288 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[At-EIL 30, 1891. 



HOW GREEN MOUNTAIN FORESTS GO. 



CHAELESTOWN, N. H., Feb. 21.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I much fear the Green Mountains are to 

 lose their title to their name, if an opinion may be formed 

 on the observations made in a recent trip among them. 

 To be sure, the trip led me right into scenes tending to 

 create such a conclusion, for I %vent on a business errand 

 to examine the working of sundry engines and boilers in 

 the sawmills on the higher slopes of the main range, 

 above the reach of the available water power, which has 

 long since made into boards and scantling the available 

 timber on the lower hills and is now superseded by steam 

 engines, the fuel for which is supplied by the slabs and 

 sawdust, which were formerly thrown into the trout 

 streams. 



Leaving Brattleboro at 6:30 P. M. with a comijanion, 

 who had furnished the engines and machinery for a num- 

 ber of these mills, we reached the little village of London- 

 derry at 10, and were soon asleep, getting rested for the 

 morrow. The next day was spent in the examination of 

 a large mill in L., about fotir miles from the village, in a 

 steady drizzling rain, which we did not mind while under 

 cover, but which destroyed all the enjoyment of the 

 beautiful mountain scenery through whicli we drove in 

 getting up to it. This mill' was busy working up beech, 

 birch and maple logs into furniture stock. 



It cleared in the evening, and we anticipated a pleasant 

 drive across the mountains the next day to Dorset on the 

 west side, but were disappointed. When we started 

 early in the morning, it was gray and dark again, and 

 began to snow before we had gone a mile, and soon de- 

 veloi)ed into a "howling blizzard.'' We kept on up into 

 Peru, where we came to a mill which we intended to look 

 at on our way, when with frost bitten cars and faces we 

 drove into an open barn door, blanketed the horses as 

 quickly as possible, and made a beeline for the nearest 

 house, which proved to be that of the owner of the mill. 

 After thawing out over the kitchen stove for half an 

 hour, we went to the mill and found it idle. The owner 

 said he did not make slabs and sawdust enough to run 

 his boiler, and he "was not going to buy hard wood for 

 fuel. He was sawing spruce lumber. He dissuaded us 

 from the attempt to cross the mountains in the storm, and 

 tying our hats down over our ears with our mufflers we 

 turned our horses' heads and were back in Londonderry 

 to dinner. 



In the afternoon we took a passenger car attached to a 

 freight train and started for Brattleboro, stopping at 

 every station for a load or two of lumber, among which 

 we took on two car loads of huge rock-majjle logs, 18in. 

 to 2ft. in diameter, destined for wash rolls in the bleach- 

 eries at Lowell. We got on such a load that the engine 

 could not pull it all over a rise, where the West River 

 makes a long turn through a rocky gorge, and our engin- 

 eer "broke the train" and went off with half of it over 

 the hill, leaving us waiting until he came back, which he 

 did in half an hour, and got us down to B. in time to take 

 the up train for Rutland which we reached at 10 P. M. 



At 6 the next morning we were on the cars again, on 

 the Rutland and Bennington Road. When we reached 

 Danby, our destination, it was just coming daylight, 



We soon secured a pair of horses and driver, with a 

 "box-sled" from the office of the sawmills, whicla is here 

 in Danby, and started for the deep gorge of one of the 

 branches of Otter Creek, for Mb. Tabor. It was clear and 

 still, but the mercury was down to 10" below zero, and 

 we tied our hats down over our ears again, drew the robes 

 well up round us, and enjoyed the climb. 



There was just room up the ravine for the brook and 

 the road, and the latter wound its way up among the 

 rocks and trees, in a manner which was j>lcturesque 

 enough, and it must be a lovely drive in June. We met 

 occasional sled loads of lumber and charcoal coming- 

 down, and at one rooky corner had to wait some time 

 while the drivers of the charcoal sleds chopped tracks 

 through the ice to keep them from "slewing" over into the 

 stream. At another point we found another lumber sled 

 hanging on the edge of the road, the horses having gone 

 over into the water the day before. Luckily no bones 

 were broken, and they were taken out safely, and when 

 we came down at night the sled had been carried away. 



