Forest and Stream, 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



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NEW YORK, JANUARY 1, 1891. 



] VOL. XXXV.— No. 34. 



'I No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The Status of Fishculture. 



Fish Dealer and Fish Commis- 

 sioner. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



A Winter in Michigan.— iv. 



Cowboy Reminiscences.— II. 



An Adirondack Outing. 



They Love the Music. 

 Natural History. 



The Porcupine. 



The Woodcock's Whistle. 



Surrounded by Snow Buntings 



Pennsylvania Birds. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Comparative Powder Tests. 



A Goose Hunt in North Dakota 



A Gun from Northern Kansas. 



Maine— Its Game and Law. 



Those Nova Scotia Licenses. 



Missouri Game Notes. 



Chicago and the We3t. 



Game Protector Bradley. 



Game Notes. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Cod Fishing for Sport. 



The Wolf of the Waters. 



Rod, Line and Hook in 

 Jamaica. — n. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Angling Notes. 



A Card from Mr. Blackford. 

 Ftshculture. 



Rt suits of Fishculture. 



Failure of Trout Culture. 

 The Kennel. 



Review of Premium Lists. 



Cocker Spaniels of 1890. 



Dog Chat. 



Notes and Notions. 



Dog Talk. 



Pointer Club Specials. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting, 



Range and Gallerv. 



The New Army Ride. 



The Trap. 

 Yachting. 



The September Gale of 1889. 



A Disputed Question. 



Old and New Style Yachts. 



New York Yacht Racing Asso- 

 ciation. 

 Canoeing. 



Toronto C. C. 



Canoeists' Winter Quarters. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



FISH DEALER AND FISH COMMISSIONER. 



WE print to-day a card from Mr. "Eugene G. Black- 

 ford, the President of the New York Fish Com- 

 mission. Itis short, concise and explicit; and sufficiently 

 definite in its statements to be plainly comprehended by 

 Mr. John D. Collins, of Utica, to whose recent charges 

 against Mr. Blackford's integrity and honesty of official 

 actions it is an answer. One of these charges was that 

 Mr. Blackford had secured the repeal of the six-inch trout 

 law, because that law interfered with the sale of finger- 

 ling trout in Fulton Market, where Mr. Blackford does 

 business. A more serious charge was that Chief Fish 

 and Game Protector Drew had been removed at Mr. 

 Blackford's instigation because the chief's vigilance had 

 interfered with the shipment of illegally caught fish to 

 Fulton Market. 



As we pointed out at the time, these accusations were 

 of altogether too grave a nature to be made by an irre- 

 sponsible accuser or without due proof to make them 

 good. Several weeks have now elapsed and the proofs 

 have not been forthcoming. Meanwhile the person ac- 

 cused has been ill. The first act of Mr. Blackford on his 

 recovery from a sick bed is to send us his reply. That 

 reply is that the charges are absolutely false, and that 

 Mr. Collins knew them to be false when lie wrote them. 

 This makes it incumbent upon Mr. John D. Collins to do 

 one of two things, either to bring forward the proofs 

 which he has alleged he has in his possession to establish 

 the truth of the charges, or failing this, to acknowledge 

 his mistake and make due apology. No third course of 

 action is open to a man who wishes to enjoy the respect 

 ■of his fellows. 



While he meets thus without reserve or mincing mat- 

 ters, as every self-respecting and honest man must meet, 

 the direct accusations of dishonorable conduct preferred 

 against him, Mr. Blackford has apparently thought it 

 not worth while to consider at length the inuendoes and 

 insinuations made by Mr. Collins, which are in effect that 



a fish dealer is by reason of his business an unfit person 

 to be a commissioner of fisheries. 



This is a point of which good taste forbids extended dis- 

 cussion by the President of the New York Commission. 

 It is, however, a perfectly legitimate subject for expres- 

 sion of opinions, and diverse opinions have been expressed 

 respecting it. One opinion is this one of Mr. John D. 

 Collins. Another opinion is that which was expressed 

 by the Jate Spencer F. Baird, as contained in the follow- 

 ing note, only this year sent to Mr. Blackford by Mr. 

