Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gur 



Tbbms, 84 A Ybab. 10 Cts. A Copy. 1 

 Six Months, S3. } 



NEW YORK, JUNE 18, 1891. 



j VOL. XXXYI.-No. 33. 



1 No. 318 Broadway, New Yokk. 



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X'oreHt and Stream Publishing Oo> 

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CONTENTS. 



Editobial. 

 Dead Alewives in Lake On- 

 tario. 



Our Adirondack Number. 



Snap Shots. 

 In the Adihnodacks: 



Primeval Adlrondacks. 



Life at Paul Smith's. 



Three Weeks on the Raquette. 



On a Blazed Trail. 



A Reminiscence of 1866. 



The St. Regis Camps. 



Atitoine Bissette's Letters.-ix. 

 Natttbal Histobt. 



Fulvous Tree Duck in Mis- 

 souri. 



Sea akd Rivbu Fishing. 

 On tbe North Shore.— THI. 

 The Metabetchouan River. 

 Juniata Bass. 

 Angling Notes. 

 Trout in Pike County. 

 Death of Amasa Ward. 



FlSHCULTURE. 



My Experience in Amateur 

 Flshculture. 



The Kennel. 

 Beagle Training. 

 Notes and Notions. 

 Eczema. 



Am. Spaniel Club Meeting. 

 Dog Uhat. 

 Kennel Notes, 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 RjutllE and Tbap Shootinq 

 Range and Gallery. 

 The Schuetzenbund Tourna- 

 ment. 

 The Trap. 



Seventftenth Illinois State. 



Mr. Nichols Will Shoot for 

 Charity. 

 Yachting. 



Corinthian Navy. 



Yacht Orxiising on the St. 

 Lawrence. 



Gloriana. 



Racing Notes. 

 Canoeing. 



Down the Susquehana. 



The Eastern Division Meet. 

 Answebs to Cohrespondbnts. 



OUB ABIBONDACK NUMBEB. 



THE issue of to-day consists of thirty-tvro pages, of 

 which a generous proportion is devoted to papers 

 descriptive of life and hunting experiences in the North 

 Woods. The demands made on our space this week by 

 the full report of the large and notable Chicago tourna- 

 ment has compelled us to defer to a later date two of the 

 papers promised for to-day— Mr. J. H, Dudley's ac- 

 count of an Adirondacks excursion thirty- three years 

 ago, and the story of camp life at SjDruce Lake. In ad- 

 dition to these deferred papers we had in hand for this 

 issue a charming chat by Mr, Chas. Hallock, whose text 

 is the "Wane of the Adirondacks," and still another 

 reminiscent chapter on the "Upper Adirondacks in '56," 

 by our New Hampshire correspondent, "Byron." There 

 is indeed a rich supply of material for another "Adiron- 

 dack Number," which shall be forthcoming at an early 

 date; and then we shall have made doubly good our 

 promise of last week that the Adirondack literature given 

 in these columns should be of such amount and variety 

 that all readers might find in it something to their taste. 

 Our experience to-day is simply a repetition of what has 

 been the common experience of the Fokest and Stream 

 with its special numbers. The announcement that a 

 given issue would be devoted to some special subject has 

 invariably brought to us a greater wealth of material than 

 could be contained in a single number, thus happily and 

 effectively demonstrating again and again the resources 

 of the rich field from which the paper reaps its harvest- 

 ings of good things. 



