Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, S* a Year. 10 Gts, a Copy. { 

 Six Months, $2. ) 



NEW YORK, JUNE 9, 1892. 



j VOL. XXXVIIL-No. 23. 

 I No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Results of the Salmon Anglers 



Petition. 

 New York's Opportunity, 

 lisheries on the Great Lakes. 

 Muzzle vs. Breech. 

 Onto Storage of Game. 

 Sale of Reared Trout in Close 



Time. 

 Snap Shots. 



Natural History. 



Does the Rattlesnake Spit? 

 The Class in Natural History. 

 Keep a Notebook. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



Spring in the National Park. 

 "Podgers's" Commentaries. 

 The Safety of Gun=. 

 Chicago and the West. 

 The Non-Export Law Sound. 

 Rod and Gun and Camera. 

 Camp-Fire Flickerings. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Sale of Artificially Reared 



Trout. 

 Aneling Notes. 

 Early History of the Fisheries 



on the Great Lakes. 

 Great Sport in Canada. 

 Fishes of Nicaragua, 

 For M*one Trout. 

 Scup in Oil Factories. 

 New Hampshire Fishing. 

 Chicago and the West. 

 Fly- Casting at Syracuse. 

 West Coast Fly-Fishing. 



Fishculture. 



Pike-Perch in Kentucky. 



The Kennel. 



The Beagle Standard. 



Pearl of Pekin Incident. 



Toronto Dog Show. 



Flaps from the Beaver's Tail. 



Dog Chat. 



Kennel Notes. 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 Canoeing-. 

 New York C. C. 

 News Notes. 



Yachting. 



Memorial Day Races. 



S. C. Y. C. House and VVet- 



more Prizes. 

 Larcbmont Y. C. 

 Handsel. 

 Eastern Y. C. 

 The Cruising Yawl Argo. 

 Badger. 



The "Coupe de France." 

 Vedette, a Fife Oeuterboard 



Yacht. 

 News Notes. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



Revolver Championship. 

 "Forest and Stream" Tourna- 

 ment. 



New Jersey Rifle Shooting. 



Trap Shooting. 



On the Susquehanna. 

 Schuylkill County Tourna- 

 ment. 



The Sunflower Tournament. 

 Drivers and Twisters. 

 Matches and Meetings. 



Answers to Queries. 



period to another is not provided for in the act, and is 

 immaterial;" that the Legislature had power to pass the 

 act, which is not in conflict with the State Constitution, 

 nor in violation of the provision of the Constitution of 

 the United States authorizing Congress to regulate com- 

 merce among the States. 



This decision was rendered in 1875. The terms of the 

 law of that date were in effect identical with those of 

 the present statute. The decision in the Phelps-Racey 

 case has heretofore been accepted as final, and game 

 dealers have not contested the law forbidding sale or 

 possession in close season. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page 557. 



NEW YORK'S OPPORTUNITY. 



At a meeting of the New York State Association for 

 the Protection of Fish and Game in Syracuse next Mon- 

 day evening, the committee appointed at the February 

 convention will report; and a plan will be submitted for 

 enlarging the activities of the Association and making it 

 more efficient as a game fish protective body. This may 

 be made a turning point in the Association's history. It 

 is hoped that clubs will send not only strong teams for 

 the tournament competitions, but delegates as well who 

 are interested in this branch of the Association's work, 

 aud who will give it due consideration. 



This opportunity for more effective organization and 

 renewed devotion to the original purposes of the Associa- 

 tion should be improved to the utmost. 



COLD STORAGE OF GAME. 



The game dealers, refrigerating concerns and other 

 interested parties in this city are to have a meeting to 

 take action respecting the defense of the New York Re- 

 frigerating Company in the suit against it for having in 

 possession game in close season. 



Aside from the question of the refrigerating company's 

 liability as warehousers of game belonging to other peo- 

 ple, the points involved have already been passed upon 

 in this State and elsewhere, and the law has been upheld. 

