March 10, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



±3 6 



the Association, will enable us to plant a considerable 

 quantity in public waters. 



It is asserted that the rainbow trout is migratory in 

 its habits. As far as I can see at present the reverse is 

 the case. I believe^ it is not identical in this respect Avith 

 the Salvelinus fontinalis, whose wandering propensities 

 have earned it the rebuke of all men: neither are its re- 

 quirements the same, the location of the one being un- 

 congenial to the other. Migratory, or non-migratory, the 

 rainbow trout would make its mark in inclosed waters, 

 or for ornamental purposes. Regarded from a sporting 

 point of view it would prove an acquisition, as I have on 

 many occasions observed its rising to a fly. I believe it 

 is not considered a game fish in its native waters, and 

 here again it appears to have altered its nature. There is 

 no doubt about it that the gameness of fish is governed by 

 the condition of the water which they inhabit; therefore, 

 from an angler's point of view, the interchange of species 

 with foreign countries is a great boom, as proved by the 

 case just cited. But, on the other hand, too much care 

 cannot'be exercised in acclimatizing doubtful fish, or we 

 shall admit enemies into the camp, and thus weaken our 

 efforts to repopulate depleted districts. No fear need be 

 entertained on this score in regard to the rainbow trout, 

 which is more delicate in its appetite than other varieties 

 of Salmon ida?, and therefore is uot prone to the same 

 temptations to cannibalistic attacks upon its congeners. 



Six-Inch Trotjt.— White Lake Corners, Oneida Co., 

 I N. Y. — With regard to the six-inch clause, my experience 

 satisfies me that it would be just as consistent to pass a 

 law forbidding a trout less than Gin. long taking your 

 ] bait. Nine-tenths of all trout taken are caught through 

 the upper jaw, and, big or little, if put back into the 

 water, are We to die. Moreover, I know of dozens of 

 brooks which run through open fields and timber lands, 

 which are alive with brook trout; and these fish never 

 attain to the length of more than from four 4in. to 6in. 

 in length, and never will if left alone for twenty years. 

 I believe the open season should be uniform th rough out 

 the United States. When the snow water has all run off, 

 whether the first of March, April or May, is the time, and 

 the best, too, of the whole season to go fishing. 

 Altitude here 1,600 feet above tide. South of the Mo- 

 hawk, or Central R.Ti., about the same. Why, then, 

 should the season open earlier for them than for us? — II. 



ANGLING DAYS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 



FOR some time I have been hoping some correspondent 

 would give us some account of the black bass fish- 

 ing in Lake George and Lake Chanxplain , but in vain. I 

 make an annual pilgrimage to these beautiful waters, but 

 encounter few anglers, comparatively. However, I have 

 had many a good day's sport there, and an account of 

 some of the trips might catch the eye of some one who 

 has had the good fortune to visit these lakes. 



It was about 4 P. M. one day last August, and a 

 scorcher, too., that a friend met me on the arrival of the 

 Central Vermont train at the little "dog-in-the-manger" 

 village of Vergennes, and without giving me time to shed 

 my coat of sand and cinders, accumulated during an 

 eight hours' ride, piloted me down to the creek where his 

 canoe containing our fishing effects lay. At the house of 

 a friend we did the "transformation act," and emerged in 

 flannel shirts, helmets, leggings, etc, went aboard and 

 paddled down to Fort Carson, where a light breeze coaxed 

 us into relinquishing the ash for sails. 



What a delightful sail we had that evening up to 

 Thompson's Point, where we spent the night. Early the 

 next morning we were off for Split Rock to try our hands 

 at pike fishing, but it was late in the season and 9 A. M. 

 found us with but six. We were on tbe point of pulling 

 up the sink and quitting when, Great Scott! Have I 

 hooked on to Split Rock? Something fastened on to my 

 line and dropped about a foot. Didn't feel a bit like a 

 bite, but I pulled in that 60 feet of braided linen lively, 

 and landed such a pike as we used to take off McNeill s 

 Point before the days of Cedar Beach and the Jolly Club. 

