616 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 30, 1892. 



FISHING OFF PELEE ISLAND. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When I read in Forest and Stream of June 9 the com- 

 munication from the gentleman of Pittsburg taking 

 issue -with my statements regarding the date of opening 

 the black bass season cff Pelee Island and in the other 

 waters of Lake Erie north of the international boundary, 

 I was a good deal perplexed. But when I came to the 

 editor's footnote sustaining the point of order made by 

 the member from the Smoky City, I felt dazed. My sen- 

 sations were very similar to those of the citizen who was 

 arrested and locked up on a charge of having committed 

 a certain offense against the law. His lawyer when 

 summoned, protested: "My dear sir! they can't lock you 

 up for that!" and the answer was, "Perhaps they can't— 

 but here I am." 



For several years we had been in the habit of opening 

 the bass fishing in the Canadian waters of Lake Erie on 

 May 15. We always opened it punctually, faithfully, 

 scrupulously on that date, rain or shine, and were in- 

 variably assisted by a large representation of the famous 

 Chicago Club, and a sufficient contingent of boatmen, 

 baitmen, guides and helpers generally. Nothing that we 

 did was done in secret, and all the Canadian officials 

 looked on approvingly. And now comes the gentleman 

 from Pittsburg, and decrees that what we have so re- 

 peatedly and conscientiously done can't be did. And the 

 editor of Forest and Stream remarks approvingly in 

 the language of "Pinafore," "Yes I know; that is so." 

 Well! well! 



It occurred to me in thinking the matter over, that 

 possibly Pelee Island might be a separate principality, 

 and not subject to the laws of the Dominion. Thereupon 

 I wrote to the Collector of Customs on Pelee, and told 

 him that my reputation was blighted (at least tempor- 

 arily) and implored him to help me dispose of the Scoffer 

 from' Pittsburg, and the — the other man. He has ac- 

 cordingly written me the appended letter, (received this 

 morning) which is respectfully submitted for publication : 



Dear Sir— In regard to the statements made by you in 

 Forest and Stream, relative to angling for black bass at 

 Pelee on May 15 in former years, and on May 10 this season, 

 I would say, from and with an entire knowledge of the sub- 

 ject that your statements are perfectly correct. 



Formerly, and for many years, th e close season for black 

 bass ended May 15. Some years ago this close season by 

 "order in council" was extended to June 15. 



As I bad been for over twenty years closely identified with 

 angling at Pelee, tbe Department of Fisheries at Ottawa 

 kindly sent me a copy of this order. I at once took strong 

 ground against it, and with the strenuous and able aid of 

 some friends, Members of Parliament, a special exception 

 was made in favor of angling at Pelee. For years since, 

 the influence and earnest efforts of the Pelee (Chicago] and 

 the Dayton Pelee Clubs have been exerted in the same direc- 

 tion, and each year, after strenuous exertion, the privilege 

 has been obtained. The change to an earlier date (viz., May 

 10) this year was owing to a visit and experience gained last 

 year by "Charles Wilmot, Esq.. Superintendent Fish Hatch- 

 eries for the Dominion of Canada, who was convinced by 

 actual touch as well as ocular demonstration that the black 

 bass does not spawn before June 25 to July 15 in and around 

 the islands of Lake Erie. 



This assertion I had never ceased to make in urging the 

 department to change the close seasou, and it was found to 

 be correct by the very courteous and capable gentleman sent 

 on to investigate the question. 



I have not Mr. Wilmot's report before me, but I have 

 reason to believe that during the present season a commis- 

 sion will issue and the whole subject of the proper seasons 

 for angling in different localities will be carefully entered 

 into, with a change in so far as bass fishing is concerned, to 

 about the 10th to the 25th of May. 



Finally, I may say that the Ontario Legislature passed an 

 act the past session, restricting fishing in the small lakes 

 and streams of this Province. This act does not in any way 

 affect the angling in the Great Lakes, over whose waters the 

 Dominion Government maintains the old national right of 

 "eminent domain." 



I beg to remain, my dear sir, faithfully yours, 



F. B. McCoemick. 



Southport, Pelee Island, June 20, 1892. 



SeriouBly, Dr. McCormick's letter gives a very full and 

 clear explanation of the bass fishing situation at the 

 west end of Lake Erie in Canada waters. Practically, 

 we know the spring bass fishing is virtually ended by 

 June 15, and does not begin again in tbe lake till Sep- 

 tember. Jay Beebe. 



ToSedo, O., June 31, 1892. 