The sketches printed to-day admirably picture the 

 varied phases of life indulged in by the modern visitor to 

 the North Woods, Ninety-nine out of a hundred Adi- 

 rondack tourists resort thither for a pleasure season in 

 which shooting and fishing have no actual part. Here 

 more than anywhere else in the country, men— and 

 ivpmen^who dp Qiajs^ ^ pretejise of going hunting or 



fishing, go through the formality simply because these 

 are the correct things to do. While hundreds visit Adi- 

 I'ondack streams and lakes seriously intent on a creel of 

 trout or a deer, thousands more have no thought nor taste 

 for the rod and gun; and these thousands constitute the 

 grand army of the summer visitors. With each suc- 

 cessive year this host is taking firmer possession of the 

 North Woods, advancing its outposts, intrenching itself 

 in luxurious dwellings styled "camps," and in the ubiquit- 

 ous, aggressive and domineering summer hotel. With 

 every passing season the trout fisherman and the 

 deer hunter find less and less available territory, and 

 must go further and further and penetrate more deeply to 

 find the primeval wilderness. And wildness itself no 

 longer is free, The private fishing club and the exclusive 

 game preserve are devouring the Adirondacks. Vast tracts 

 are passing into their control; their trespass signs multiply 

 with the years. 



That there yet remain enticement and reward for the 

 sportsmen in the North Woods is abundantly demon- 

 strated by the writers who furnish the feast of entertain- 

 ment to-day. Here are stories of sport, and successful 

 sport, with the deer and the trout. Wisely employed, 

 used with reason, the natural wealth of New York's mag- 

 nificent wild domain may be conserved for genei'ations 

 to come. The primitive Adirondacks have passed away; 

 sentiment may bewail the change, but common sense 

 tells us that the rule of the greatest good to the greatest 

 number must prevail here as elsewhere. That the region 

 has been transformed from an inaccessible wilderness, 

 visited only at expense of hardship and discomfort, and 

 has been converted into a resort easy to reach and pro- 

 vided with every comfort of modern life — this is to say 

 that the blessed influences o£ the woods have been ex- 

 tended to the multitude. And if only the American of 

 this day and generation were more provident and 

 thoughtful, both for himself and his children and for 

 those who are to follow, there would be no conflict of in- 

 terests between the several classes of visitors and outers 

 who flock to the North Woods. In that vast park is 

 room and to spare for all. 



BEAD ALEWIVES IN LAKE ONTARIO. 

 'T^HE Eochester Democrat of recent date announces the 

 death of millions of fish around the shores of Lake 

 Ontario, causing pollution of the waters and contamination 

 of the air. It is stated that these epidemics occur every 

 year, and the question is asked whether they are due to pol- 

 lution by sewers ; or other similar causes. An exchange 

 commenting on the above statement of the Democrat 

 pronounces the article sensational, misleading and ab- 

 surd, which is putting the case rather strongly. The 

 death of the fish annually in large numbers is granted. 

 The theory that the late Seth Green introduced the fry of 

 this fish into Lake Ontario is mentioned. 



The fish referred to, however, is not the menhaden of 

 the Atlantic coast, but the river herring, alewife or gas- 

 pereau. Its origin in Lake Ontario and in interior lakes 

 of western New York is involved in obscurity. It is be- 

 lieved that it was introduced into Lake Ontario with shad, 

 for it was not known to occur there until after the intro- 

 duction of that fish. From the best information obtainable 

 it appears that the alewife does not ascend the St. Law- 

 rence from the Gulf. Into Cayuga and Seneca lakes, New 

 York, there is reason to believe that the species has pene- 

 trated of its own accord. Alewives have been seen to go 

 up the canal locks at West Troy, and Prof. Hamilton 

 Smith first noticed them in the neighborhood of Seneca 

 Lake in 1868, about the time the canals were opened, and 

 thinks that they might have come into those lakes from 

 the Chesapeake or Delaware bays, through Elmira and 

 Painted Post. 



The fish from the interior lakes are much smaller than 

 those from Lake Ontario, and present a somewhat starved 

 appearance. This was specially noticed in individuals 

 which had been found dead in immense numbers. The 

 spawning season of this alewife in Lake Ontario is in 

 June and about Aug. 10 the fish disappear, presumably 

 going into the deeper water of the lake. 



It is claimed that the fishing apparatus- used for the 

 capture of edible fish destroys vast numbers of alewives. 

 The dead fish from Seneca Lake had the air bladder 

 abnormally distended, filling the greater portion of the 

 abdominal cavity. This distention of the air bladder would 

 naturally cause the fish to float at the surface. 



