480 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JAN. 1, 1891. 



the world has been no less successful, and that the science is 

 gaining ground every day to the incalculable benefit of 

 nations and peoples. I have lived long enough to see its be- 



-_ sportsni — 



papers of tbe country, as he seems determined to do, will 

 either stop or turn back the wheels of progress in this great 

 industrial enterprise. Nor do I believe that all its disciples 

 are fools and that Mr. Peirce is the only living creature who 

 knows all about it. * Wm. N. Byers. 



Dbxvee, Colo. 



FAILURE OF TROUT CULTURE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I notice in your issue of Oct. 9, page 239, under the head of 

 "Augling Notes," you copy certain notes from the Spring- 

 field Republican and apparently add some of your own, 

 among which I find the following: "Because a few people 

 have made a failure of their attempts to raise trout for the 

 market, it does not follow that all artificial trout breeding 

 is a failure, as some cranks would like us to believe." And 

 you farther say that there are numerous instances where 

 restocking of old and fished-out waters have been followed 

 with excellent results, and you quote the Castalia Club 

 waters in Ohio in proof, saying that "there were absolutely 

 no trout iu those waters originally," etc. 



Now, as I am one of the few who seem to have the courage 

 to state in cold type my convictions on this question, I sup- 

 pose that the "crank" paragraph is intended, in part ait least, 

 for me. Well, I am rather complimented than otherwise by 

 being denominated a crank, for a crank used in this sense 

 is becoming to be considered by intelligent people as a per- 

 son who makes some subject a specialty, and becomes an 

 acknowledged authority thereon. 



Now I wish to repeat what I have before said, in sub- 

 stance, in your columns; namely, that I have repeatedly in- 

 vestigated these alleged cases of success in artificial restock- 

 ing of trout streams and have iu everv instance found that 

 there was no foundation in fact for the statements thus 

 published. Doctors Ackley and Garlick, the originators of 

 nshculttire in America, were in the habit of trout fishing in 

 "Cold Creek," near Sandusky, 85 to 40 years ago, and I saw 

 the results of their angling. The Castalia Club preserve 

 embraces the headwaters of this stream. There is at this 

 writing an extra session of the Ohio Legislature convened 

 here and, besides the members of the Legislature, a large 

 number of people from various parts of the State are now 

 here. Upon inquiry I find some who were born and raised 

 in the region of Cold Creek, near Castalia, andeach of them, 

 together with others who have fished those waters from time 

 to time, assure me that the stream with its little tributaries 

 have from time immemorial been noted trout-producing 

 waters. That portion of the waters cited bv you is an in- 

 closed preserve, where, only limited fishing is permitted, the 

 same as in the case of the Long Islancfpreserves. Their 

 present fine supply of trout is due to this fact and that the 

 waters have been specially prepared as per plans stated by 

 me in your issue of Sept. 4. page 134, and I here repeat that 

 this is the only efficient mode of trout culture, now known, 

 and that artificial hatching is entirely unnecessary. Give 

 the trout the proper facilities and they will produce a 

 healthier offspring than can be produced artificially, and 

 ten times as many as their habitat will support. 



In conclusion. I venture the assertion that you cannot fur- 

 nish any reliable and conclusive evidence that there are any 

 open waters in this or any other country that have been per- 

 ceptibly improved in an angling sense bv artificial hatch- 

 ing. During my personal recollection of more than fifty 

 years, there has always been a constant variation from year 

 to year in the trout supply of scores of streams with which 

 I am personally conversant, the supply decreasing for a term 

 of years to a phenomenal scarcity, and then gradually im- 

 proving (where natural, favorable conditions remained) until 

 reaching a condition of phenomenal plenty, like the pres- 

 ent, which is about the best I remember of; and further, 

 artificial stocking has not iu the least changed the result, 

 for the most of the streams referred to have never been arti- 

 ficially stocked and they are fully as prolific as those which 

 have been so stocked in the same regions and some of which 

 have formerly been among the best trout waters of the re- 

 gion. And finally, I will ask you to kindly name a solitary 

 person in all the hundreds or thousands who have tried trout 

 raising for market that has made the least success beyond 

 the "fry stage." I very confidently make the assertion that 

 the individual cannot be found. MrLTON P. Peirce. 



