested in canoeing are 

 requested to forward to Forest and Stream their addresses, with 

 logs of cruises, maps, and information concerning their local 

 waters, drawings or descriptions of boats and fittings, and all items 

 relating to the sport. 



FIXTURES. 



Mat. 



28-30. East. Div. Spring Meet, Haddam Island. 



June. 



18. Brooklyn, Annual, Bay Ridge. 



Judy. 



18-31. W. C. A. Meet, Ballast Island. 



August. 



12-26. A. C. A. Meet, Lake Champlain. 



IDEAL CRUISING ASSOCIATION.-New York, Feb. 14.- 

 EdiUir Forest and Stream: The notice that appeared in your issue 

 of Feb. 10 wac. the first information I had of my election to the 

 office of admiral of the I. C. A. Our secretary has no record of 

 tho meeting referred to, and as I have no way of finding out who 

 the aspirants for membership were. I take this means of calling 

 their attention to Art. CXXVI1I. of the Constitution, wlich says: 

 "A quorum shall consist of one member, and no meet ing shall 

 have power to transact any business unless a full quorum is pres- 

 ent." They must therefore see that their action is mill and void. 

 I take this opportunity to set at rest rumors of a split in the I. C. 

 A., and will explain their origin. During the latter part of 

 December all the members except the admiral were out of town 

 traveling for their health. They all happened to meet in a salt 

 mine ana decided to hold a meetiuor. We had learned from our 

 "official organ," the Forest and Stream, that our admiral had 

 accepted a position on the A. C. A. regatta commit ee, thus 

 gi ossly violating Art. II. of the Constitution. Our meeting unani- 

 mously passed a resolution requesting an explanation from his 

 higuness. His explanation completely exonerated him. He 

 called our attention to the changes he had caused made m the 



now prouder than ever to" look up to him as the head of' our Ideal 

 Cruising Association.— The Snake Charmer. 



DURABILITY OF CANVAS CANOES.-Editor -Forest and 

 Sirram: A letter on a ".Light Canadian Canoe" has attracted my 

 notice in your issue of Feb. 3. As I have bad very considerable 

 experience in canvas canoes, I believe that thedanforof a well- 

 designed boat of this description being injured in runairg rapids, 

 etc., are very much exaggerated. I have run innumerable rapids, 

 aud grounded on snags repeatedly in single skin canvas canoes, 

 and have never once had the. boat injured while navigating it. Of 

 course, one man's experience does not go for much, still rue would 

 like to know, when an accident occurs to a canvas boat, the de- 

 scription of craft, thickness of duck and previous experience of the 

 navigator. It would be interesting for instance, to know what 

 percentage of coracles are injured, as some hundreds of them are 

 in daily use for fishing on the rivers of the west ot England ar.d 

 Wales, and though snags are not so common there as in the rivers 

 of America, shallow rapids with rocky bottoms are common 

 enough. It has so frequentlv been my lot to hear this statement 

 about snags being fatal to canvas boats that I wonder if my ex- 

 periences have been very exceptional or if the assertion is made 

 on data as unreliable as the celebrated information about Jack 

 Robinson's death. "Somebody had told me, as somebody said, 

 (hat he'd read in some newspaper."— C. M. Douglas. 



A BRITISH CANOE MEET.— A strong effort is now being made 

 to organize a canoe meet for July or August next at some point in 

 1 ngland. The Norfolk Broads have been named and seem to 

 mjet with the mcst favor, as the Scotch and Irish lakes are too 

 i a " away. The Royal C. C. has invited other canoeists to cooper- 

 ate in making the meet a success, and it is not unlikel y that in the 

 event of a good location and some races being assured, some 

 American canoeists may attend. 



MEET ON THE PASSAIC.-A meeting will be held in Newark 

 on the evening of March 19, to arrange matters for a regatta nod 

 camp of all canoeists on the Passaic River, to beheld about July 4. 