However, in spite of delays, we reached the first set of 

 mills, in an elevated plateau at the base of Mt. Tabor, in 

 goor order, and after thawing out at the "store," which 

 the Lumber Co. keeps there to supj)ly their workmen, 

 and examining the huge piles of spruce logs, we went on 

 three miles further to the upper mills, getting there in 

 time to enjoy a lumberman's dinner in the logging camp, 

 of fried salt pork and potatoes, brown bread, "biled" tea, 

 with a raw onion to give it a relish. "You know how it 

 is yourself," and you can believe in that cold mountain 

 air that simple dinner tasted better than "all the flesh- 

 pots of Egypt!" The afternoon gave us time for our ex- 

 aminations, and slowly and carefully we picked our way 

 down the steep mountain road to Danby, my companion 

 pointing out to me on the way the big trees by the road- 

 side, to which he had attached "blocks a,nd tackle," and 

 applied "man power" to help the ten paix' of horses which 

 were attached to the wagon, last October, to pull that big 

 boiler up the mountain. 



We reached Rutland again at night, and the next day 

 drove north four miles to Mendon over a level road on 

 wheels. Then we turned sharp up another gorge, not so 

 long or so steep as the one we ascended the previous day, 

 and at the end of three miles more found ourselves in an 

 ampitheater, surrounded by "Pico," Killington Peak 

 and Shrewsbury mountains. Half a mile more u^p the 

 base of one of the opposite hills brought us to another 

 mill belonging to the' same parties as the one we had 

 visited the day before, and just erected, right in the edge 

 of an unbroken forest of old heavy timber. 



These parties have bought all the timber, as I was told, 

 on 30,000 acres of mountain, and are preparing to con- 

 vert it into dollars as rapidly as possible. 



I fear the dwellers on Otter Creek will suffer from 

 summer droughts for many years to come until these 

 forests are grown up again, for it is probable that they 

 will do so in the course of another century, for the land 

 is too steep and rocky even for pasturage. 



This last mill was working hard wood the day we were 

 there for furniture stock, wainscoating and boards for 

 the Brandon Scale Works, Everything was going on 

 satisfactorily, and while my companion took the meas- 

 ures for a new set of grate bars I went out in front of the 

 mill, sat down on a big beech log and enjoyed the pros- 

 pect. 



Right in front of me rose the sharp, clear peak of Kill- 

 ington, white against the blue sky, a little to the left was 

 the rounded dome of Pico, and the longer and lower 

 slopes of Shrewsbury Mountain laid to the right, dark 

 with their heavy spruces, while Pico and the Peak had 

 been caught in the rain and blizzard of the previous days 

 and rocks and trees were covered alike with a snowy 

 coating and only distinguishable by these outlines. 



I sat there some time enjoying it all, for the weather 

 had moderated sufficiently to make it very pleasant, 

 until my companion joined me, with the wagon, and 

 we made our way back to Rutland, where there was 

 no snow, though we found four feet of it on the moun- 

 tain. Had there been eight days in the week instead of 

 seven I would have run up to* Dan vis and inquired for 

 those thirty-seven coons of Antoine's, but it w^as Friday 

 night and I had to be home the next day, so I could not 

 s]5are time. I had been up in Peru and that region 

 thirty years ago trout fishing, but never got up there in 

 mid-winter before, and now hope that you and some of 

 your readers may enjoy my trip half as much as I did. 



Von W. 



The full texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Book of the 

 Oame Laws. 



Then stood we shivering in the night air cold. 



And heard a sound as if a chariot rolled 



Grroaning adown the heavens; and lo! o'erhead. 



Twice, thrice tlie wild geese cried, then on they sped, 



O'er field and wood and bay, toward Southern seas; 



So low they flew that on the forest tiees'" 



Their strong wind splashed a spray of moonlight white; 



So straight they flew, so fast their steady flight. 



True as an arrow they sailed down the night; 



Like lights blown out they vanished from the sight. 



—From I. B. P6nnypac1ier''s "Qettysburg and Other Poems," 



BORES AND SHOOTING QUALITIES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Not long before the Forest and Stream shotgun trials 

 commenced I wrote you a letter upon several points con- 

 nected with the subject, and mentioned, among other 

 things, that my own ex]jeriments did not confirm the 

 general opinion that, with equal charges of powder and 

 shot, small bores give greater penetration than large. 