 He would weigh 801bs. if an ounce, but he was the last 

 pike in the lake: and we eat our breakfast as we run 

 across into Barton's Bay and troll around into Cedar 

 Beach, the Jolly Club's camp. After dinner we put our 

 canoe aboard the ferry, and "Uncle Judd" takes us over 

 to Essex. The wind has increased to quite a blow, and 

 how it brings back that day years ago when "Uncle Levi" 

 Blah sailed us from Essex to" Thompson's Point in a fifty 

 miles an hour blizzard. We all had our coats and boots 

 off ready to swini that day, and "Uncle Levi's" weather- 

 beaten face was whiter than his hair. But he "wasn't a 

 bit seart," and landed us safely. 



Baf ore sun up we are afloat again and troll along the 

 shore to Willesboro Point, where we take out our fly 

 tackle for the first time. Willesboro Bay yields us but 4 

 fish, and we put off for the Four Brothers, where we 

 camped for the night. Daylight finds us "up aud at 'em," 

 and our morning catch shows 1.3 that average about 21bs. 

 In the afternoon we try them again, and add five to our 

 creel. 



The next day we spent in Burlington and saw one of 

 those peculiar looking yachts of "Adirondack" Murray's, 

 a sharpie. Late in the afternoon we started for Hog 

 Island and had an opportunity of noticing her peculiar 

 sailing qualities, for the way she drew away from us 

 would have worried a bronze image, and we don't count 

 ourselves slow either. The next three days brought 

 varying success, but we took fifteen out of Holme's Bay, 

 though part of them were small. Our catch for the trip 

 was fifty-six. and we did not visit the northern part of 

 the lake where the best bass fishing is, nor did we fish 

 Shelburne Bay where there is good bags fishing on and 

 around Collamer's Reef because — well, because this was 

 our first attempt at fly-fishing and we fought shy of 

 localities where we were acquainted. However, it won't 

 be our last, for we are thoroughly converted to the light 

 rod and fly (thanks to Forest and Stream's influence); 

 and if some of your readers would kindly give us a few 

 practical instructions on how to manage a fly-rod we 

 could hope to show a better result next year. At any 

 rate no more worms and cane poles for us. Wont some 

 reader of Forest and Stream who has fished these 

 waters give us a, few points on rods, flies, etc., and lend a 

 helping hand to a couple of poor mortals who are trying 

 to educate themselves up to an artistic enjoyment of 

 angling. 



Mr. Rowland E. Robinson's sketch in this week's issue 

 is as true to Vermont turkey shoots as to nature. I have 

 known many an "Antoine," and have now in my pos- 

 session one of those old rifles of Varneys, than which 

 nothing was supposed to be better, and I have a young 

 brother that is pretty clever with the old muzzleloader 

 even now. Swirl. 



Burlington, Vt. 



Silkworms and Dandelions.— Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 

 20.— Editor Forest and Stream: When the discussion 

 upon silkworms took place in Forest and Stream last 

 year. I noticed that a very excellent and easily obtainable 

 article of food was not mentioned — viz., the common 

 dandelion, which, I think, is now plentiful in America. 

 While at school I, in common with many other boys, 

 kept silkworms. There being no mulberry trees within 

 reach, we fed them entirely upon the leaves of dande- 

 lions, which kept them in perfect health. They grew to 

 a large size and spun a quantityof fine strong silk. — J. J. M. 



sfjjizhcnlhtre. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



LOBSTER PROTECTION. 



A HI LL has been reported by the Maine Senate which is 

 designed to secure more stringent protection for lob- 

 sters. It provides for an absolute close time on lobsters 

 between Aug. 1 aud Sept. 15, with a penalty to violators of 

 S50 for the first "offense and $1 for every lobster caught. Dur- 

 ing close time all traps and nets must be removed from the 

 water; if not. they will be forfeited and the owner fined $35, 

 with an additional fine of £5 a day as long as the traps re- 

 main, No lobsters are allowed to be canned or preserved 

 between July 1 and April 15 under heavy penalties. This 

 provision will not prevent dealers from packiug a surplus 

 stock. It is made unlawful to buy, sell or expose for sale 

 any lobster in spawn or with eggs'attacked, or any lobster 

 less than lOkdn. in length, measured from the bone of the 

 nose to the end of the bone of the middle flipper of the tail. 