 The ruling decision in New York is that of the Phelps- 

 Racey case. As President of the New York Association 

 for the Protection of Game, Royal Phelps brought suit 

 against Joseph H, Racey, a game dealer of this city, to 

 recover penalties for violations of the game law. The 

 three counts were : (1) possession and exposure for sale 

 of quail in close time, (2) possession and exposure for sale 

 of pinnated grouse in close time, and (3) possession of 

 quail in close time. The defendant admitted the allega- 

 tions of the complaint, but it was alleged as a defense 

 that the defendant had invented an apparatus to preserve 

 game, and that the game specified in the complaint was 

 put up by him in such apparatus in the month of Decem- 

 ber, when the killing of it in this State was not prohib- 

 ited, or it was received from the States of Minnesota and 

 Illinois, where the killing was at the time legal. 



The General Term found for the plaintiff on the first 

 and second counts, and for the defendant on the third 

 count. Both sides appealed to the Special Term and 

 then to the Court of Appeals, where the counsel for the 

 defense contended that the statute was invalid, since it 

 was a regulation of internal commerce affecting other 

 States and was unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals 

 (Church, Ch. J.) held: That the prohibition of the sale 

 or possession of game in the period specified was plain 

 and unambiguous; that "the fact that the defendant had 

 invented a process of keeping game from one lawful 



MUZZLE VS. BREECH. 

 The offer of the Syracuse Rifle Club to give opportunity 

 for a test under certain conditions of the accuracy of 

 the muzzleloading rifle as compared with the breech- 

 loading arm is intended to bring to a settlement this 

 much-talked-of question of exactness in placing the bul- 

 lets. 



Suppose the muzzleloaders come out ahead, what then? 

 It will not make one hunter the more fling aside his 

 handy breechloader and take out a muzzleloader with 

 all its paraphernalia of ammunition. The various boards 

 on the lookout for the best military rifle would not be 

 influenced in the smallest degree by the fact that ten or 

 a dozen shots from a heavy muzzleloader made a string a 

 few inches shorter than the same number of shots from a 

 breech arm. In every branch of small-arm work there 

 are a number of factors which go to make up the con- 

 cluding decision as to the best arm. Accuracy is one, 

 and an important one; safety is another, and a vital one. 

 Convenience comes in for much consideration ; price is 

 to be considered. This test at Syracuse keeps an eye 

 simply to the one point of accuracy. To many devotees 

 of the rifle at the ranges this is the one great point always 

 in regard. Everything has been sacrificed to it, and for a 

 fraction of an inch on a string no care or labor is re- 

 garded as too great for these target enthusiasts. There 

 have been extravagant claims made on both sides regard- 

 ing this one point of accuracy. To put a quietus on some of 

 this talk the Syracuse shoot ought to go through , but 

 win or lose, the breechloader is the arm of the future, 

 and the student of the art of shooting does best service 

 by improving the breechloader in every detail. 



them directly and much more in proportion than the 

 anglers. 



The results secured may be considered fairly satisfac- 

 tory for the present, in view of the selfish course pursued 

 by the committee from the Restigouche Club. 



The anglers owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Lash, Q. C, 

 and Mr. Creighton, the clerk of the Senate, retained as 

 counsel by Mr. Blanchard, for their able presentation of 

 the case. The labor involved in Mr. Creighton's exami- 

 nation and collocation of statistics was thoroughly and 

 efficiently performed; his array of facts and figures con- 

 clusively showed the necessity of taking immediate steps 

 to prevent further needless and improvident destruction 

 of the salmon. It is a pleasure to recognize also the 

 active and efficient co-operation of Mr. James Grant, 

 President of the St. Marguerite Salmon Club. All those 

 named and others have done material service in forward- 

 ing the petition set on foot by Mr. D. H. Blanchard of 

 Boston. It was by the unselfish devotion of time and 

 money and effort by Mr. Blanchard that this movement 

 for salmon preservation was put through; and to him 

 must be given a generous share of credit and gratitude 

 for what has been accomplished. 



RESULTS OF THE SALMON ANGLERS' PETITION. 



The salmon anglers' petition was presented to the 

 Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries on May 13. 

 No written reply has yet been made, but the Honorable 

 Mr. Tupper's attitude and reception of the arguments of 

 the counsel to whom Mr. Blanchard intrusted the con- 

 duct of the petition were very satisfactory. 