Sale of Trout in Close Season. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



If Mr. Gilbert had read Forest and Stream more at- 

 tentively he would know that brook trout containing 

 free eggs have been caught in Cape Cod streams and con- 

 tiguous waters as late as the middle of April. Just refer 

 him to the numbers for May 16, June 13 and Oct. 3, 1889, 

 for information on this subject. He should also bear in 

 mind the fact that the name trout is now applied to the 

 introduced brown and rainbow species, the former ex- 

 tending its spawning season into January, and the latter 

 as late as March and even April. You are right in in- 

 sisting that the most important period of trout life is the 

 reproductive season, and no sounder basis exists for pro- 

 tective laws than the necessities of this critical epoch. 

 The existence of the trout is threatened from many sides; 

 and all anglers desire to aid in sheltering and fostering t it 

 by every honorable means at command. Cambridge. 



New Hampshire. 



Connecticut Lakes, June 18.— Hunting here this fall 

 surely will be first-class. The lakes have been lowered 

 quite a little already, and the water will be drawn still 

 lower. Game is plentiful now, and the open season will 

 surely bring many sportsmen. Fishing has been put 

 back by the many rains of late. The best of it remains 

 for those coming late. Still, few have gone away, if 

 any, dissatisfied with their take.— Halforde. 



The Juniata. 



On Tuesday of last week Mr. Joseph A, Keister cap- 

 tured in the waters of the Juniata, at Tuscarora Station, 

 a black bass which weighed 5flbs. This is tbe largest 

 bass known to have ever been caught in these waters — a 

 small-mouth, the only species we have. John E, Fry 

 caught a leather carp in the dam on Saturday morning 



that weighed 61bs. 2oz. This was taken in Doe Run, a 

 small mill stream. We have not had the carp in our 

 waters for much longer than five years, and the supply- 

 started only by means of specimens escaping from pri- 

 vate ponds. Now they seem to be in most of our small 

 streams and are getting abundant in the river. A 16- 

 pounder was taken this ppring from the latter stream at 

 the Millerstown dam.— Ontjtjtta, 



"OH, COME WITH ME." 



One sayeth— 



I prithee, let's a-fishing go, 



It is the month of May, 

 On every hand the woods are decked 

 Out in their foliage gay. 

 The purling brook 

 Invites our hook; 

 See that trout dash ! 

 Hear the brook plash ! 

 While on green banks the lowing herds 

 Add volume to the songs of birds. 



Another answereth— 



I hear your words, you charming knave, 



But I've been there before ; 

 Six days we stayed, five days it rained, 

 The sixth day rain did pour. 

 The wary trout 

 Would not come out; 

 To every rise 

 Ten thousand flies ! 

 With your soft words I'm not enthused. 

 I pray thee that I be excused. 



J. B. BUBNHAM. 



Fishes of Lorain County, Ohio.* 



Mr. McCormick presents a list of eighty nine species of fishes from 

 Lorain county, most of which are found in Lake Erie or its trib- 

 utaries. Notes on habits, distribution, etc.. are given, and the prin- 

 cipal species are illustrated with cuts lent by tbe U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission. Tbis county has a number of game fish, among them tne 

 two black basses, the rock bass, crappies. five kinds of sun fishes, 

 the lake trout, the pike and mascalonge, and the yellow perch, pike 

 perch and white bass. In the advertisement Prof. Wright says, 

 concerning tit is paper: "It is published in harmony with the convic- 

 tion, here cherished, that one of the most important duties of any 

 museum is to secure a full representation of tbe natural objects 

 occurring in its own vicinity, and to make them available to the 

 cause of science." 



* Laboratory Bulletin No. 2. Oberlin College. Descriptive List of 

 the Fishes of Lorain County, Obio. By Lewis M. McCormick, Assist- 

 ant in the Museum. Oberlin, Ohio. 1892. 



REARING FISH FOR DISTRIBUTION. 



Cold Spring Harbor, 1ST. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Under this heading last week you give a partial synopsis of 

 ruy paper, which was read before the American Fisheries 

 Society, and, omitting all that portion where I generously 

 waive'all other expenses, quote my very apparent arith- 

 metical error, which any schoolboy could see was caused by 

 a misplaced decimal point. 



The only excuse, if such a blunder is excusable, that I can 

 offer is that my duties had kept me away from home for 

 two weeks preceding the nif eting, and I rushed down and 

 after a hard night's work tackled the problem after mid- 

 night and r ashed off at t> A. M. to the meeting without 

 reading it over, but I hope to have a chance of correcting it 

 before it goes in the Report. 



As the error is so plainly one of punctuation, it would 

 have been a friendly act to have called my attention to it 

 before publishing it; yet I can hardly think that Forest 

 and Stream, although it has espoused the yearling heresy, 

 is so partisan as to really wish to take advantage of a slip of 

 the pen. 