ConuMBDS, Ohio. 



SOME FOREIGN FISHCULTTJRISTS.— In a recent letter 

 to Dr. Bean, Corresponding Secretary of the American Fish- 

 eries Society, the following information is given concerning 

 some of the foreign corresponding members of the society: 

 Mr. Arthur Feddersen is now living at Copenhagen and is 

 the Secretary-General of the Danish Fisheries Society. Dr. 

 S. A. Buch, of Bergen, Norway, is Secretary General of the 

 Norwegian Fisheries Society. Capt. Niels Juel, ofHorten, 

 Norway, is no longer President of the Society for the 

 Development of Norwegian Fisheries. Professor-Doctor 

 Malrngren is now Governor of Finland, and Professor-Doc- 

 tor G. O. Sars is Professor in the University and not Govern- 

 ment Inspector of Fisheries. Mr. Feddersen compliments 

 the American Fisheries Society on the excellence of its 

 transactions recently published. 



r she Menttel 



All communications must reach us by Tuesday 

 of the week they are to be published; and should 

 be sent as much earlier as may be convenient. 



FIXTURES. 

 DOG SHOWS. 



Dec. 30 to Jan. 3, 1891.— First Dog Show of the Buckeye Poultry 

 and Pet Stock Association, at Canton, 0. James Sterling, Seo'y, 

 89 North Market street. 



1891. 



Jan. 6 to 9.— Delaware and Susquehanna Poultry and Pet Stock 

 Association, at Biughamton, N. Y. 



Jan. 13 to 17.— Third Annual Dog Show of the South Carolina 

 Poultry and Pet Stock Association, at Charleston, S. C. Benj. 

 Mcluness, Jr.. Secretary. 



Jan. 20 to 2=i.— First Annual Dog Show of the Louisiana Poultry 

 and Pet Stonk Association, at New Orleans, La. A. E. Shaw, Sec- 

 retary, Box M58. 



Jan. 20 to 25— Dog Show of the Georgia Poultry and Pet Stock 

 Association, at Augusta, Ga. A. H. Vonderleitb, Secretary. 



Jan. 21 to 26.— Dog Snow of the Elmira Poultry and Pet Stock 

 Association, at Elrnira, N. Y. Carl Hart, Secretary. 



Jan. 27 to 30.— Inaugural Dog Show of the South Carolina Ken- 

 nel Association, at Greenville, C. F. F. Capers, Secretary. 



Feb. 24 to 27. -Fifteenth Annual Dog Show of the Westn-.inster 

 Kennel Club, at New York. James Mortimer, Superintendent. 



March 8 to 6.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Maryland Kennel 

 Club, at Baltimore. Md. W. Stewart Diffenderffer, Secretary. 



March 10 to 13.— First Annual Dog Show of tbe Duauesne Kennel 

 Club, at Pittsburg. Pa. W. E. Littell, Secretary. 



March 16 to 19.— Inaugural Dog Show of the Washington City 

 Kennpl Club, at Washington, D. C. 



March 24 to 27.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Massachusetts 

 Kennel Club, Lynn. Mass. D. A. Williams, Secretary. 



March 31 to April 3.— Seventh Annual Dog Show of (he New 

 England Kennel CJnb. a.t Boston, Mass. E, H, Moore, Secretary. 



to ^i; -7 ' 111 '' 1 Annual Dog Show of the Mascoutah Ken- 

 nel Club, at Chicago, Til. John L. Lincoln. Jr., Secretary. 



April 14 to 17.-Fourth Dog Show of the Cleveland Kennel Club, 

 at Cleveland, O. C. M. Munball, Secretary. 



bept. 1 to 4.— Dog Show of the Youngstown Kennel Club, at 

 Youngstown, O. 