In stating this, I referred to some experiments made 

 tln-ee years ago with two Maynard shot barrels of 28 and 

 18 bore, a double Engbsh shotgun of 16-bore and a double 

 muzzleloader of 14 bore. The Maynard barrels are of 

 steel and each26in. long, the 8S-bore being muzzle-choked 

 and the 18 recess-choked. The 16-bore barrels are of 

 Damascus twist, 28in. long and both are recess choked so 

 as to make a pattern of about 175 on a 30in. circle at 

 40yds. when loaded with loz. of No. 6 shot (270 pellets to 

 the ounce). The muzzleloader has COin. Damascus bar- 

 rels of cylinder bore, making very close and regular 

 patterns of their kind. For testing penetration I used 

 straw boards placed lin. apart in a rack. The trials 

 showed: 



1. That with very minute charges, such as are used by 

 naturalists for collecting small birds, viz. : 20 to 28grs. of 

 powder and OOgrs. weight of No. 12 shot (1,272 pellets to 

 the ounce), the 28 bore was greatly superior to the 18 in 

 pattern and jienetrated about double the number of 

 boards. When No. 7 shot (870 to the ounce) was substi- 

 tuted the 28-bore was still superior, but not nearly to the 

 same degree as with No. 12 shot. 



2. When the charges were increased to only l^drs. of 

 powder and ioz. of shot, the 18 bore made a closer pattern 

 than the 28, and was equal and sometimes slightly supe- 

 rior in penetration with No. 12 shot. When No. 7 shot 

 was substituted the pattern and penetration of the 18- 

 bore were considerably superior. This was the case with 

 both fine and coarse-grain powders. 



3. When both barrels were tried with the largest charges 

 that the 28 bore shells will hold, viz., 2drs. of powder and 

 foz. of shot, the 18-bore was slightly superior in pattern 

 and very decidedly superior in penetration. 



4. The 16-bore with 2drs. and ^oz. gave the same pene- 

 tration as the l8-bore and abetter pattern. 



5. When the 16 and 18-bores were each loaded with 

 l^drs. of powder and loz. of shots their penetration was 

 almost exactly the same and the pattern of the 16 supe- 

 rior. 



When the 14-bore muzzleloader was fired with the same 

 charge the patterns were of course superior to those of 

 the 16 chokebore, but the penetration was exactly the 

 same with No. 4 grain powder and superior when both 

 were tried with No. 2 (a finer grain.) 



The above detailed ■ results were quite dift'erent from 

 what I had expected. I w^as aware that a large bore with 

 its own loads of powder and lead must be superior to a 

 small bore, for the same reasons that a. punt gun must be 

 superior to any shoulder gun ; but I had always heard and 

 believed that a large boregwith the loads of a small bore 

 had less penetration that the latter, because the powder 

 was not confiupd sufficiently to develop its force. 



One conclusion arrived at was that naturalists' coUecfc- 

 ing guns need not be of the very small bores made in 

 England, These are (in rifle gauges) .36, or about 90-bore, 

 for 14 grains of powder, and .41 for 20 grains. 



The 28-bore Maynard barrel, with 20 grains of powder 

 and 90 of No. 12 shot, carried so closely up to 16 or 20yds. 

 that hummingbirds could not have escaped, and at the 

 former distance gave an average penetration of 9 straw- 

 boards. When tried at sparrows it killed them in a most 

 satisfactory way. A naturalist when searching for small 

 birds often has opportunities of shooting at hawks and 

 other kinds that require heavier charges. It would then 

 be advantageous to be able to use the shells of a 38-bore 

 fully loaded. 



During the past month I have been making a few ex- 

 periments in order to find out the difference in penetrat- 

 ing i)ower between a 16 and 12-bore. The 16, which 

 weighs slightly over 71bs,, was the gun used in the first 

 mentioned trials. 



The 13-bore weighs 6Ib3. 9oz. ajid has Damascus barrels 

 80iii. long. The right is very slightly recess-ohoked bo as 



to make patterns of about 140 on a 80in. circle at 40yd8., 

 when loaded with 3drs. of powder and 1 Joz. of shot con- 

 taining 270 pellets to the ounce. 



The left is muzzle- choked and makes patterns of more 

 than 200 with the same charge. The penetration was 

 taken with cardboards lin. apart in a rack, the ends of 

 which were guarded from injury by pieces of hoop-iron 

 nailed on, leaving the exposed part of the first card 6^ in. 

 sqtiare. (I believe this to be the most reliable of all tests 

 when the cards are not so thick as to fiatten the shot, 

 otherwise, as sometimes with paper pads, the pellets 

 driven with the greatest velocity would show the least 

 penetration, although their effect upon live game would 

 be the greatest.) 



The powder used was Curtis & Harvey's No. 4 grain, 

 the favorite size for shotguns in this country. The 

 charges were measured from a powder flask, tapping it 

 always the same number of times against the hip, which 

 I have found to give accurate weights within a grain. 

 Each charge of shot was carefully weighed. The size 

 used was No. 7 (330 to the ounce when counted). It does 

 not suit either gun (both being regulated for No. 6), but 

 I loaded with the smaller size in order to economize the 

 cardboards, which were difficult to obtain in sufficient 

 quantity. 