It was admitted that the continuous decline in the 

 catch of salmon is a matter of grave concern and can 

 only be met by keeping up free access to the spawning 

 beds for a sufficient stock of breeding fish, That the 

 commercial interests of Canada and the special interests 

 of anglers and riparian proprietors are identical in this 

 respect, is evidently the view of the Department. It is 

 satisfactory to learn that the questions involved have 

 been and are really occupying the Minister's most serious 

 consideration. In dealing with them his hands will be 

 materially strengthened by the information and statistics 

 furnished him in support of the petition. There is no 

 doubt of Mr. Tupper's willingness to meet the petitioners 

 views so far as possible. At the same time, as was 

 pointed out by him, there are many difficulties, both of a 

 practical and a political nature, which require close con- 

 sideration and time to settle. 



At all events whether the nets are ultimately to be 

 lifted three times a week or not, one great point has been 

 gained. The existing regulations as to the observance of 

 the Saturday to Monday close time, and as to the nature 

 and location of estuary nets are to bt- strictly enforced. 

 Mr. Tupper also hopes to accomplish a good deal in the 

 way of limiting the number and extent of these nets. 

 The fault hitherto has not been so much in the character 

 of the regulations as in their being disregarded and 

 evaded by the netters. If they are made operative, and 

 supplemented by a strict supervision on the part of the 

 riparian owners, the good result which must be an im- 

 mediate outcome will not only strengthen the anglers' 

 case in the event of further restrictions on the nets being 

 still found necessary, but will probably convince the net- 

 ters themselves that nothing is asked that does not benefit 



FISHERIES ON THE GREAT LAKES. 

 Mr. Heeschel "Whitaker has given a very interest- 

 ing sketch of the early history of the fisheries on the 

 Great Lakes, drawn from the accounts of Hennepin, 

 Capt. John Carver, George Heriot, Henry R. Schoolcraft, 

 Blois and other authors. The marvelous abundance of 

 whitefish, lake trout, lake herring, sturgeon, pike and 

 similar fishes is clearly set forth, and the statistics of the 

 fisheries as far as known, are briefly recounted from 1830 

 to 1885. 



A notable decline of the fishing industry since the in- 

 troduction of the trap net is chronicled by Mr. Whitaker. 

 This net was introduced about 1850, and its extension 

 into deep water was followed by enormous captures of 

 adult fish, as well as by the extensive destruction of im- 

 mature fish, which have little or no commercial value. 

 To quote from the author: "The result of this system of 

 fishing is most destructive, tons upon tons of fish being 

 thus taken which have never spawned, whereas if they 

 were permitted to remain in the water to reproduce their 

 kind, artificial methods would be greatly aided." 



The introduction of freezing apparatus for the preser- 

 vation of fish, though unpopular at first, has gradually 

 grown in favor, and has greatly improved and extended 

 the industry. Indirectly it serves to protect the fish by 

 making it possible to carry on the fishing in nearly every 

 month of the year, thus relieving the strain upon the 

 spawning fish. 



To arrest the waste of fish and restore the supply, Mr. 

 Whitaker would stock the waters liberally and provide 

 for the enforcement of just protective laws, preventing 

 the taking and marketing of immature fish. He finds 

 the "|fi-p«ent warden system imperfect in most cases, 

 because'the pay of the officers is not sure and fixed, and 

 would follow in this respect the State of New York, 

 which, he says, has the best warden law of any State in 

 the Union. In conclusion he advocates a general 

 awakening of the Lake States to the necessity of action 

 for the maintenance and future increase of their fisheries. 



SALE OF REARED TROUT IN CLOSE TIME. 



The article of Mr. W. L, Gilbert, which we publish on 

 another page, is a fair presentation of the private fishcul- 

 turists' view concerning the sale of brook trout during 

 the close season for wild trout. The writer observes, 

 justly, that the successful cultivation of trout has passed 

 beyond the experimental stage, and that the industry is 

 capable of great extension, provided the fish can be sold 

 from Jan. 15 to April 1, when the demand for them is 

 largely increased owing to the scarcity of choice food fish 

 of other kinds. There is no doubt also that large tracts 

 of land and water, which are now lying waste, could be 

 redeemed and made valuable for trout cultivation if the 

 laws of several States could be changed so as to allow 

 private parties to sell fish when and how they pleased. 



The law framed by Mr. Gilbert, and intended to accom- 

 plish the objects desired by himself and other fishcultur- 

 ists, passed both branches of the Legislature of Massa- 

 chusetts, but was vetoed last week by Governor Russell, 

 and, we think, with justice. 



A law which allows the sale of artificially reared trout 

 during the close season for wild trout will open the way 