FIELD TRIALS. 

 Jan. 19.-Eighth Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Kennel Club, 

 at Bakersfield, Cal. H. H. Briggs, Secretary. 

 ni v m~X n ii' i Annual Field Trials of the Southern Field Trials 

 Club. T. M. Bruuby, Secretary, Marietta, Ga. 



COCKER SPANIELS OF 1 890. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Four weeks have elapsed since I called upon "Gothamite" 

 to prove his groundless assertion that Mr. Watson and the 

 writer of this '-started the long and low craze" in cocker 

 spaniels. A person who wilfully or otherwise makes a 

 statement which he cannot substantiate, and who upon 

 being shown that he is in error refuses to retract and apolo- 

 gize, is not a gentleman. It goes without saving that he is 

 not an honorable man. A person who intentionally sends 

 for publication to a public journal malicious and untruth- 

 ful statements, sneakishly conceived under the visor of a 

 nom de plume, is dishonest; and it follows that the writings 

 of such a person should be forever placed beyond the breast- 

 works of ground where upright and manly discussion can 

 only be successfully assailed by upright and manly discus- 

 sion. 



I do not suppose that Mr. Watson would blame you for 

 having permitted "Gothamite" to impose upon your good- 

 ness aud willingness to allow a full discussion of the cocker 

 questflfc in these columns. For myself, I can say that in- 

 stead of feeling ruffled I am disposed to thank you for allow- 

 ing this "Gothamite" to give us an insight into his charac- 

 ter and the motives which prompted him to open out this 

 discussion. The more space you give to correspondents of 

 the "Gothamite" class, and the sooner such fellows are 

 placed exactly where they belong, and the better it is for 

 the dog and his genuine lovers. A few lies about myself 

 do not matter at all. They run off me like 'water from a 

 duck's back. My reputation was not made in a week, and 

 it cannot be tarnished by a person whose statements and 

 motives are moulded on the lines of a dog's hind leg. I do 

 not now write to defend myself against "Gothamite's" false- 

 hoods, because my record can do that. The object I have in 

 view is to rid the fancy of an unreliable and altogether un- 

 worthy critic, aud to get at the bottom facts about the 

 cocker spaniels of 1890. Nobody who has read "Gothamite's" 

 letter can believe him sincere, because he makes it as clear 

 as crystal that he wrote : (1) To bolster up the cocker spaniel 

 Doc, now owned by Mr. F. H. F. Mercer. (2) To belittle 

 Jersey and other dogs that can beat Doc. (3) To push into 

 prominence judges who will place Doc over Jersey. (4.) To 

 keep in the background judges who consider Johnny and 

 Drake, also owned by Mr. F. H. F. Mercer, unfit for compe- 

 tition iu a class of real Clumbers. (5) To get a free adver- 

 tisement for Doc. (6) To advertise a book. 



A friend says you are uever happy unless you see a row 

 going on, and for this reason printed "Gothamite's" letter 

 I think it far more probable that you published it as a means 

 of drawiug out something interesting (of course "Gotham- 

 ite" could not write anything interesting) about the cockers 

 of 1890. Devilish sly this, Mr. Editor, and I have got you 

 down as always being particularly obliging and lenient 

 when a correspondeut starts in to "kill Watson and Mason." 

 Your motto at such times seems to be "rope." Pray pardon 

 me if I add that your apparent liking for a dog critic's 

 funeral is not commendable. 