I will now take into consideration the other th ings thrown 

 aside and say that attendance and transportation will make 

 a yearling trout cost about ten cents when planted. 



Leaving' rny poor paper entirely out, the advocates of plant- 

 ing fry routed the enemy, horse, foot and dragoons, as was 

 evinced by the changed sentiment of many present. I can- 

 not review the arguments now, life is too short and ink too 

 high, but in the discussion following the papers some men 

 took part on the yearling side whose opinions on any fish- 

 cultural subject would have little weight. Mr. Clark is the 

 only one on that side that we can consider "a foeman 

 worthy of our steel," he is a practical fishculturist of great 

 experience, and although he and 1 very seldom agree on any 

 professional matter we get along very well. 



On our side we had Mr. Whitaker, president of the Michi- 

 gan Fish Commission, backed by Dr. Parker, who was 

 present, and presumably by Supt. Waiter D. Marks, who is 

 a fishculturist with experience dating about a quarter of a 

 century (about that of Mr. Clark and myself); Mr. Ford, 

 president of the Pennsylvania Commission, and his col- 

 league, Mr. Powell; Mr. Nevin, superintendent of the Wis- 

 consin Commission, and others. Mr. Bowman, of the New 

 York Commission, said that in his opinion it was too ex- 

 pensive to raise trout to be yearlings before distributing 

 them, and others of the New York Board agreed to this, in 

 private. 



That the advocates of planting yearlings have had the 

 floor for over a year without opposition, has caused people 

 to say that yearlings are the things to plant, but those, of us 

 who do not believe in wasting money in that way were 

 never (heard from until last month, and in my opinion we 

 "laid 'em out." If we didn't do it this time we will next 

 year, for there is, in my opinion, no better way to squander 

 public money than by rearing trout to be a year old before 

 distributing them. No one denies that a yearling trout is 

 better than many fry, that part is self-evident, but how 

 many men in America are competent to express an opinion 

 on the cost of raising that yearling, and then transporting 

 one fish in a can where 100 fry could be carried. My men 

 take 5,000 fry in a ten-gallon can, where but 30 to 50 year- 

 lings, according to size, could be carried. 



As I have said, the angling public cannot know of these 

 details, and therefore are not judges of them, and the 

 majority of practical fishculturists, men who deal with ex- 

 pense as well as with fish, are on our side, and against the 

 rearing of trout to be yearlings before planting, because 

 they are in position to correctly sum up the results and the 

 cost. All other opinion is of little value. There are always 

 men who take sides on subjects of which they know little, 

 but the thinking man will not count them, if he knows 

 them, but will rather judge a statement by his opinion of 

 the one who says it. and of the knowledge of the person who 

 claims to be an authority on which he speaks. 



Asthis very important question was known to be the 

 principal subject of debate at the meeting, it surprised me 



to see that Forest and Stream reduced it to the form of a 

 synopsis and gave other papers in full. Certainly it could 

 not be that its previous editorial expressions in favor of 

 planting yearlings led it to slight the main question of the 

 meeting where the yearling men met with a Waterloo which 

 foreshadows a Gettysburg next year. 



There is no evidence that the result of planting yearlings 

 in any stream has proved to be better than if fry were 

 planted. Certainly, if fry cannot live in a stream, what is 

 to become of those which the yearlings will produce? Are 

 yearlings necessary to keep up' the stock in futures' If so, 

 that stream had better be abandoned. Fred Mather. 



Salmon in the Hudson. 



In Mr. Stone's excellent paper entitled "A National 

 Salmon Park," published last week, he says: * * * "Let 

 me inquire what it was that destroyed tbe salmon of the 

 Hudson * * * where they used to be exceedingly abund- 

 ant?" 



This must be a slip of the pen, for with the f . xGeptiqn of 

 an occasional stray salmon taken at intervals of yeaT8 ( it 

 is well known that there were no salmon in the Hudson 

 before they were planted there by the U. S. Fish Couimis 

 sion in 1882, and the succeeding year, in the face of opposi- 

 tion and ridicule by even the then Board of State Fish Com- 

 missioners. 



Mr. Stone's suggestien for a National Salmon Park, a 

 sanctuary for the salmon, where none could molest the 

 spawning fish, is a most excellent one and well worth con- 

 sideration by the Government. Fred Mather. 



THE PEARL OF PE KIN INCIDENT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



There seems to be some doubt about the decisiou of tbe 

 executive committee of the American Coursing Club re- 

 garding my protest in the Pearl of Pekin vs. Chicopee Lass 

 case. I must confess that I am somewhat in doubt and am 

 trying to find out the facts in the case and just how tbe 

 matter stands. I find that the reports of Forest AND 

 Stream and Turf, Field and Farm state that my protest 

 had been sustained, while the American Field says it has 

 been referred back to the club. Messrs. D. C. Luse and H. 

