68 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aua. 14, 1890 



BREEDING MINK. 



JERSEY CITY, Aug. 8.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 In answer to your correspondent "K P. S.," and for 

 the benefit it may be to others, I will say that mink can 

 be bred successfully in confinement, but of course the 

 nearer you approach their natural haunts in the artificial 

 abode the less care they will require and the more 

 successful will be your experiment. It should be out 

 of doors by all means, no roof to cover, and where they 

 will get the full benefit of air and changes of weather, 

 with free access to earth and water. 



I had at one time in my minkery forty -seven of the 

 little nimble bright-eyed fellows, and they were ever as 

 interesting as handsome. The site of my minkery was 

 near the source of two large springs, where the waters 

 of both came together ; here I constructed a pond of about 

 2 rods in diameter and 4ft. to 5ft. deep; around the edge 

 stone were piled and laid to form nooks and holes for 

 hiding places: and under the banks were numerous holes 

 for the formation of nests and breeding places. Their 

 food was fresh meat, consisting of woodchucks, rabbits, 

 fish, and milk for the younger portion o£ the colony; 

 and they flourished finely. 



Around the pond and back about lof t. a trench was dug 

 2ft. deep and hemlock planks set on edge, and the trench 

 refilled ; and above the ground was a poultry fence 3ft. high 

 and of iin. mesh, and around the top of the fence was 

 nailed a board 12in. wide projecting inside, the upper 

 and inner edge rounded off. 



In this incloBure I have every reason to believe that 

 they were kept secure, as they rapidly increased in num- 

 bers, and the first mink placed in captivity was among 

 the last killed; there could be no mistake about this, for 

 one foot was missing, and he became as tame as a house 

 cat. 



I do not think that their quarrels interfered with the 

 success of the experiment, as these were never noticeable 

 except during the rutting season. 



It was always interesting to watch their antics; and I 

 count them among the most interesting and tractable of 

 our wild animals; and the love and care they have for 

 their young is great. 



I never believed that they could be made so tame until 

 I saw with my own eyes and watched and studied them 

 from day to day. I have bred foxes in captivity too, but 

 I do not, from my own experience, pronounce it a sure 

 thing unless it is clone on a large area of land. 



F. G. KlTTREDGE. 



Poison Oak and Ivy.— Monroe, 1ST. C— I have been 

 poisoned several times and once came very near losing 

 my life, owing principally to a drunken doctor. It was 

 in the latter part of April. I went down to a fishery on 

 the Pee Dee River in South Carolina, and the vines were 

 very 'thick and low, and in passing under some poison 

 vines I was hit in the face by them. I felt the usual 

 symptoms in a couple of days and tried sugar of lead and 

 several other remedies with no avail. I then started for 

 home— 40 miles, and by the time I got there I was in a 

 dreadful condition. I called in a doctor who had been 

 on a drunk, and for three days he did his best to finish 

 me, and would have accomplished his desire had I let 

 him alone. I called in another doctor. He changed the 

 entire treatment: told me to bathe all places that were 

 swelled in either very hot water or ice water and to drink 

 all I could hold (as I had high fever and was very thirsty 

 I chose the ice water). He gave me one dose of medicine 

 to open my bowels and a mixture of carbolic acid and 

 linseed oil to apply to the worst places. In two days I 

 was up and on the third day took a horseback ride of forty 

 miles. It was the worst case of poisoning I ever saw, 

 suppuration had set in on my left hand, and the whole 

 skin come off of the palm. So you can see how rapid 

 was the cure. The remedy is cheap and effective and 

 can be procured at any place. — A. T. L. 



Poison Ivy Poisoning.— Some of the remedies are : 

 Rose water, sugar of lead and glycerine; carbolic acid 

 and glycerine; and " eucalyptus," used as lotions. Also 

 take quinine in large doses until a ringing in the ears is 

 produced. I am not a doctor, but as a patient I speak 

 from years of experience.— Lorna. 



fame and 



"FOREST AND STREAM" GUN TESTS. 



THE following guns have been tested at the Forest and 

 Stream Range, and reported upon in the issues named. 

 Copies of any date will be sent on receipt of price, ten cents: 

 Clabkotjgh 12, May L, '00. Parker JO, hammer, June 6, '89. 

 Coi/r 12, .July 25, '89. Parker L2, ham'riess, June 6 '89. 



Couc 10 and 12, Oct. 24, '89. Remington IB, May 30. '89. 

 Folsom 10 and 12, Sept. 20, '89. Remington 12, Dec 5,'89,Feb 6, '90 

 Franootte 12, Dec. 12, '89. Remington 10, Dec. 26, '89. 

 Greener 12, Aug. 1, '89. Scott 10, Sept. 5, '89. 