How is it, sir, that the moment a man, or a boy, becomes 

 the owner of a dog he imagines himself a judge? It is not 

 so in England, except in rare eases. 1 would be willing to 

 wager fW.50 against a white and red dog called John that 

 "Gothamite" has just purchased a cocker spaniel and that 

 he has not been to six dog shows in his life. It's the old, old 

 story, a man (or a boy), a dog, windv effusions in the papers 

 for a few weeks, then a funeral. As a rule, the man and the 

 dog die on the same day. One seems to kill the other. I tell 

 you what it is. The unvarnished impudence of the young 

 American dog man of to-day cannot be approached by a be- 

 ginner in any other business or fancy. For downright, cold, 

 petrifying, pure black cheek he leads the world and wins in 

 a trot, hands down. Of course there is a reason for this, and 

 the American dog man is responsible for it. The beginner 

 has read about Meersbrook Maidens, Rubicons, Robin Adairs 

 et al. He argues with himself, when he is capable of argu- 

 ing, that men who have no records except for cheek are put 

 into the judges' ring and are written up as judges. Says he 

 to himself, "That man never had any dogs. His cheek it 

 was that got him made a judge, and I'll become a judge 

 through the same channel." He seizes a pen, writes a few 

 articles (mostly copied) for the different papers, buys a dog, 

 and in six months appears on the scene as a correspondent 

 for three or four papers and a judge and authority on any- 

 thing and everything from a black and tan toy pup up to a 

 Plinlimmon. These are the chaps we must come into con- 

 tact with or keep out of a controversy altogether. No won- 

 der that, as a rule, we keep out. 



I well tell you of a case that came under my notice not a 

 long time ago. A boy of 16 or 17 summers sent a letter ask- 

 ing if I would meet him on a matter of important business. 

 I did meet him by appointment, and learned that he wished 

 to buy a spaniel. He would not, he said, purchase any dog 

 that 1 did not consider a good one, told me he was no judge 

 of dogs and asked if I would accompany him to a certain 

 well-kuown kennel to look at a dog he had bad offered. I 

 assured him that some of his frieuds in the Spaniel Club 

 would gladly advise him. He would not listen to this, aud 

 so I finally promised I would go with him. Arrived at the 

 kennel, I examined the dog and advised the purchase only 

 at a low price, because the dog was not good enough to win 

 in select company. A sale did not take place. On the way 

 home we talked dog, and it was apparent that our young 

 friend could just about distinguish a cocker from a King 

 Charles. We parted at New York, and a short time after I 

 had the. pleasure of meeting the dear child at the Philadel- 

 phia dog show. He wanted to be a man because he was 

 going to own some dogs, so we had to have a drink. Noth- 

 ing else would satisfy him. We adjourned to a suitable 

 hotel and the young critic (to be) called for something 

 stronger than milk. I got mine, but the critic got left, the 

 bartender informing him that he could not serve drinks to a 

 minor. When questioned later that worthy said he didn't 

 propose to lose his job through serving drinks to an infant! 



he braced himself up, and five minutes later he was strutting 

 around and looking as wise as our good friend Mortimer 

 judging a class of black and tan terriers. There was soon 

 to be a show not a great distance from Buffalo and the 

 writer was chosen to judge spaniels. Our young friend 

 turned out in great style, but his dog did not win because 

 he met a better one, which in my opinion was a sufficient 

 reason for pegging him back. Then there was weeping and 

 wailing and lashing of tongues. It was bad enough not to 

 have the drinks at Philadelphia, but athousand times worse 

 to lose a first prize under the judgment of "the only 

 man in America whose opinion about a dog T value." 

 The poor boy's good opinion of me died that same day, and 

 strange to say, I am as well off without it as with it. What 

 did the child do? Did he examine the winner to see if he 

 was a better dog than his own ? Did he get somebody to 

 point out to him the defects in both dogs? Did he think it 

 possible that the judge might just possibly have made a cor- 



rect decision? Not be. He made a wild rush for a pen, 

 charged on his sister's sweetly perfumed note paper and 

 then wrote out what he considered a very sharp and bright 

 criticism. He condemned the club for not appointing a 

 better judge, told how his own dog should have won, and 

 hoped that another year a competent judge of speniels 

 would be selected to pass on this neglected but useful breed. 

 He didn't write to blackguard the judge or the club, but 

 simply as a duty and to protect the spaniel. Poor, dear 

 boy, did ums ill-use it? Well, after this there was a 'calm, 

 which was followed by a clap of thunder aud a hustliug 

 about for an overcoat. Then the critic (?) and tbe doe were 

 quickly put to rest in one tiny grave. 