A full account of tbe inland alewife was published by 



Dr. Bean in the "Fishery Industries, U. S.," Section I,, 

 page 588. At the time his report was written the Utica 

 Herald and the Rochester Union attributed the sudden 

 death of these alewives and other fish to the explosion of 

 dynamite, and the condition of the air bladder would 

 seem to warrant this explanation. These newspapers 

 stated that thousands of fish, not large enough for profit- 

 able sale or use, are destroyed in this way, among them 

 black bass, perch, bullheads and sunfish. 



Fish epidemics are only too common in various sections 

 of our country. Florida, Massachussetts, Virginia, Wis- 

 consin and Pennsylvania, as well as New York, have felt 

 the fatal effects of extensive fish mortality. At Lynn, 

 Mass. , barrels of dead fish have recently been removed by 

 the health oflicers from Butman's Mill Pond; their death 

 is attributed to mill refuse. 



This is a proper subject for investigation by fish 

 wardens and fish protective associations, as well as for 

 naturalists, and we hope it will receive prompt and care- 

 ful attention. 



SNAP SHOTS. 



ANGLEES are probably not aware that many tarpon 

 have recently been caught in traps at Crisfield, Md,, 

 where they were unknown to the fishermen until Capt. 

 Eobert Piatt, commanding the Fish Commission steamer 

 Fish Hawk, came along and told them what royal game 

 fish they were taking in such ignominious fashion. We 

 have seen some of the scales of the fish and there is no 

 mistake about Capt. Piatt's identification. The tarpon is 

 to be found at Crisfield, and when anglers learn this fact 

 it is probable that something more scientific than traps 

 will be employed in its capture. Bluefish and hard and 

 soft shell crabs were found in abundance also by the 

 Captain. The possibilities of the Chesapeake are scarcely 

 realized. 



By a careless use of the term "wild animals," we forget 

 to what an extent their wildness depends on man's atti- 

 tude toward them. Game is sometimes said to know all 

 about the open and close seasons, being wild and shy 

 when the law is ofi:, but more confiding in close season. 

 It is wonderful to note with what slight protection the 

 habits of deer may be changed in this respect. On Long 

 Island, where the hunting season is exceedingly short, 

 only ten days in October, the deer are very tame; two 

 were observed unconcernedly feeding on the lawn near 

 the Oakdale station, as the train sped by, one day last 

 week. 



Mr. D. D. Sammis, of Fire Island, who writes us that 

 the Surf Hotel there will open on the 20th, adds that this 

 is his thirty-sixth year. Here and there — though scat- 

 tered at wide intervals it must be confessed, and in num- 

 ber more meagre every year — is a hotel man who knew 

 and was known by the Frank Forester generation of 

 sportsmen. What a flood of memories of those days 

 comes to the greybeards at mention of the old guard ; and 

 what a company it would be if for one rare night the 

 Fire Island house might be repeopled with the fishermen 

 who have made merry within its walls. 



The tournament of the Illinois sportsmen is always an 

 important event in the shooting calendar, and this year 

 they have surpassed themselves. The magnitude of the 

 meeting, its orderly conduct, and the intense interest 

 manifested throughout combine to make it as a memor- 

 able occasion. Mr. Hough's admirable report of the 

 meeting is given in full in our trap columns. If Chicago 

 keeps on there will be a big time at the "State shoot" 

 in 1893. 



A petition is signing in Westchester and Queens coun- 

 ties, N. Y., asking the Commissioners of Fisheries to 

 stock Long Island Sound harbors between Fort Schuyler 

 and Rye Neck and Oyster Bay with striped bass and 

 weakfish. The petition sets forth that those formerly 

 abounded with game fish, but that now nothing but a 

 scanty catch of coarse varieties rewards the angler. 



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 current issue of the Forest and Stream by sending us 

 on a postal card the name of that friend. 



Beneath a basswood he a bass wooed, but the base 

 would not. 