Greener 10, Sept. 12-19, '89. L. C. Smith 12, Oct. 10, '89. 

 Hollis 10, Nov. 7, '89. Whitney Safety 12. At'ch 6, '90. 



Lefever 12, March 13, '90. Winchester 10 & 12, Oct. 3, '89. 



THE IOWA CHICKEN LAW. 



TEFFERSON, Iowa, Aug. A.— Editor Forest and 

 « " Stream: In your issue of July 30, giving the open 

 seasons in the several States and Territories, I notice you 

 give Aug. 1 to Dec. 1 as the open season for pinnated 

 grouse, prairie chicken, in Iowa; this should be Sept. 1 

 to Dec. 1. 



The following is the full text of section 5,392, as amended 

 by 17th General Assembly, Chapter 156, Section 2; 18th 

 General Assembly, Chapter 193; and 20th General As- 

 sembly, Chapter 67: "It shall be unlawful for any person 

 within the State to shoot or kill any pinnated grouse, or 

 prairie chicken, between the first day of December and 

 the first day of September next following; any woodcock 

 between the first day of January and the tenth day of 

 July; any ruffed grouse or pheasant, wild turkey or quail 

 between the first day of January and the first day of 

 October; any wild duck, goose or brant between the first 

 day of May and the fifteenth day of August; or any wild 

 deer, elk or fawn between the first day of January and 

 the first day of September." 



I fear the law is badly broken, however, and mainly by 

 farmers, though as they are very careful to conceal the 

 matter it is not generally known; they contend that as 

 they raise the grain to feed the birds they have a moral, 



if not legal, right to kill the birds when they choose, and, 

 as I said before, I fear they generally choose to in July. 



H. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Everything has been favorable the present season for 

 a good crop of prairie chickens, and the birds have done 

 their part nobly; but the hawks, skunks, weasels, and 

 other vermin, ably assisted by the human skunks (or 

 market-hunters) are doing their level best to annihilate 

 them before the open season, and I think they will come 

 very near doing it. I think our close season is at least 

 two weeks too long, as it virtually protects the market- 

 shooter two weeks longer in his nefarious business. Most 

 of the young chickens here are from two-thirds to full 

 grown, and they are being slaughtered and shipped out 

 of northwest Iowa by the hundreds every day. Now, it 

 is in order for some reader to say, ''Why don't you prose- 

 cute them?" There is no use to take up your valuable 

 spaee to answer this question; any one who has tried it 

 under the same circumstances knows why, and all who 

 have not tried it should do so. Wm. H. Steele. 



Forest City, Iowa, 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



You state in your last issue that prairie chickens may 

 be killed in Iowa Aug. 15. Your are in error. The law 

 was changed two or three years ago to Sept. 1, and still 

 stands. Please correct in the interest of sportsmen who 

 do not want to kill weaklings. J. E. S. 



OsKAiiOOSA, Iowa. 



[We printed the law as sent to us by an officer of the 

 Iowa State Association as now in force; but the prairie 

 chicken season is as stated in the above corrections.] 



DEER IN MEXICO. 



THE invitation of royalty is a command. The privilege 

 of yes or no is only a pleasant fiction. But it is 

 different in a free Republic. I could have said no when 

 the Governor of the State askpd me to join a hunting 

 party with him recently— but I didn't. I didn't want to 

 refuse. I can prove my liberty some other way. I had 

 heard of the Governor's mountain ranch and how the 

 festive deer and turkey held high carnival there, and this 

 made it easy to become for the moment a courtier. 



I had to lose a day or two from work, but that co3t me 

 only a short struggle. I was glad of the chance to get 

 acquainted with the chief representative of the hunting 

 craft here about, as I am inclined to believe that when 

 you get a party of hunters together, you are sure to find 

 some gentlemen among them. I still think so. 



Our destination was a high ridge some forty miles from 

 this city, which overlooks the broad dry plain that lies 

 between, and is plainly visible. At 5 P. M, the party 

 boarded the train for a half -hour's run to the Governor's 

 farm, where coaches, horses, etc., awaited us. It was 

 made up of General Carlos Diez Gutierrez, Governor of 

 the State of San Luis Potosi, Licenciado Juan Fiores Ayala, 

 Secretary of State: Dr. Antonio Sosa, Licenciado Fran- 

 cisco Gama, Licenciado Jose Vega, Col. Leopoldo 

 Gonzalez, Messrs. W. Gilbert, Augustine Grumbrecht, 

 Laureano Cantolla, Jose Alcocer, Luis Espinosa y Cuevas, 

 R. Lumpuye, Ramon de Ceballos, Jose Moran and your 

 correspondent. 



Besides native Mexicans there were several Spaniards, 

 two Germans and one "gringo" (the title "Licenciado" is 

 equivalent to Esquire in England, that is, it indicates the 

 legal profession). 