 The possession of a mutilated uncooked lobster is made 

 prima facie evidence that it is not of the required length. 

 Lobster cars, nets and traps must have the owner's name 

 marked on them. When short lobsters are found in any 

 barrel or box in transit, the whole are forfeited, unless the 

 owner pays the fine on the short ones. For the benefit of 

 the canners, the law is not to go into effect until July 1 of 

 the present year, after the canning season is over. 



The full text of the decision of th« Massachusetts Supreme 

 Court in the short lobster suits, appealed, is as follows: 



Commonwealth ok Massachusetts. — Boston, Feb. 36, 

 1887.— I certify the annexed to be a true copy of the opinion 

 of the Supreme Judicial Court in the case of Commonwealth 

 vs. William A. Barber, decided on the 33d day of February, 

 1887.— John Lathrop, Reporter of Decisions. • 



COMMONWEALTH VS. WILLIAM A. BARBER. 

 Suffolk S.S. Devens, J.— The case at bar is that of a com- 

 plaint under Pub. St. c. 91 Sec. 84, as amended by St. 1881 c. 

 315 1 See. 1. The section originally providing a penalty upon 

 one for having in his possession "with intent to sell, either 

 directly or indirectly," a lobster of less than a prescribed 

 size was amended by striking out the words "with intent, 

 etc." As thus altered it would read as follows: "Sec. 84. — 

 Whoever sells or offers to sell or has in possession a lobster 

 less than ten and one-half inches in length, measuring from 

 one extreme of the body extended to the other, exclusive of 

 claws or feelers, shall forfeit five dollers for every such lob- 

 ster; and in all prosecutions under this section the possession 

 of any lobster not of the required length shall be prima facie 

 evidence to convict." 



The contention of the defendant is that no prosecution can 

 be maint ained upon propositions which can be read unofl atu , 

 declaring that possession shall cause a penalty to be in- 

 curred and that possession shall be prima facie evidence to 

 convict; that these two propositions become law at the same 

 instant of time, and that there is no resource except to de- 

 clare the whole section as unmeaning and incapable of en- 

 forcement. 



It may be that it was deemed by the Legislature that this 

 section might be construed as applying only to lobsters of 

 the prohibited size taken within this State, and that it was 

 intended that the defendant should, by the prima faoic 

 evidence afforded by possession, be compelled to offer evi- 

 dence that it was taken without the State, in order to main- 

 tain a defense. If, as the reason for the existence of the 

 latter claim, as to the effect of possession, in connection with 

 that by which the possession is exposed to a penalty, would 

 be readily intelligible in view of the restricted character of 

 the legislation as thus applicable only to lobsters taken 

 within the Commonwealth and not elsewhere. Such a con- 

 struction was, in fact, given to similar law ; Statute of 187» c. 

 209, sec. 15, enacted for the preservation of woodcock and 

 other specified birds, and imposing a penalty for the having 

 one in possession during a certain prescribed period, the law 

 being held to be intended only for the protection and pre- 

 servation of birds bred within the Commonwealth— Com- 

 monwealth v. Hall, 130 Mass., 410. 



We do uot, however, find it necessary to discuss this ques- 

 tion as if we assume in favor of defendant's contention that 

 the possession which is visited by the section with a penalty, 

 is applicable whether the lobsters be taken within or with- 

 out the State; the section appears susceptible of an intel- 

 ligible interpretation entirely in accordance, with well 

 settled rules of construction. These are set forth in the 

 earlier clause, three offenses, "selling," "offering for sale" 

 and "having in possession." To the two first of these the 

 latter clause is certainly applicable, and to the third it is 

 not. The intent of the legislation is to make possession 

 prima- facie evidence of the offense, when the offense con- 

 sists in something more than possession. Artificial force is 

 often thus given by special provisions of statutes to particu- 

 lar facts when offered in evidence. Commonwealth v. 