 C. Lowe, both members of the present executive committee, 

 the latter being a member of the exective committee of 1891, 

 informed me that my protest had been snstained. Under 

 date of March 11, 1892, ;Mr. D. C. Luse writes to me that 

 "The executive committee has decided in your favor, and 

 the money and the cup will be forwarded to you." On 

 March 23 Mr. H. C. Lowe writes to me as follows:' 



"I did not want anything given out until it appeared iu 

 the American- Field. Dr. "Shaw had no business to say any 

 thing about it. The paper was signed by myself and Page 

 and sent to Dr. Shaw to sign, which he has never done, and 

 he will not return the paper. He has had it now two weeks. 

 This obliges us to get out another form for myself and Page 

 to sign and then forward it on to the American Field. '* 

 Do not say anything about the business until you read the 

 decision in the American Field.'" 



I waited for the decision to appear in the American 

 Field, but it not appearing, I wrote to Mr. D. C. Luse asking 

 him whether he had seen the decision, to which he replied 

 on May 28: "Dr. Shaw showed me a decisiou from the execu- 

 tive committee signed by H. C. Lowe and C.G.Page." A 

 few days ago I received a letter from Mr. C. G. Page stating 

 that my protest had been referred back to the club. 



Who am I to believe, Lowe and Luse on the one hand, 

 backed up by Forest and Stream and Turf, Field and 

 Farm, or C. G. Page a,na American Field on the other? I 

 would like to be enlightened and would like to know just 

 how this matter stands. Also, whether or not the American 

 Coursing Club has an officer whose duty it is to notify par- 

 ties directly interested of any action taken by the club or its 

 executive committee regarding their matter: 1 



Any information on the Pearl of Pekin vs. Chicopee Lasa 

 case will be thankfully received by T. W. Bartelss. 



Denver, Col., June 21, 



THE BEAGLE STANDARD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



As my name has frequently appeared of late in the dis- 

 cussion on the height question in the beagle standard, I feel 

 that a statement of some of the reasons for a rigid limit 

 might be proper just at this time. 



When the Beagle Club was first contemplated, W. H. 

 Ashburner called on me to confer as to its feasibility. We 

 decided that it was first of all necessary to eulist the co-oper- 

 ation of the few beagle breeders then in the country, and I 

 will here remark en passant that to Mr. Ashburner the 

 beagle men of to day must award the credit of having 

 greatly assisted in giving the breed its present prominence. 



There was lots of correspondence to be done, and with 

 sportsmen living wide apart, and details innumerable nec- 

 essary to the organization of the club, all of which he pains- 

 takingly worked out. 



In the conference above spoken of it was deemed impera- 

 tive to have a standard of excellence. General Rowett, N. 

 Elmore and myself were appointed to draft it. Gen. Rowett, 

 was just at that time very much occupied with his horse 

 interests, and asked me to formulate a scale of points and 

 submit it for revision if required. Mr. Elmore acquiesced, 

 and I proceeded with the work. When finished it met with 

 the entire approval of my colleagues; no change whatever 

 being suggested by either gentlemen, so whatever mistake 

 we have made "on our heads be it." 



And now for the reasons for fixing the limit at loin. In 

 the old days anything a little smaller than a foxhound was 

 by courtesy called a beagle; if a pure bred beagle dog was 

 accessible he was crossed on small foxhound bitches, and if 

 at all prepotent the produce showed enough beagle charac- 

 ter, barring size, to pas3 muster and satisfy their owners. 

 The result of this slipshod, ignorant method^ was that the 

 country was filled with mongrel nondescripts posing as 

 beagles; witness our earlier bench shows. It was to strike 

 at the root of this evil and iescue the breed from utter ex- 

 tinction that I decided to draw the line rigidly at the limit 

 fixed in the standard, knowing that the little thoroughbred 

 could not be bred from the big mongrel, and that those who 

 wanted the true beagle would have to hark back to the pure 

 source to get him. 



I will not go into an extended argument. The subject has 

 been ably and thoroughly handled by Messrs. Chapman, 

 Ashburner, "Bradley" and others, and little is left to say. 

 The claim of the advocates of the large dog — that he is more 

 enduring, should, however, be answered. 



I grant that if a mixed pack, i. e., one of say 16in. and 12 

 or 13in. dogs, are run together, the small dogs will be at a 

 disadvantage, for the reason that the larger dogs, from their 

 greater speed and stride, keen the little ones on the keen 

 jump to stay with them. This being above their ratine 

 gait, of course exhausts and tires them ia a protracted 

 hunt. 