As there is no paper published in Spanish of the scope 

 of the "only" Forest and Stream, and as I had been 

 already convicted of writing up such expeditions, I was 

 looked upon as the reporter. This rather numerous 

 individual, by the way, seems to be an American institu- 

 tion, as there is no word for him in Spanish (he is some- 

 times called "the unspeakable" in English, is he not?) so 

 that along with "ros'-bif," "puddin'," "peek-lees" and 

 other necessaries of life he has become naturalized — 

 name, "cheek" and all, among the gentle Mexicans. 



"La Pila!" sings the Mexican brakeman, but for the life 

 of him he can't bang the door till your eyes start from 

 their sockets nor call the stations in Brobdingnag like his 

 American model. Out we tumbled, bags and bundles, 

 rifle, guns, grips— everything except dogs— which one 

 expects to see as the impedimenta of a miscellaneous 

 hunting party. In coaches and on horseback we rode 

 away in the mellow sunset to the big rambling country- 

 house, sweet with the smell of rose and jasmine, where 

 we spent the night. We didn't sleep a great deal. The 

 floors were strewn with cots, and everybody felt merry. 

 Some played monte till they got warmed up over it, and 

 then made it warm for those of us who had gone to sleep. 

 We were like a lot of school-boys. Somebody was so 

 rash as to snore. Immediately a very dignified gentle- 

 man — usually dignified, I mean — set out on hands and 

 knees to tickle the offender's feet. Just as the wrathful 

 sleeper awoke and began to lay about him, some enter- 

 prising soul illumined the dark room with a match, and 

 we had a fine scrub race by two well-known citizens, not 

 over-encumbered with civilized clothes. The Governor 

 was wise enough to select a small room where there were 

 few beds and quiet. 



At 5 o'clock next morning we were off, three coaches 

 strong, with a small army of attendants on horseback. 

 At 10 o'clock the baggage was loaded on burros, which 

 had come over to meet us, we mounted horses and started 

 in a long train up the mountain. The Governor, fine and 

 soldierly looking always, is at his best on horseback. He 

 rides in front chatting with the boss of the ranch, and 

 the rest string out behind. The cactus begins to grow 

 thin, the shrubs tall, mesquite changes to oak, and oak 

 verges into pine and cedar. The grass grows greener 

 and evidences of moisture multiply. The dry valley 

 shrubs at last disappear, the maguey struggling almost 

 to the top. These high ridges sweep the Gulf breezes 

 clear of their moisture, scant enough at best. About 

 half-way up, in a grassy little glade, we find a company 

 of men around a fire making "savory meat," the kind 

 with which Jacob and his mother deceived poor old 

 Isaac. We dismount, and on the sweet pine straw have 

 a breakfast fit for a king, with appetites to match, while 

 in the tall trees overhead moans the deep-toned orchestra 

 of heaven, 



Exactly at noon we turned the summit, and the half- 

 fed verdure changed in an instant to glorious luxuriance. 

 Oak groves, black in their very greenness, lay like cloud 

 shadows along the hillsides, and in the glades between 

 grass and flower spread their velvet carpet, regal, incom- 



parable. Vistas of leagues upon leagues stretched in all 

 directions, dry dead hills alternating with the green and 

 yellow of cultivated valleys, and far behind us gleamed 

 the towers and white walls of San Luis Potosi, the ! 

 "Treasure Trove." 



Here the hunt was organized. Some on foot, some on 

 horseback, with guides and without, the party scattered 

 to meet later at the house a mile below. My course soon 

 led me to the house, having seen nothing but green fields 

 and valleys, trees, grass and flowers, over which floating 

 clouds threw nature's kaleidoscope, various, lovely, and 

 infinitely satisfying. Sitting under a shade tree I counted I 

 seven varieties of flowers in reach of my hand, and the 

 number increased to nineteen as I descended the hill a 

 few hundred yards to the house. What a spendthrift 

 nature is! If she chooses to favor a place there is no stint- 

 ing of gifts. And she is quite indifferent to man's con- 

 venience, too, often shutting off her purest loveliness by 

 walls like the granite donjon of Yosemite, or perching it, 

 as in this case, 10,000ft. above sea level upon a clumsy 

 mountain. 



Early in the afternoon a guide arrived at the house with 

 a handsome deer on his back, red of coat and fat of flesh, 

 the velve.t horns about half grown. One party had driven 

 him out of a thicket, and a snap shot from Don Pepe 

 Moran, about the oldest hunter among us, who was in 

 another group, tumbled him over on the run. There was 

 much generous rejoicing among the younger men that 

 one of the less active had been the fortunate one. Several 

 other deer were seen, a few shots fired, but nothing else 

 killed. 