 Williams 1 Gray 1, Holmes v. Hunt 123 Mass. 505. But 

 where the offense consists in possession, the latter clause 

 has no application to it, and the offense must be proved in 

 the ordinary way. Although in terms the clause applies to 

 all prosecutions under the section "when the context shows 

 that this cannot be followed literally without reaching an 

 obscurity, it is reasonable to hold that such was not the in- 

 tent of the legislation, and that such an interpretation 

 should be rejected." Commonwealth v. Kimball 34 Pick. 

 388. If possible all parts of a statute should be viewed in 

 connection with the whole, and made to harmonize, so as to 

 give a sensible effect to each. The different portions of a 

 sentence or sentences are to be referred respectively to the 

 other portions, or sentences to which we can see they relate, 

 even if strict grammatical construction should demand 

 otherwise. The maxim of construction, redundar singular 

 singulis, is well established, and if the latter clause be con- 

 strued "respective et distributive," it will be found that it 

 relates to the two first offenses described in the section, and 

 not to the third. Coffin v, Hussey 13 Pick. 391. Common- 

 wealth v. Jordan 18 Pick. 338. 



Nor even if the latter clause must of necessity be applied 

 to the offense of having in possession should we be prepared 

 to hold that 4 the statute was in this regard incapable of en- 



forcement, and that there should be no prosecution for this 

 offense. While the clause as applied to it would be super- 

 fluous and absurd, it would not be more than this. The 

 government would still have upon it the burden of proving 

 its case of possession beyond reasonable doubt, and the de- 

 fendant could not claim that such proof, if made, was mere 

 prima facie evidence. 

 Exceptions overruled. 



FISH CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 



rpiIE first number of the Journal of the National Fish- 

 J_ culture Association, dated Jan. 15, 1887, has been issued. 

 It will be a quarterly publication, published on the second 

 Saturday in January, April, July and October. It is a well 

 printed octavo of 83 pages, containing articles of great interest 

 to fishculturists, and is edited by J. W. Willis Bund, M. A., 

 F. L. S. In the introduction we are told that while contain- 

 ing original matter, it will differ from journals of other 

 societies in not being a report of what the National Fishcul- 

 ture Association does, so much as a record of what has been 

 done, no matter by whom; and the object of the Journal will 

 be to collect information on all subjects relating to fishcul- 

 ture, and to publish original articles thereon. 

 The contents of the first number are as follows: Introduc- 



vv . Auuenwu omu.li, iuc xwuuuuw iruui, lottraui triuvus), 

 by W. Oldham Chambers, F. L. S. Extension of Annual 

 Close Time. The National Fishculture Association. The 

 New Fisheries Department. Summary or Current Informa- 

 tion on Fishculture and Fisheries. Notices of books and 

 list of Parliamentary papers published in the year 1888 up to 

 October, with the prices. 



The Journal is issued free to the members of the Associa- 

 tion, but extra numbers are placed on sale, the price of which 

 to non-members is 3s. 6d. The article on the British Sal- 

 monidsBjby Dr. Francis Day, probably the best informed 

 man in England on this subject, is an exceedingly valuable 

 contribution to ichthyology, and from this and from some 

 other papers we shall make copious quotations at various 

 times. In the Summary of Current Information on Fish- 

 culture and the Fisheries, we note a summary of an article 

 on the Michigan grayling by Mr. Herschel Whitaker, read 

 before the American Fisheries Society; several pages of quo- 

 tations from the Fish Trades Gazette and the Board of 

 Trade Journal on the commercial fisheries; extracts from 

 Messrs. Mather and Ryder on oyster culture iu America; re- 

 marks on the salmon disease which has been raging during 

 November and December in the Forfarshire Esk and the 

 South Esk; Mr. Mather's article on smelt hatching read be- 

 fore the Fisheries Society; Mr. J. P. Cunningham on the 

 mode of attachment of smelt eggs, read before the Zoological 

 Society of London; an account by Dr. D. Barfurth on the 

 reproductive relations of the trout, especially in regard to 

 sterility and degeneration; notes by Max von dem Borne on 

 the temperature of water for fish breeding, from the fourth 

 circular of Deutscher Fischerei Vereio, containing the ob- 

 servations of Mr. Frank Clark, of the United States station 

 at North ville, Mich.: the produce of the Canadian fisheries 

 for 1884 from the Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission; the 