 Churchill H. Cutting. The two notes explain them- 

 selves : 



New York, April 9, 1890.— Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, Brooklyn, 

 N. Y.— My Bear Mr. Blackford: 1 now have the honor to hand 

 you Prof. Baird's letter of April 33, 1886, which I promised some 

 time ago to give you, but until a day or two have been quite unable 

 to And. I had put it away so carefully t hat it was out of my own 

 reach. Yet at this la.te day it will be enriched to you by the fact 

 that it is one among the last of his testimonials to his cherished 

 friends and scientific cc-laborers. Permit me to congratulate you 

 for the place that you occupied in the esteem of this gentleman 

 I beg to remain, cordially yours, Churchill H. Cutting. 



Washington, D. C, April 33, 1886.— Dear Churchill: We con- 

 sider Mr. Blackford to be the model fish dealer of the world, cer- 

 tainly of the United States, by his scientific acquirements and 

 methods, his intelligence, and his energy. As Fish Commissioner 

 of New York, he has a thorough appreciation of all the problems 

 of fishculture, and the best methods of restoring the supply in 

 depleted waters. He is a most invaluable coadjutor of the U. S. 

 Fish Commission, always ready to help to the utmost of his 

 ability, and to sacrifice time and money in doing what he can to 

 advance, science in every way. We cannot speak too highly of 

 him either in his personal relationship as a man, or in connection 

 with business matters. He is known all over the world by natur- 

 alists and persons interested in fishculture; and is really the 

 medium of communication in this connection between America, 

 France, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, Germany, etc. Sincerely 

 yours, S. F. Baird. 



Of these two opinions— that of John D. Collins and 

 that of Spencer F. Baird — each must be taken for what 

 it is worth. The former we have reason to believe is 

 shared by a large class, whose lack of information is 

 more than made up by its prejudice, while the latter 

 embodies the deliberate verdict of those who are most 

 familiar with the record and services of Mr. Blackford in 

 the work of fishculture. 



Holding by reelection the office of President of the 

 American Fisheries Society (one of the oldest and most 

 effective national organizations for the promotion of fish- 

 culture and fish protection), the recipient of gold, silver 

 and bronze medals from the French, Holland and Ger- 

 man governments for his services in the cause of fishcul- 

 ture, honored by the Commissioners sent to this country 

 by Japan, France, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland, 

 Ireland and Scotland, who have sought his counsel, 

 advice and practical assistance, and have made ample 

 acknowledgment Of the same, by the present United 

 States Commission - held in a like esteem as by Prof. 

 Baird, respected by his associates in the State Board of 

 Commissioners of Fisheries, Mr. Blackford, it may quite 

 readily be understood, does not deem it needful to dis- 

 cuss with ignorant and prejudice-blinded carpers the 

 question of his fitness for office and of his discharge of 

 official duties. 



There remains one thing more to be said. Many well 

 meaning and honest people appear to believe that a fish 

 dealer is of necessity a rogue; that he cannot do business 

 without buying unlawfully captured fish — equivalent to 

 receiving stolen goods— and that he is therefore inimical 

 to the enforcement of the fish protective statutes and to 

 the punishment of those who violate the laws. This be- 

 lief found expression in an article sent us by a correspond- 

 ent the other day when he wrote: "Now, with a market- 

 man at the head of a commission charged with a vigorous 

 enforcement of protective fish and game laws, must not 

 demoralization in the service follow? Is it so?" 



As a general proposition, discussed theoretically, such 

 a question admits of argument on both sides. In this 

 ease, however, the reference was directly to Mr. Black- 

 ford, who is a fish dealer, and as a Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries is also charged with directing the enforcement of 

 the fish protective laws. Assuming that "Saint Law- 

 rence," who put this inquiry, is sincere, and we believe 

 him to be, we will reply to his question, Yankee-like, by 

 asking another. 



Mr. Blackford is a fish dealer; he is also President of 

 the Bedford Bank, of Brooklyn; Chairman of the Finance 

 Committee of the City Savings Bank of Brooklyn; Chair- 

 man of the Executive Committee of the People's Trust 

 Company, of Brooklyn; president or director in numerous 

 other organizations. The presumption is that a person , 



holding such positions of trust is regarded by his fellows 

 as a man of integrity and honorable business character. 