The distance was 40yds., and only those cards were 

 counted which were pierced by three or more pellets in 

 order that errors might not arise from an occasional 

 large pellet. 



The guns were first fired with 30-bore loads, viz., 2idrs. 

 of powder and ioz. of shot, and the results were; 



*18-B0BE. 



Eight Barrel. Left Barrel. 



No. of pellets No. of cards No. of pellets No. of cards 



through first pierced by 3 or through, first pierced by 3 or 



eardi more pellets. card. more pellets. 



39 13 25 14 



9 13 15 13 



28 13 13 13 



1 

 3 

 7 



Av.. T% 



12 

 11 

 13 



13 



Av..l79^ 



n2-B0KB. 



21 



20 

 5 



Av..i5^ 



13 

 13 

 11 



12J^ 



The ordinary 16-bore loads, Sfdrs. and loz., were next 

 tried and gave: 



16-BOUE. 



9 

 19 



21 

 18 

 28 



U 

 13 

 13 



30 



Av..?31^ 13?^ Av..l9ii 



13-BORK. 



11 12 13 



IS 15 43 



r 12 19 



Av-.U im Av..i^ 



With 3drs, and loz. the results were: 



16-BOKB. 



n 



13 



u 



13 



5 



12 

 19 



17 

 10 

 13 



12 

 13 

 13 



m 



u 



13 



16 

 11 

 13 



Av-.l 



12-BORE. 



14 

 16 

 13 



13 

 13 

 34 



1^ 



U 

 12 

 13 



A v.. 133^ 139^ Av.. 6^73 13 



It will be noticed that, as a rule, the penetration was 

 gxeater when the first card was hit by the greatest number 

 of pellets. This was probably due to my having fired off- 

 hand, and so failed to hit regularly with the center of the 

 charge, which would usually give the closest pattern and 

 best penetration. I did not try the patterns of either gnn 

 on a 30in. circle. They are of slight consequence since 

 the invention of cbokeboring, because guns of any gauge 

 can now be made to throw too closely for 49 sportsmen 

 out of 50. 



The trials show that the 12-bore gave practically as 

 good penetration as the 16, whether fired with 20-bore or 

 16-bore loads. 



The first mentioned trials jjroved that the 1 6-bore was 

 equal to the 18 and superior to the 28 with the loads 

 I^roper to either of the two latter gauges. It seems, there- 

 fore, that nothing is gained in penetration by using 

 small-bore guns for small loads. Is there anything gained 

 in pattern? It is generally admitted that the killing cu-cle 

 is less in smaU bores than in large, and this is usually at- 

 tributed to their making closer patterns. The statistics 

 quoted in my former letter to Forest and Stream, of the 

 extensive trials made by the London Field, prove clearly 

 that small bores do not throw shot more closely than 

 large, even when loaded with the same charges of shot. 

 To what then are their smaller killing circles attributable? 

 I believe those sportsmen to be right who say that they 

 have a larger proportion of outside pellets deficient in pen- 

 etration. They therefore do not kill so well as large bores 

 unless held straight enough to hit with the central mass 

 of the charge. Whether this opinion be correct or not 

 could be proved by trying several 20 or 16 bores against 

 12 or lO bores, with cardboards (in a rack) of sufficient 

 diameter to show the whole killing circles. 



Although the 16-bore I used makes remaxkably regular 

 patterns with the shot which suits it, the general rule is 

 that small bores make make lees regular patterns than 

 large. The question then which would be well worth 

 settling is wliether it is advisable to have a small-bore 

 when in want of a light gun. Suppose, for instance, that 

 a sportsman did net care to carry more than the weight 

 of a 20 or 16-gauge, would it not be better to have a 12- 

 bore of the same weight loaded with the 20 or 16-bore 

 charges? The 12-bore barrels would be quite safe, even if 

 the same length as the smaller bore and consequently 

 thinner, because the pressure of the powder gas rapidly 

 decreases in proportion as the bore is enlarged. These 

 could be used for ordinary shooting, and there would be 

 the advantage of being able to load with heavier charges 

 for occasional shots at ducks or other game that required 

 extra hard hitting. As guns vary so much individually, 

 several of each gauge would have to be tried together in 

 order to settle the question conclusively, To make the 

 trial quite fair the barrels should be of the same length. 

 I never can understand why sruall bores are usually made 

 with shorter barrels than large. It is said that 28in, or 

 even SQin. are quite long enough to burn the small charge 