 use of boracic acid in preserving fish; the growth of eels in 

 closed tanks, from the Bulletin of the U. S. F. C, and food 

 of the sea trout, by Mr. Jamieson, of Aberdeen. 



The curious fact is that English fishculturists, as a rule, 

 prefer the rainbow trout to the. fontinalis, because the fon- 

 tinalis will not stay in the streams while the rainbow does, 

 according to that excellent authority, W. Oldham Cham- 

 bers, Esq., secretary of the association. This is curious 

 because the reverse is the case in this country. In another 

 column we give the paper by Mr. Chambers m full. 



GERMAN CARP.— We have received the following from 

 the U. S. Fish Commission: Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The following note will be of interest in view of the con- 

 fusion that exists in the minds of many as to what is prop- 

 erly known as the German carp. The typical form of the 

 species is what is known as full scale carp. From this, fish- 

 culturists, availing themselves of the tendency of all animals 

 to break under domestication, and by exercising care in 

 selection, have produced two well defined varieties, viz., the 

 mirror and the leather carp. In the mirror or spiegel carp 

 the scales are much larger and more irregular than in the 

 full scale, and portions of the skin are without scale cover- 

 ing. In the extreme form of variation, viz., the leather 

 carp, the scales have entirely disappeared. Between th§ 

 scale, the mirror and the leather carp, there are an infinite 

 number of intermediate forms approximating more nearly 

 to one or the other of these distinct varieties. Neither the 

 mirror nor leather varieties, can be maintained pure except 

 by careful selection in breeding. It will be found that the 

 progeny of either the mirror or leather will present all the 

 intermediate forms from scale to leather. From each gen- 

 eration it will be necessary to select those individuals for 

 succession of breeders which represent more nearly the form 

 or variety which it is desired to perpetuate. 



THE U. S. COMMISSION. — The work at the different 

 hatcheries is greater than ever this season. The station at 

 Woods Holl has distributed fully 35,000,000 codlish in Vine- 

 yard Sound and other waters. It is estimated that the total 

 production the past season at this station will exceed 

 100,000,000 codfish. The management here is having quite 

 good success with the celebrated English sole. At the 

 Virginia station over 100,000 California trout eggs have been 

 obtained, 50 per cent, of which will be distributed iu lots to 

 the different State Commissioners. At the Michigan station 

 over 130,000,000 whitefish eggs were collected last fall, part 

 of which were sent to the several State Commissioners for 

 hatching purposes, and the balance deposited in the great 

 lakes. At Cold Spring Harbor over 4,000,000 tomcods have 

 been turned out. In Maine the crop of salmon eggs has been 

 large. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



POT LUCK FROM EXCHANGES. 



Bass has named his dog "Wellington," because of the 

 animal's proficiency in rending a bone apart. — Boston Tra n - 

 script. 



Zion's Herald thinks that the Aiuhibun Magazine papers 

 are written with good taste and in keeping with the objects 

 of the Society. 



One of the living curiosities in a Chicago dime museum is 

 an ex-merchant who run business seven years ago without 

 advertising. The usual period is only two.— Detroit Free 

 Press. 



A Human Hee on. —Dover, N. H., Feb. 9.— On a wager, last 

 night, George K, Weeks ate 43 eels, each measuring from 13 

 to 19in. in length, in 30 minutes, as fast as they were cooked, 

 eating nothing but salt with them. He thinks he can eat 50 

 of the same size in half an hour. 



De bigger dat you see de smoke 



Deless de fire will be. 

 And de leastest kind of possum 



Climbs the biggest kind o' tree, 