And such are our critics (?). These are the chaps who are 

 given full scope to write of us as "self-assured gentlemen." 

 These infants of the fancy are permitted to give noints to 

 men who were judging dogs while they were hard'at work 

 on a bottle with a rubber tube; and you editors look on and 

 enjoy the fun. Mr. Watson was judging spaniels in this 

 country ten years ago. The writer of this was an exhibitor 

 of spaniels in Englaud exactly twenty years ago. J am in- 

 formed that five years ago "Gothamite" had never seen a 

 dog show and had never owned a dog. To-day he has the 

 cheek to term me a "self-assured gentleman." If I am 

 "self-assured" with an experience covering twenty years, 

 and if I have attended more dog shows in one week than 

 "Gothamite" has seen in all his short life, what shall we say 

 about "Gothamite's" impudence? It is well for him that 

 he is firing from behind a haystack. Let him raise his visor 

 and we will find him smaller than a microbe in a twenty 

 acre lot. 



"Gothamite" commences by saying that "it is with sin- 

 cerest pleasure I have noted the general improvement in 

 the cocker classes during the past year." May I ask when, 

 where aud how did "Gothamite" learn to note "improve^ 

 ment in the cocker classes during the past year?" There 

 has been no general improvement in the cocker classes dur- 

 ing the past year. The best classes of cockers were at New 

 York, Buffalo and Toronto. The reports and catalogues go 

 to prove this. While New York was no better than the 

 other two shows a critic (?) like "Gothamite" would surely 

 consider it very much better, because "Gothamite's" dngs 

 (not cockers) were there. For this reason I will take the 

 New York shows of 1889 and 1890, and by comparison en- 

 deavor to show "Gothamite" the folly of writing about a 

 breed he knows nothing about. It will be soon enough for 

 "Gothamite" to criticise cockers when he. has learned the 

 points of Clumbers. 



At New York, 1889, the challenge class for dogs contained 

 Black Pete and Doc. Black Pete won. The corresponding 

 class for bitches had Miss Obo II. and Chloe W. Miss Obo 

 II. won. In 1890 the challenge class for dogs had Jersey, 

 Doc and Hornell Silk, but Doc was "not for competition." 

 He was probably afraid of Jersey. Jersey, who outclasses 

 Hornell Silk, won. In bitches there were Dolly Obo and 

 Bene Silk. Dolly won. Therefore there were four champion 

 dogs and bitches in 1889 and four iu 1890. But "Gothamite" 

 says that Doc (winner of second in 1889) is a vastly better 

 dog than the "fish-headed, swaydiacked, weak-jointed, al- 

 most coatless and lifeless Jersey and Dolly Obo" (winners in 

 1890). So according to "Gothamite" the' champion dogs of 

 1889 were decidedly better than the champion dogs of 1890. 

 Dolly Obo (first bitches, 1890) is not at all the thing, says this 

 erratic critic, yet bad as she is she beat Bene Silk (second 

 bitches, 1890). The merest, tyro in cocker lore, even a man 

 ignorant of the breed as "Gothamite" undoubtedly is, would 

 not say that Dolly Obo and BeneSilk (winners iu 1890) could 

 compare with Miss Obo II. and Chloe W. (winners iu 1889); 

 so the champion bitches of 1889 were away ahead of the 

 champion bitches of 1890 Taken as a kennel, Black Pete, 

 Doc, Miss Obo II. and Chloe W., the winners of 1889, could 

 easily beat Jersey, Hornell Silk, Dolly Obo and Bene Silk, 

 the winners in 1890. So that any way one looks at it the 

 champion cockers of 18S9 were a much better class than thev 

 were in 1890. I have fully criticised these dogs time and 

 again in Forest and Stream, and their good and bad ooints 

 have been carefully noted in "Our PrizeDogs," so I will not 

 go over old ground. 