 Now does "Saint Lawrence" believe, as his question 

 implies, that a man of such standing in the community is 

 likely to forfeit his reputation by an abuse of his official 

 position as Fish Commissioner to encourage the illicit 

 trade in fish? Is the brand of honesty required in a Fish 

 Commissioner so refined and rare in its nature that we 

 cannot safely trust our bank presidents to fill the office? 

 And if the business of a fish dealer is of necessity a 

 rogue's calling, is it not high time that the fact were 

 made known in commercial circles, that fish dealers may 

 no longer be permitted to fill offices of trust? 



THE STATUS OF FISHCULTURE. 

 [?ROM time to time we have published in our columns 

 *- communications from Mr. Peirce upon the failure 

 of trout culture and fishcultural methods in general. We 

 have given place to these articles, not because they repre- 

 sent our own opinions on the subject, but because we 

 have long known of the existence of opposition to public 

 fishculture under the present organizations. As Mr. 

 Peirce represents the extreme of this adverse element, 

 and has always expressed himself without reservation in 

 opposition to generally accepted methods, we have given 

 him an opportunity to present his views in the fullest and 

 clearest possible manner, believing that the untenability 

 of his position will be made evident by such free discus- 

 sion of the subject as might arise from his sweeping 

 criticisms. We have a very extensive acquaintance with 

 fishculturists and know something about the results of 

 fishcultural work. We have read the published state- 

 ments concerning the successful restocking of trout 

 streams and have believed them, because of our confi- 

 dence in the gentlemen who have given the facts to the 

 public. We have supposed it to be capable of ocular 

 demonstration that landlocked salmon have been success- 

 fully introduced into Sunapee Lake and other lakes in New 

 Hampshire, and that the fish caught in Sunapee in 1890 

 were equal in value to one-sixth of the entire fishcultural 

 appropriation for the year; we will throw in the fine 

 brook trout and golden trout taken during the same 

 season for good measure, although we know that some 

 parties caught from 100 to 150 small golden trout in a 

 single day. We know that Mr. Robert D. Hume, of 

 Ellensburg, Oregon, now of San Francisco, Cal., has sup- 

 ported a private salmon breeding station on Rogue River, 

 Oregon, by means of which he has kept this river in a. 

 profitable condition for many years while adjacent salmon 

 streams, which are not artificially stocked , have long ago 

 been fished out. We believe that Eastern brook trout 

 have been successfully introduced into the little Laramie 

 River, Wyoming, where they have been known to reach 

 a weight of 31bs. in four years. 



Our correspondent, Mr. Byers, in a communication on 

 the results of fishculture, furnishes a long list of Colorado 

 streams in which various exotic species of the salmon 

 family are now flourishing, even more than in their na- 

 tive habitat. Other localities not mentioned by Mr. Byers 

 are: Chalk Creek, in Chaffee county, Colorado, stocked 

 fi ve years ago with brook and brown trout, both of 

 which are doing well; Morraine's Lake, on Pike's Peak, 

 which was said to contain no fish of any kind till trout 

 were introduced last year and in which they increased 

 from 2iin. to a weight of l^lbs. up to August of the pres- 

 ent year; Echo Lake, near Idaho Springs, stocked in 1889, 

 and this season fish of Hlbs. have been taken. In 

 Nebraska, Long Pine Creek and Shadron Creek were 

 stocked several years ago with brook and rainbow trout; 

 many of each were caught in 1889, including a brook 

 trout of 17in., which weighed over 21bs., and has been 

 personally examined by us. Rainbow trout sent to Ver- 

 ona, in southwest Missouri, have grown wonderfully and 

 increased rapidly, furnishing some of the finest specimens 

 of their kind. Mr. William Montgomery, of Verona, can 

 give full details of the experiment. 



We could multiply instances indefinitely if it were 

 necessary. It is well known to anglers that the trout 

 streams of the Pocono range in northern Pennsylvania 

 and the headwaters of the Delaware River, as well as 

 those of the western slope of the Alleghanies, have been 

 completely restored by the excellent work of the Penn- 

 sylvania hatcheries at Allentown and Corry. The Bush- 

 kill and the Tobyhanna are among the streams which 

 have been so improved. 



As for raising trout for market we know at least a few 