The mountain air was bracing, surplus energy had been 

 worked off, and after a vigorous supper we covered the 

 floors of two rooms with cots and bunks and slept the 

 sleep of anticipation. We were to start back at noon, so 

 the ambitious were out early. I took a guide more to 

 keep me off the territory assigned to others than because 

 I wanted him. I found, after the best part of the morn- 

 ing was gone, that he was making a special search for 

 two does whose haunts he knew. I told him in some dis- 

 gust that I didn't want to kill a doe; but he was obstin- 

 ate. Pretty soon he found them, and I had to kill one 

 to satisfy him. I consoled myself that a deer is a deer in 

 a big party, and that I should not be "left." Sending 

 the victim in, I made for the highest and roughest point 

 in sight, and after about an hour's tramp was rewarded 

 with a shot at a handsome buck, which opportunity I 

 improved with immense satisfaction to myself. He was 

 a fine fat fellow, not quite so large as the one killed the 

 day before. I took a hasty shot at a smaller one that was 

 with him, and was impressed with that peculiar feeling 

 that every hunter will recognize, that I had hit him. As 

 he left no show of blocd, I tried to convince myself that 

 I was mistaken; but some days after the ranch hands 

 found where crows and coyotes had made a dainty feast. 

 When will a fellow learn not to shoot in a hurry? 



As a number of shots had been heard in various direc- 

 tions I hoped there would be a fine snowing, but was sur- 

 prised to find that nothing else had been killed and that 

 I was the hero of the day. The General, as his friends 

 called him, — military titles have a strange way of stick- 

 ing even in times of peace — had hunted diligently with- 

 out even the sight of a deer. He was disappointed and so 

 were we all, for we felt that his generous and thoughtful 

 hospitality deserved a better fortune. But Diana is a shy 

 and fickle goddess. He evidently enjoyed the abundant 

 good-fellowship, to which he personally contributed much, 

 and our unstinted enthusiasm over the loveliness of his 

 sylvan retreat. 



At noon we took up the line of march for home, leaving 

 three enthusiasts to follow next day. A village through 

 which we had to pass stopped us to give an ovation to 

 the Governor. The attentions of the good people were 

 something of a trial to the party, as we were tired and 

 dusty, and dressed strictly for business. After a pleasant 

 night at "La Pila" again, we reached San Luis next morn- 

 ing, and plunged again into the work-a-day world. 



There were no casualties except that the General left a 

 box of fine cigars on the train, and came near slipping 

 over a precipice. There was plenty of fun, with gun 

 talk, shooting at marks, etc. The arms were mostly 

 Winchesters, model of 1873, some of them richly orna- 

 mented. A few shotguns were carried but no turkeys 

 were seen, and but little use was found for them. My 

 hammerless Lefever was looked upon as something of a 

 miracle in the gun way. 



I forgot at the right place to mention the band. A 

 little hatchet-faced old man with a big harp and a senti- 

 mental youth with a red ribbon on his hat and a guitar 

 slung across his shoulder furnished the music. It was 

 not bad either. But when the first deer arrived the old 

 man twanged at his harp softly and hummed a while, 

 then, after drilling his assistant, they broke into an im- 

 provised song in honor of the fortunate hunter. The 

 verses jingled fairly well, but the music was so lackadais- 

 ical that it was irresistibly funny. The old musician's 

 vanity was wonderfully tickled when it was proposed to 

 write off his song. I thought I would translate the lines, 

 but find it impossible to convey their quaintness and 

 childish extravagance. 



Two weeks after our return, in the lovely suburban 

 garden of the Governor, the hunters spread a handsome 

 breakfast in honor of their host. Eighteen covers were 

 laid, two guests being invited besides the original party. 

 One was absent from the city and sent his brother; an- 

 other was sick. The "spread" was capital, the fellowship 

 better. Some in wine, some in water, but all in the best 

 of spirit, drank long life and happiness to the genial host 

 of Alvarez, 



"And when lie next a-hunting goes, 

 May we be there to see." 



Aztec. 



San Luis Potosi, Mexico. 



Parnassus, Westmoreland County, Pa.— Quail are more 

 abundant in this neighborhood than they have been dur- 

 ing the past fifteen years. Some are laying eggs for a 

 second brood, as is shown by a nest which" is within 100ft. 

 of my room.— Lorna. 



North Bend, Pa. — The lumbermen report bears plentier 

 this year than for some time. There are some deer and 

 lots of squirrels and pheasants, and the streams and 

 brooks are full of trout. — J. G. K. 



A Book About Indians.— The Fobest and Stream will mall 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. Glrinnell's book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales," giving; a table of contents 

 and specimen illustrations from the volume.— J.4v. 