In the open class for black dogs, 1889, that good but by no 



leans perfect dog, Jersey, won well from Baby Obo, a little 

 one showing much true type. The rest (5) were very weak. 

 In 1890 Rabbi was first and Nebo (price, $75) was second. 

 The rest (5) were a long way from being a strong lot. That 

 Jersey (1st, 1889) is a better dog than Rabbi (1st, 1890) no man 

 who knows the first thing about cockers will deny, and 

 Baby Obo should certainly beat .Nebo. Taken as a whole, 

 the dogs shown in 1889 would beat the same class in 1890. 

 In 1889 there were thirteen bitches headed bv Sensation, 

 Dolly Obo (1st challenge class, 1890) and Lacco. In 1890 

 there were fourteen, and the order of things was Bessie 

 Beard, Novel, Bessie W. Outside of the winners, the classes 

 were about equal, but the three winners of 1890 would beat 

 the winners of 1889, yet with little to spare. Novel, in my 

 opinion the best bitch in 1890, could not beat Miss Obo II., 

 the best bitch in 1889; and Mr. Willey has in the past shown 

 far better specimens than Bessie Beard, his first prize winner 

 of 1S90. I may name Shina as one of these; but she was 

 shown before "Gothamite" went in for dogs. Rabbi, favor- 

 ably mentioned by " Gothamite," is not a cocker of 1890. I 

 have a distinct recollection of having given him a vhc. 

 card in 1888. Obo H,, in his time, could smother niauy of 

 the best dogs that are running to-day, and' Brant, another 

 of the old winners, beat Doc, I think, on more than one 

 occasion. The truth is, there has been no general improve- 

 ment of late, and " Gothamite," as usual, canuot support 

 his statement with an atom of evidence. The most careful, 

 intelligent, thoughtful aud by all odds the most successful 

 breeder and exhibitor in this country has of late devoted 

 much less time to dog shows than he used to, and the cocker 

 classes have suffered as a consequence. I refer to Mr. J. P. 

 Willey. 



"Gothamite" alludes to Doc as "that grand little cocker 

 champion Doc." Very well. Doc won his first prize under 

 my judgment at New Haven, 1886. I brought him to the 

 front and he has stayed there ever since. If Doc is of the 

 right sort and was placed over very long and low ones how 

 can "Gothamite" reconcile this with his statement that I 

 started the "long and low craze?" 



"Gothamite" concludes by saying, "Our spaniel men have 

 learnt by now what a cocker spaniel should be, and will no 

 longer allow themselves to be led by the nose by Masons and 

 Watsons, who really started the 'long and low' craze. The 

 reason was that six or eight years ago they were to all in- 

 tents novices." Methinks one or two of them are still 

 novices. But which are "our spaniel men?" The Spaniel 

 Club judges are J. P. Willey, James Watson, A. C. Wil- 

 merding, E. M. Oldham, S. R. Eemmingway, C. M. Nelles, 

 Wm. West, C. H. Mason. Which of these has "learnt?" 

 Mr. Willey considers Jersey a good dog and paid a long 

 price for him. Jersey, we are told, is a "fish-headed" 

 wastrel, so Mr. Willey has not "learnt." Mr. Watson 

 "posed" as an authority and "started the long and low 

 craze." Although "Porcupine" was breeding spaniels when 

 "Gothamite" was trotting around with a ba-lamb at the 

 end of a string, he has not "learnt." Mr. Wilmerding put 

 the "fish-headed, sway-backed, weak-jointed, almosfe-eo tr- 

 ies and lifeless Jersey" over "that grand little cocker, cham- 

 pion Doc." Mr. Wilmerding has not "learnt." Probably 

 this is why he is so popular. Mr. Oldham judged spaniels 

 at Toronto in worse style than "Gothamite" had ever 

 seen, and he bought a half interest in the "fish-headed, 

 sway-backed" Jersey. He has not "learnt." Mr. Heni- 

 mingway, who bred Rabbi, the wonderful cocker de- 

 scribed by "'Gothamite/' told me he considered that dog a 



